WIND: The U.S. Department of Interior identifies two areas along southern Oregon’s coast as potential offshore wind leasing sites. (Seattle Times)
SOLAR:
• Public Service Company of New Mexico brings a 50 MW solar facility online on the Jicarilla Apache Nation. (Albuquerque Journal)
• A California judge tentatively rejects environmental advocates’ bid to overturn a county’s approval of a 347-acre solar project, with a final ruling still to come. (The Independent)
• Pacific Gas & Electric seeks to procure 176 MW of solar projects for its opt-in renewables program. (PV Magazine)
GRID: Politics, tribal laws and federal red tape slow efforts to bring electricity to homes in a Navajo Nation community in Utah. (Salt Lake Tribune)
UTILITIES:
• California regulators say more than 350,000 San Diego Gas & Electric customers are late in paying their utility bills. (10News)
• New Mexico regulators reject Public Service Company of New Mexico’s bid to decouple revenue targets from electricity sales. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
COAL:
• Salt River Project considers converting an Arizona coal power plant scheduled to retire by 2032 to biomass, hydrogen or nuclear. (KJZZ)
• Arch Resources, which owns coal mines in the Powder River Basin and western Colorado, says it will set aside profits to reclaim the mines when they close rather than investing in new equipment or expansions. (E&E News)
OIL & GAS:
• California lawmakers advance a bill that would ban offshore oil drilling, but concerns over the taxpayer costs of removing offshore platforms could stymie further progress. (Los Angeles Times)
• New Mexico regulators consider using a stationary blimp-like helium aircraft to monitor methane emissions from oil and gas fields. (KUNM)
• Indigenous tribal leaders urge the Biden administration to ban oil and gas drilling on 550 square miles around Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. (Associated Press)
TRANSPORTATION:
• A California startup begins offering electric commercial truck leases in Los Angeles. (Canary Media)
• California advocates call for increased electric vehicle incentives and charging infrastructure in rural, low-income areas to achieve more equitable EV adoption. (ABC7)
• An industrial-scale California farm plans to convert its tractors and other equipment to electric power. (Yale Climate Connections)
NUCLEAR: Federal regulators seek information on the earthquake-readiness of NuScale’s small modular reactor design slated for use in a proposed Idaho power project. (Reuters)
CLIMATE: Interior Secretary Deb Haaland says she will ask Congress to increase funding for tribal climate resilience efforts. (Arizona Mirror)
POLITICS: Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has received over $90,000 in campaign contributions from fossil fuel interests in his bid to represent Montana in the U.S. House. (E&E News)
COMMENTARY: In lifting the federal oil and gas leasing pause, the Biden administration ended an ineffectual moratorium and repaired a dysfunctional system in the process, a journalist argues. (High Country News)
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