UTILITIES: Federal prosecutors file a lawsuit against Southern California Edison seeking more than $40 million in damages for the utility’s alleged role in sparking the 2017 Creek Fire near Los Angeles. (Courthouse News)

ALSO:
• NorthWestern Energy asks Montana regulators to lobby against the U.S. EPA’s tightened mercury standards rollout, citing the high cost of bringing the utility’s Colstrip coal plant into compliance. (Montana Standard)
• Washington regulators order Puget Sound Energy to modify its four-year plan to comply with the state’s clean energy law. (news release)
• The jury begins deliberations in a class-action lawsuit against PacifiCorp over its alleged role in the 2020 Labor Day fires that killed nine people and burned thousands of homes in southern Oregon. (OPB)

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PUBLIC LANDS:
• An advocacy group says the Biden administration’s proposal to establish conservation leases on public lands would help clean energy developers restore land to offset their facilities’ impacts. (KUNC)
• Conservationists call on the federal Bureau of Land Management to increase protections for the greater sage grouse, potentially affecting energy development in Western states. (Wyoming Public Radio)

OIL & GAS:
• New Mexico regulators plan to hold a hearing on a proposed ban on carcinogenic PFAS chemicals in hydraulic fracturing fluid for oil and gas wells. (Santa Fe New Mexican)   
• Republican U.S. lawmakers investigate Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, claiming she colluded with advocacy groups on the federal oil and gas leasing ban around Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. (Associated Press)

CLIMATE:
• Washington’s second quarterly pollution allowance auction is expected to net nearly $560 million, bringing the new cap-and-trade program’s total revenue so far to about $860 million. (Washington State Standard)
• California’s oil and gas industry and other big businesses push back against state legislation that would require large companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions across their supply chains. (Grist)

ELECTRIFICATION: Ashland, Oregon, considers banning natural gas hookups in new residential construction. (Oregonian)

SOLAR:
• Construction begins on a 10 MW community solar project near Fresno, California. (Greentechlead)
• New Mexico regulators approve offtake contracts for a proposed 130 MW solar project in the southern part of the state. (news release)     

GRID:
• Xcel Energy begins construction on its $1.7 billion Power Pathway transmission project in eastern Colorado. (Denver Gazette)
• The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on the proposed Greenlink West transmission project in Nevada. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Nevada lawmakers pass a bill directing state agencies to establish a federally funded clean trucks and buses incentive program. (RTO Insider, subscription)

NUCLEAR: California extends the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant’s state land lease to 2030, removing one of many hurdles its operators must clear to keep the facility running past its scheduled 2025 retirement. (Independent)

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Jonathan hails from southwestern Colorado and has been writing about the land, cultures, and communities of the Western United States for more than two decades. He compiles the Western Energy News digest. He is the author of three books, a contributing editor at High Country News, and the editor of the Land Desk, an e-newsletter that provides coverage and context on issues critical to the West.