NUCLEAR: New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signs legislation banning high-level nuclear waste storage without state consent, potentially blocking a proposed interim reactor fuel repository. (NM Political Report)
ALSO: An Oregon startup says it must triple subscriptions to its proposed small modular nuclear reactor facility in Idaho by early next year or be forced to reimburse a coalition of municipal utilities for costs incurred. (Utility Dive)
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• The U.S. EPA will reportedly grant California a waiver to enforce tailpipe emissions rules that are stricter than the federal government’s, paving the way for six other states to follow its lead. (Washington Post)
• A northern California school district plans to construct solar-powered electric vehicle chargers at three of its campuses. (Marin Independent Journal)
OIL & GAS:
• ConocoPhillips agrees to pause construction on the recently approved Willow oil and gas project in Alaska after environmentalists ask a court to halt work while awaiting the outcome of legal challenges. (Anchorage Daily News)
• A train spills 3,100 gallons of petroleum after derailing on the Swinomish Reservation in Washington state. (Indian Country Today)
• New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signs a bill investing a share of oil and gas tax revenue into a permanent investment fund aimed at long-term earnings. (Albuquerque Journal)
• The federal Bureau of Land Management plans to lease 3,000 acres for oil and gas development in New Mexico, saying the industry is integral to the region’s “economic and social fabric.” (Carlsbad Current-Argus, subscription)
• Records show oil and gas companies in New Mexico continued to vent and flare methane at least 39,000 times during the last year despite 2021 rules banning the practice except in emergencies. (Capital & Main)
UTILITIES:
• Residents of a historically Black community in Arizona prepare to fight a utility’s latest bid to expand a natural gas power plant after regulators nixed the proposal last year. (Guardian)
• Supporters of a proposed Avangrid-Public Service Company of New Mexico merger say regulators subjected J.P. Morgan’s 2020 buyout of another utility to far less scrutiny. (Albuquerque Journal)
ELECTRIFICATION: A Colorado city considers banning natural gas hookups in all new buildings and requiring them to generate electricity with only renewable energy sources. (Golden Transcript)
POLLUTION: Utah officials oppose the U.S. EPA’s “good neighbor” rule aimed at reducing cross-state ozone pollution, saying it will force some power plants to close early. (Cache Valley Daily)
HYDROGEN: The Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes propose a wind-powered blue hydrogen fuel production facility with carbon capture and sequestration in Montana. (Billings Gazette)
SOLAR: Colorado offers more than $9 million in incentives to a solar panel manufacturing firm considering establishing a production facility in the Denver area. (Denver Gazette)
GRID: Conservationists call on federal wildlife officials to extend protections to a rare wildflower growing in the path of the proposed Greenlink West transmission line in Nevada. (news release)
CRITICAL MINERALS: A mining company says it has found North America’s largest known deposit of rare earth elements on its claims in southeastern Wyoming. (Casper Star-Tribune)
COMMENTARY: An archaeologist says a proposal to construct an oil-hauling road through an ancient rock art site in Utah is akin to building a highway through a Los Angeles art museum. (Salt Lake Tribune)
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