COAL: New Mexico regulators finalize a rule limiting coal power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions, further complicating a company’s effort to restart a retired coal plant and run it while installing carbon capture. (NM Political Report) 

GEOTHERMAL: The Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe urges the Biden administration to permanently block a proposed geothermal power plant in Nevada, saying it would imperil a sacred spring and a rare toad. (Washington Post) 

SOLAR:
• Chevron partners with a developer to build a 20 MW solar installation in southeast New Mexico to power the oil and gas company’s Permian Basin operations. (Midland Reporter-Telegram)
• A California clean energy hardware firm says Inflation Reduction Act tax credits prompted its plans to begin manufacturing solar microinverters in the U.S. (Canary Media)
• An Alaska utility considers building a community solar project on a contaminated pipeline site. (Daily News-Miner)
• California researchers work to develop a space-based solar power generation system that wirelessly transmits electricity to earth. (SciTechDaily)

CLIMATE:
• San Jose’s city council allocates $350 million to install batteries to store solar power and help it reach carbon neutrality by 2030. (SF Gate)
• California awards $96.2 million to 10 tribal and disadvantaged communities for projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing economic opportunities. (Los Angeles Times)
• A Colorado aviation company donates $500,000 to an effort to capture methane leaking from abandoned coal mines in the western part of the state. (Aspen Daily News)

UTILITIES: New Mexico officials interview candidates for the state’s first governor-appointed utility regulatory board and debate whether the governor will have the authority to fire commissioners. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

TRANSPORTATION: California environmentalists call on regulators to tighten a proposed ban on sales of fossil fuel big rigs by 2040 even though trucking officials claim it would devastate their industry. (CalMatters) 

LITHIUM: In a remote Nevada valley, lithium companies battle over rights to water they need for proposed extraction operations. (Nevada Independent)  

GRID: A Colorado energy official says a Western regional transmission organization is “imperative” to develop a clean and reliable power grid. (RTO Insider, subscription)

BIOFUELS: Oregon farmers drop a legal challenge to a proposal to build the nation’s largest renewable diesel refinery on the banks of the Columbia River, but reject an agreement to cease opposition to the plant. (Willamette Week)

CARBON CAPTURE: California environmental justice advocates push back on an oil-producing county’s proposal to become a carbon capture and sequestration hub, citing the risk of leaks. (Bakersfield Californian)

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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.