NUCLEAR: California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he may attempt to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant operating beyond its planned 2025 retirement date to avoid power outages. (Los Angeles Times)
UTILITIES:
• Power wholesaler Tri-State Generation and Transmission agrees to allow a Colorado electricity cooperative to buy down half of its contract rather than make a full exit. (Durango Herald)
• Arizona utilities say diminished hydropower generation from Lake Powell and Lake Mead and supply chain-caused solar construction delays could result in future power shortages. (KPNX)
• Arizona Public Service asks an appeals court to reverse state regulators’ 2021 decision that blocked it from recovering pollution control equipment costs and limited its rate of return to 8.7%. (Utility Dive)
COAL:
• Utah renewable energy advocates suggest addressing Western drought by closing coal power plants to save billions of gallons of water they consume annually for cooling and steam generation. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Wyoming coal industry officials say rising production costs have partly offset high commodity prices and dampened profits. (Casper Star-Tribune)
OIL & GAS:
• Republican state attorneys general call on a federal judge to order the Biden administration to open up additional land to oil and gas leasing. (E&E News, subscription)
• The U.S. EPA denies a Wyoming petroleum refinery’s request to be exempted from federal biofuel blending rules. (Cowboy State Daily)
• Utah Republicans urge the Biden administration to finalize approval of a proposed railway that would carry oil from the Uinta Basin. (Mother Jones)
• New Mexico’s oil and gas industry makes some of the largest campaign contributions to both Democratic and Republican candidates. (Albuquerque Journal)
SOLAR:
• A federal probe of Asian solar imports delays a proposed northern California solar project, nullifying a utility’s contract to buy generated power. (North Coast Journal)
• California rooftop solar owners and installers anxiously await state regulators’ revised net metering payment plan. (Orange County Register)
• A Utah man bicycles 400 miles to raise money to install solar on Navajo Nation students’ homes. (St. George News)
HYDROPOWER: An Idaho energy consultant predicts three pumped storage hydropower projects proposed for the Northwest will not be economically feasible. (Columbia Insight)
GEOTHERMAL: An energy developer considers prospecting for geothermal power in an active volcano in Alaska. (KDLL)
STORAGE: A fire in a grid-scale battery storage installation in Arizona continues to smolder two weeks after it was detected. (CBS5)
GRID: The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public comment on a high-voltage transmission line in Utah that would carry renewable power. (Daily Herald)
TRANSPORTATION: California lawmakers miss the deadline to suspend a gasoline tax increase, meaning it will jump 3 cents per gallon on July 1. (KCRA)
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