OIL & GAS: The owner of a pipeline that ruptured and spilled 25,000 gallons of oil into the ocean off Southern California last year agrees to pay $1 million in cleanup costs. (Associated Press)

ALSO:
• ConocoPhillips increases spending on federal lobbying as it seeks final approval for its Willow oil drilling project proposed for Alaska’s North Slope. (Open Secrets)
• A New Mexico law aimed at reducing ozone-precursor and methane emissions from oil and gas facilities goes into effect next month. (news release)

ELECTRIFICATION:
• A Colorado utility pushes back on a provision in a proposed emissions reduction plan that would require developers to pay for natural gas hookups, saying it could amount to a “de facto gas ban.” (Denver Post)
• California is set to require new and renovated schools to install electric heat pumps, solar panels and electric vehicle chargers. (E&E News, subscription)  

COAL: Wyoming coal industry officials say railroad capacity shortages are preventing companies from meeting rising demand for coal. (Casper Star-Tribune)

SOLAR: A renewable energy firm designs a horizontal solar installation in California’s Central Valley that takes up one-third as much land as conventional facilities with similar generating capacities. (Yale Environment 360) 

WIND: A Montana conservation group calls for a market-based system to reduce bird kills at wind power facilities. (Deseret News)

UTILITIES: Biden administration officials meet with power utility executives to discuss federal responses to wildfires. (E&E News, subscription)

NUCLEAR: A Colorado lawmaker proposes replacing a retiring coal power plant in the northwestern part of the state with small modular nuclear reactors. (Post-Independent)

URANIUM:
• The U.S. EPA reverses a prohibition on a Utah uranium mill accepting waste from a Washington state Superfund site. (KJZZ)
• U.S. Department of Energy officials call on Congress to invest more money into propping up domestic uranium mining to reduce reliance on imports. (E&E News, subscription)  

TRANSITION: A Utah University establishes a research center in a rural coal community to develop new energy technologies. (Salt Lake Tribune)  

POLITICS: Conservation groups credit Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper, a former petroleum geologist, for negotiating a compromise on the Senate’s proposed climate and inflation bill. (Denver Post) 

CLIMATE: A survey finds most Californians support clean energy mandates and a proposed greenhouse gas emissions reduction program that would be funded by a tax on the wealthy. (Mercury News)

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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.