Western Energy News is one of five regional services published by the Energy News Network. Today’s edition was compiled by Jonathan Thompson.

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UTILITIES: Federal regulators reject a Colorado utility’s attempt to leave the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association without paying a $1.6 billion exit fee. (BizWest)

COAL: Xcel Energy tentatively agrees to shut down a Colorado coal power plant four years earlier than it initially planned. (CPR)

OIL & GAS:
• The federal Bureau of Land Management plans to offer just 160 acres in Utah in the upcoming oil and gas lease sale, and the winning bidder will be required to clean up abandoned wells on the site. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• The federal government drops its challenge to Hawaii’s order requiring it to drain a U.S. Navy fueling facility that contaminated drinking water systems last year. (Associated Press)
• California regulators prohibit irrigating crops with hydraulic fracturing wastewater, but allow farmers to use conventional drilling wastewater even though it contains many of the same toxic compounds. (Inside Climate News)
• The New Mexico oil and gas industry says its operations are growing cleaner and more climate friendly, but environmentalists, citing high Permian Basin methane emissions, disagree. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
• New Mexico oil and gas-producing counties have the state’s worst ozone pollution, according to an American Lung Association study. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• Residents of a northwestern Colorado city protest a plan to drill 26 oil and gas wells near neighborhoods. (Loveland Reporter-Herald)

CLIMATE: Environmental groups urge Oregon’s treasury to divest $5.3 billion it has invested in fossil fuel companies. (Associated Press)

WIND: The National Renewable Energy Lab in Colorado develops software that predicts eagles’ flight paths, allowing wind power developers to site turbines accordingly. (news release)    

SOLAR:
• Nevada issues tax abatements to five utility-scale solar projects in development across the state. (Nevada Appeal)
• Washington state officials say rooftop solar permitting has increased substantially in the last year. (Yakima Herald-Republic)

CLEAN ENERGY: California’s corrections department says it is on track to obtain 25% of its power from renewable energy sources by 2025. (news release)

GEOTHERMAL: The Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe calls on the Biden administration to create a national monument on Nevada land targeted by geothermal power developers. (Nevada Independent)

TRANSPORTATION: Nevada’s environment department awards $5.5 million in grants to governments and businesses to purchase electric trucks and buses. (news release)

MICROGRIDS:
• Seattle’s city utility brings a solar-powered microgrid online at a local community center. (KING5)
• San Jose, California, considers Google’s proposal to construct a microgrid that would power the tech giant’s 81-acre mixed use development. (Microgrid Knowledge)

POLLUTION: The U.S. EPA proposes requiring Utah, Nevada, Wyoming and California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants and other facilities to decrease pollution in neighboring states. (Denver Post)

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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.