URANIUM: Sources say President Biden is leaning toward designating a national monument and banning new uranium mining claims on 1.1 million acres of federal land near the Grand Canyon. (Washington Post)

UTILITIES:
• Oregon utility Avista agrees to phase out natural gas infrastructure subsidies, expand low-income weatherization programs and stop using ratepayer funds for anti-climate lobbying or litigation. (KLCC)
• California regulators and advocates raise concerns about Pacific Gas & Electric’s plan to drop its tree-trimming program aimed at reducing wildfire risk. (East Bay Times)
• Wyoming advocates call for more federal and state funding for utility bill payment assistance programs to meet growing demand. (WyoFile)
• An Oregon vineyard sues Pacific Power over its role in sparking the 2020 Labor Day fires, saying smoke and soot damaged its grape harvest. (KOIN)

CLIMATE: An outburst from a glacial-dammed lake outside Juneau, Alaska, floods the Mendenhall River and destroys at least two homes. (CBS News)

CLEAN ENERGY:
• Idaho Power proposes a program making it easier for private firms to sell clean energy back to the utility. (Idaho Capital Sun)
• Developers advance a proposed 163 MW solar facility in Wyoming’s “hail alley.” (Cowboy State Daily)
• A 3.8 MW community solar facility comes online in southern California. (Victorville Daily Press)

GEOTHERMAL:
• Alaska plans to offer geothermal energy leases on a volcano northwest of Anchorage. (Alaska Beacon)
• An enhanced geothermal power breakthrough at a Nevada demonstration site bolsters Western governors’ efforts to scale up and deploy the technology. (Stateline)

COAL: Xcel Energy’s early closure of the Comanche coal plant in Colorado could cost ratepayers $89 million for water that will go unused. (Colorado Sun)

GRID:
• A Montana economist says the state risks becoming an electricity net importer because transmission and generation infrastructure buildout is not keeping up with demand. (Daily Inter Lake)  
• The Western Energy Imbalance Market generates $799 million in benefits  during the first half of this year. (RTO Insider, subscription)

OIL & GAS: Colorado regulators launch an initiative aimed at reducing the oil and gas industry’s water consumption. (Denver7)

POLITICS: A conservative think tank’s “battle plan” for a potential Republican presidency includes encouraging oil and gas drilling, discouraging renewable energy development and dismantling energy incentives in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. (New York Times)

COMMENTARY:
• A California university professor calls on Southern California Edison to reject a national utility industry group’s efforts to “kneecap climate action.” (Los Angeles Times)
• A California utility journalist outlines ways residents can keep the lights and air conditioners running during increasingly frequent power outages. (Los Angeles Times)

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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.