CLIMATE: A peer-reviewed study finds 37% of forest burned in Western wildfires since 1986 can be linked to greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s largest fossil fuel companies and their products. (Grist)

UTILITIES:
• New Mexico’s Supreme Court denies a motion to return the proposed Avangrid-PNM merger to regulators for a second hearing, keeping the case in the court’s hands. (Albuquerque Journal)
• Nevada regulators reject NV Energy’s proposal to install a battery storage facility in place of delayed solar projects, possibly extending the life of the state’s last operating coal plant. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

OIL & GAS:
• California lawmakers advance legislation that would hold oil and gas companies liable when their operations harm people’s health and allow victims to sue for up to $1 million in damages. (Capital & Main)
• Environmental groups call on the Biden administration to reconsider its approval of exports from the proposed Alaska LNG project. (news release)
• A stormwater flood at a Colorado refinery washes benzene into a ditch, but regulators say there was no environmental or health threat. (Denver Post)
• An environmental group sues to rescind regulators’ approval of 15 oil and gas wells off the coast of Long Beach, California. (Long Beach Post)
• An environmental group calls on the Biden administration to protect a rare Nevada toad from oil and gas development. (news release)

TRANSITION: A study finds 26% of workers laid off due to the 2020 closure of a California oil refinery remained unemployed a year later and those who had found jobs earned lower wages and experienced poorer labor conditions. (KGO)

COAL: The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes call on Canadian coal mines to cease contaminating rivers that flow across the border into Montana and Idaho. (KPAX)

CARBON CAPTURE: A California petroleum company enters into agreements to inject and store captured carbon underground at its aging oil fields. (Los Angeles Business Journal)

CLEAN ENERGY: Alaska lawmakers consider a community solar and wind energy bill that would allow net metering for the projects and require 30% of the power generated to go to low- to moderate-income residents. (KTNA) 

WIND:
• Pattern Energy signs long-term agreements to sell power from its 3,500 MW SunZia wind power facility proposed for eastern New Mexico. (news release)
• California’s energy commission issues a plan aimed at coordinated, comprehensive and efficient offshore wind power permitting. (news release)

SOLAR: The federal Bureau of Land Management works with a Washington county to develop permitting criteria for solar power development on public lands. (Yakima Herald-Republic)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Pacific Gas & Electric looks to pull out of a plan to install 1,400 electric vehicle chargers in northern and central California, saying state budget cuts rendered the project infeasible. (E&E News, subscription)
• Colorado offers $7 million in grants to local governments or private businesses for building electric vehicle fast-charging stations. (Colorado Sun) 

NUCLEAR: Researchers develop a groundwater-contamination mitigation method at a defunct Utah uranium mill on the banks of the Colorado River. (Moab Sun News)

HYDROGEN: A hydrogen fuel cell filling station opens in San Diego, the city’s second such facility. (KPBS)

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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.