OIL & GAS: A peer-reviewed study finds natural gas-gathering pipelines in the Permian Basin release at least 213,000 metric tons of methane annually, about 14 times more than U.S. EPA inventory estimates. (E&E News, subscription, EDF Blog)

ALSO:
• Los Angeles County supervisors vote to ban new oil and gas wells in unincorporated areas and phase out existing operations over the next 20 years; the city of L.A. is considering a similar ordinance. (City News Service)
• Portland, Oregon, officials approve Zenith Energy’s plan to phase out crude oil from its shipping terminal and replace it with biofuels in the next five years, saying the plan complies with city climate goals. (Associated Press)   
• A task force responsible for draining leaky Navy fuel storage tanks that contaminated drinking water in Hawaii last year seeks public input on the facility’s decommissioning plans. (Associated Press)

UTILITIES:  
• Arizona environmental justice groups call on the Salt River Project to step up carbon-cutting plans by ditching coal power by 2026, ceasing expenditures on new natural gas generation and deploying more wind and solar power. (Newsbreak)
• California’s utility assistance program has distributed $1.4 billion to help households cover energy bills during the pandemic and plans to double that amount by the end of the year. (news release)

GRID: A windstorm in Arizona topples utility lines, leaving 82,000 households in the Phoenix area without power. (Associated Press)

TRANSPORTATION: California officials say maintenance-related shutdowns at the state’s declining number of refineries are to blame for the state’s relatively high gasoline prices. (Los Angeles Times)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Nevada electric vehicle battery recycling firm plans to begin supplying recycled materials to the Tesla-Panasonic gigafactory by the end of this year. (Teslarati)

LITHIUM: Berkshire Hathaway’s demonstration project to extract and process lithium from beneath the Salton Sea is facing technical hurdles and had a federal grant rescinded earlier this year, sources say. (Reuters)  

SOLAR:
• Oregon State University begins construction on a $1.5-million agrivoltaics research project that will partner a 326-kW solar installation with agricultural uses. (news release)
• Indigenous nonprofits bring solar-powered water pumps to remote homes on the Navajo Nation and Hopi reservation. (Navajo-Hopi Observer)
• California solar advocates expect state regulators, fearing a public backlash, will wait until after the Nov. 3 election to issue a proposal regarding compensation for rooftop solar. (news release)

MICROGRIDS: Pacific Gas & Electric looks to unilaterally determine when to move customers to a microgrid to reduce fire risk, but a northern California public power authority says customers should have a say in the matter. (Press-Democrat)

COMMENTARY: A candidate for Arizona’s utility regulatory board says the state should invest in wind and solar power paired with batteries, not natural gas and nuclear generation. (Arizona Daily Star) 

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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.