GRID: Law enforcement officials arrest and charge two suspects for Christmas day attacks on four electrical substations in Washington state. (KING5)
ALSO:
• Thousands of northern California and eastern Nevada residents remain without power days after a major storm damaged utility equipment; another grid-battering storm is expected this week. (Carson Now, KCRA)
• California lawmakers revive a proposal to allow the state’s independent grid operator to become a regional transmission organization. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• Sacramento, California’s municipal utility partners with a startup to aggregate home solar and battery systems into a virtual power plant. (Energy Storage News)
WIND:
• A study finds wind power would be the most cost-effective way for a remote Alaskan island community to meet its long-term energy needs. (KCAW)
• Wyoming officials say wind power facilities generally do not generate as much property tax revenue as developers promise during planning phases. (Cowboy State Daily)
OIL & GAS:
• A report finds about two-thirds of California’s 59,200 oil and gas workers will be able to move into new jobs without retraining as the industry declines in the state. (Sacramento Bee)
• Analysts say oil and gas leasing requirements in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act still allow the Biden administration to limit the amount and quality of acreage it auctions for drilling. (S&P Global)
• U.S. Sen. Michael Bennett, a Colorado Democrat, calls on the Biden administration to increase federal oil and gas reclamation bond rates to make them sufficient to clean up drilling sites. (news release)
UTILITIES:
• Montana lawmakers propose letting utilities charge customers for planned power facilities in advance after a court shot down a similar law that applied only to NorthWestern Energy. (Montana Standard)
• San Diego Gas & Electric customers’ utility bills are expected to double this month due to increasing natural gas prices. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
POLITICS: A poll finds more than half of likely Wyoming voters have a favorable opinion of fossil fuels while less than 40% look favorably upon nuclear, solar and wind power. (Wyoming Public Radio)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Colorado Gov. Jared Polis calls on lawmakers to appropriate $120 million for e-bike, electric vehicle and electric lawn equipment incentives. (CPR)
• Salt Lake City, Utah’s city council considers requiring electric vehicle charging capability in 20% of new condominium and apartment buildings’ parking stalls. (KSL)
• Arizona Public Service set to begin construction on a new substation at Grand Canyon National Park to meet growing electric vehicle charging demand. (Williams News)
HYDROPOWER: Indigenous and environmental advocates urge federal regulators to reject a pumped hydropower storage project’s preliminary permit proposed for northern Arizona, saying it would wreak further harm on a historic coal mining region. (news release)
HYDROGEN: A California company proposes developing a blue hydrogen production facility — using methane as a feedstock and sequestering resulting carbon — in Kern County oil and gas fields. (Los Angeles Business Journal)
COMMENTARY: A Colorado energy journalist says federal transmission permitting must be streamlined to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century. (Big Pivots)
More from the Energy News Network: Midwest | Southeast | Northeast | West
View this campaign in your browser.