OIL & GAS: California lawmakers and advocates slam regulators for allowing an oil company merger without requiring new reclamation bonds, saying it could leave taxpayers with a $2.4 billion cleanup bill. (ProPublica)
ALSO: Alaska regulators conditionally approve a utility’s proposed pipeline that could be used to import natural gas to offset a predicted in-state shortage of the fuel. (Anchorage Daily News)
UTILITIES: Washington state and Montana utilities say they may soon implement public safety power shutoffs to reduce wildfire risk as warm, dry conditions persist. (Center Square, Montana Standard)
OVERSIGHT: U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, backs a controversial federal permitting bill, saying it would “unlock an American-made clean energy future.” (E&E News)
WIND:
- A utility paints wind turbine blades black at one of its Wyoming power facilities in an effort to keep birds from colliding with the towers. (Audubon)
- A Washington state utility signs on to purchase power from a 315 MW wind facility under development in Montana. (Power Technology)
- A rural eastern New Mexico university trains students for careers as wind turbine technicians. (Tech Xplore)
SOLAR:
- A California municipality considers a proposed 500 MW solar-plus-battery storage project on 1,955 acres of private land. (Antelope Valley Press)
- New Mexico begins accepting solar tax credit applications from residents who missed out on the incentives in previous years due to funding shortfalls. (Solar Power World)
- A New Mexico nonprofit installs a solar array on the nation’s oldest Christian church. (Solar Power World)
- A rural Oregon company establishes a niche installing solar arrays on affordable and multifamily housing. (Solar Power World)
BATTERIES: A California community choice aggregator launches a residential battery energy storage rebate program. (news release)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A California nonprofit breaks ground on a solar-and-battery powered bidirectional electric vehicle charging complex to support its 50-shuttle fleet. (PV Magazine)
BIOFUELS: A Colorado startup looking to produce biofuels from sugar beets at a Wyoming facility says it has secured $13 million in venture capital financing. (Cowboy State Daily)
COAL:
- Federal analysts expect Powder River Basin coal production to ramp up this summer as unusually high temperatures drive up electricity demand for cooling. (County 17)
- A Colorado city begins an effort to extinguish a long-burning underground coal seam fire in an abandoned mining area. (Boulder Reporting Lab)
CLIMATE:
- Several Republican-led Western states join others in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block U.S. EPA rules aimed at slashing coal and natural gas plants’ climate-warming emissions. (CNN)
- The U.S. EPA awards the Nez Perce Tribe a $37 million climate grant for residential efficiency retrofits, clean energy development and electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Idaho and Oregon. (Idaho Capital Sun)
- The University of Colorado Boulder looks to advance climate goals by hiring a sustainability director, developing off-site solar installations and using tax credits to fund decarbonization efforts. (Times-Call)
CARBON CAPTURE: Researchers propose sequestering carbon by burying or “vaulting” logs removed from Western forests to reduce wildfire risk, saying it could avoid an estimated 2.2 billion tons of emissions in coming years. (Grist)
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