ALSO: 

• A federal oil and gas lease auction in Wyoming nets just $27,000 in bids, prompting industry officials to accuse the Biden administration of trying to indirectly halt drilling through higher fees and tighter regulations. (E&E News) 
• U.S. Sen. Michael Bennett, a Colorado Democrat, introduces legislation that would block new oil and gas drilling on 74,000 acres in the western part of the state. (Vail Daily)
• Environmental and Indigenous advocates file a lawsuit over federal regulators’ failure to require firms to update their oil drilling plans for installations off California’s coast. (news release)
• California lawmakers advance legislation that would direct regulators to set minimum fuel storage requirements for refiners in an effort to avoid price spikes. (KCRA)

SOLAR: 

• A California judge temporarily halts implementation of a new state rule prohibiting solar contractors from installing or maintaining battery storage systems, pending resolution of a lawsuit. (E&E News, subscription, news release)
• An Arizona city opposes a proposed zoning change that would clear the way for a utility-scale solar installation on private land, saying it would prevent future residential development. (In Maricopa)
• A developer brings Utah’s first floating solar installation online to power a water treatment plant. (news release)

CLEAN ENERGY: 

• A study finds Washington and Idaho are among the nation’s top states for their share of clean energy-generated electricity, while Utah and Alaska are near the bottom of the list. (Reuters) 
• A report finds Wyoming lags behind other states in clean energy job creation, prompting advocates to urge policymakers to shift their focus from fossil fuels and carbon capture to solar and wind development. (Inside Climate News) 

GRID: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a law aimed at encouraging utilities to adopt grid-enhancing technologies to reduce transmission congestion. (Electrek)

ELECTRIFICATION: 

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a law clearing the way for utilities to launch pilot projects to electrify entire neighborhoods instead of replacing aging natural gas infrastructure. (E&E News, subscription; news release)
• The Biden administration awards nine tribal nations in Western states nearly $42 million to electrify homes with clean energy. (news release)

UTILITIES: Hawaiian Electric assures customers it will pay incentives owed them by the now-shuttered company that operated the utility’s home battery virtual power plant program. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)

NUCLEAR: The Idaho National Laboratory prepares to install and test the nation’s first transportable nuclear reactor. (Boise State Public Radio)

CARBON CAPTURE: U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican, introduces a bill that would increase subsidies for using captured carbon dioxide to stimulate oil and gas production from aging wells. (E&E News, subscription; news release)

COMMENTARY: California equity advocates urge companies and policymakers to ensure Imperial County communities benefit directly from an imminent lithium boom around the Salton Sea. (Los Angeles Times)

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ALSO: 

• California lawmakers debate the state’s role in overseeing and managing the decline of its petroleum industry. (Los Angeles Times)
• Colorado advocates accuse a Denver-area city of firing its sustainability manager after she forwarded residents’ notes protesting a refinery’s pollution to its operator’s headquarters. (Colorado Sun)

WIND: At least one of five eligible firms withdraws from bidding on offshore wind leases along southern Oregon’s coast following a wave of opposition from tribal nations, advocates and the fishing industry. (Big Pivots)

SOLAR: 

• New Mexico’s state land office leases 80 acres to a proposed community solar project. (NM Political Report)
• A New Mexico county approves up to $942 million in revenue bonds for a planned Albuquerque-area solar cell manufacturing facility. (KOB 4)

GEOTHERMAL: The U.S. House passes a bill aimed at expediting geothermal energy permitting on federal lands. (news release) 

GRID: 

• A utility executive says fully decarbonizing California’s grid will require developing more firm clean energy such as advanced geothermal and natural gas plants with carbon capture. (Reuters) 
• A study finds the Western grid will need about 15,600 miles of new high-voltage transmission lines at a cost of $75 billion to meet forecasted load growth. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• A study finds PacifiCorp could realize up to $359 million in annual net benefits by participating in the California grid operator’s extended day-ahead power market, almost double previous projections. (RTO Insider, subscription)

ELECTRIFICATION: Seattle launches a program offering an additional $4,000 rebate for moderate-income households to replace oil heating systems with electric heat pumps. (Utility Dive)

UTILITIES: New Mexico regulators establish carbon emission limits the state’s largest utility must meet to comply with the state’s Energy Transition Act. (NM Political Report)

COAL: Federal data show seven Western coal plants are among the nation’s 50 top greenhouse gas emitters. (news release)

NUCLEAR: The U.S. Energy Department greenlights California startup Oklo’s plan to begin developing an advanced nuclear reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory. (Newsweek)

CLIMATE: Environmental experts raise concerns about a rogue California startup looking to slow global warming by releasing sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, saying the effort could have unintended harmful consequences.   (New York Times)

COMMENTARY: 

• An energy analyst predicts high costs and unproven technology will doom a federally funded effort to retrofit an aging New Mexico coal plant with carbon capture. (Utility Dive)
• A California advocate calls for federal mining law reform to help mitigate the imminent clean energy minerals boom’s impacts. (Revelator)

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SOLAR: 

• Washington’s largest utility plans to install a 142 MW solar array and a 200 MW battery energy storage system at separate sites to comply with the state’s clean energy law. (Seattle Times) 
• An Arizona Catholic diocese works to install solar arrays on all 77 of its parishes in Tucson, saying it makes moral and economic sense. (National Catholic Reporter)

WIND: 

• A developer proposes a 400-450 MW offshore wind power facility between Oahu and Molakai in Hawaii. (West Hawaii Today) 
• A company begins manufacturing wind turbines at its newly expanded facilities in eastern Colorado. (Big Pivots)

CLEAN ENERGY: 

• A report finds the Inflation Reduction Act has spurred $11.8 billion in clean energy-related investment and created 18,000 new jobs in Arizona. (Cronkite News)
• Governors of 22 states, including seven in the Western U.S., look to create 1 million apprenticeships in clean energy and climate-resiliency industries. (The Hill)
• A nonprofit looks to raise $100 million to expedite tribal clean energy development. (news release)

HYDROPOWER: The U.S. Energy Department awards Pacific Gas & Electric $34.5 million to fund 19 hydropower projects in northern California. (Power) 

GRID: California’s grid operator says new data center interconnections have led them to increase demand forecasts for the San Jose area by 60%. (RTO Insider, subscription)

MINING: 

• The San Carlos Apache Tribe accuses the federal Bureau of Land Management of failing to consult with it regarding a proposed copper mine in southern Arizona. (E&E News, subscription)
• Industry observers say a firm’s $175 million acquisition of a processing plant in Wyoming heralds the return of domestic uranium mining.  (Cowboy State Daily)

ELECTRIFICATION: Washington state’s building industry and conservative advocates push a ballot measure that would prohibit local and state governments from banning natural gas hookups. (Crosscut)

EMISSIONS: Colorado advocates say a newly launched state initiative using cutting-edge technologies to monitor landfill methane pollution could be a model for slashing emissions of the potent greenhouse gas. (Canary Media)

PUBLIC LANDS: A federal court begins hearing a Utah lawsuit seeking to revoke presidents’ authority to establish landscape-scale national monuments that block mining and oil and gas drilling on hundreds of thousands of acres of public land. (Bloomberg Law)

BIOFUELS: A company looks to produce biofuels by injecting molasses into coal seams in Wyoming, extracting the methane and leaving the carbon dioxide underground. (Buffalo Bulletin)

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ALSO: A poll finds about 65% of likely California voters support a $10 billion ballot measure aimed at funding flood protection, wildfire mitigation and other climate resiliency projects. (E&E News, subscription)

CLEAN ENERGY: 

• Researchers find a gauntlet of federal red tape hampers tribal nations’ clean energy development and could lead to $19 billion in lost revenues if the barriers aren’t addressed. (Grist)
• New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham orders state agencies to create a program aimed at developing and training a clean energy and climate resiliency workforce. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
• Oregon’s coastal waters are poised to become a clean energy center as wave energy research and offshore wind development advance. (Associated Press)

OIL & GAS: 

• California files a lawsuit accusing ExxonMobil of deceiving the public about the potential for recycling plastics, saying the ruse encouraged consumers to buy and dispose of more of the petroleum-based products. (Los Angeles Times)
• The federal Bureau of Land Management offers 159 acres in Wyoming for oil and gas leasing, the smallest amount the agency has ever auctioned in the state. (Cowboy State Daily) 

NUCLEAR: Wyoming awards a state university $1.9 million to establish a nuclear technology degree program. (Rocket-Miner)

POLLUTION: Colorado officials call for tighter air pollution restrictions on oil and gas facilities after counties in the northeastern part of the state violated U.S. EPA ozone standards during 40 days this summer. (Colorado Sun)

HYDROGEN: Advocacy groups file a lawsuit seeking to block a proposed hydrogen hub at a northern California port, saying the facility’s emissions will worsen the poor air quality. (E&E News, subscription)

GRID: California’s grid operator considers tracking greenhouse gas emissions from its proposed day-ahead power market with carbon pricing taken into account. (RTO Insider, subscription)

HYDROPOWER: A rural Colorado electric cooperative brings a new hydropower project online in an existing dam. (Crested Butte News)

TRANSPORTATION: An Idaho planning group advances a feasibility study of high-capacity public transit for the Boise area, but cautions the initiative won’t be realized without dedicated state funding. (Idaho Business Review)

COMMENTARY: An Arizona journalist says the upcoming election is “no less than a referendum on our climate and future” and urges voters to choose candidates accordingly. (High Country News)

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ALSO: The U.S. Energy Department awards a manganese and zinc mine under development in southern Arizona $166 million to spur production of the battery metals. (Arizona Daily Star)

CLIMATE: A California report finds greenhouse gas emissions have dropped across all sectors in the state except residential and commercial, with transportation seeing the largest year-to-year decline as electric vehicle sales climb. (KTLA, news release)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• California advocates say slow grid connections are stifling electric truck charging infrastructure buildout and zero-emission big-rig adoption. (Canary Media)
• Industry observers blame a lack of a cohesive plan for Nevada failing to build out its electric vehicle charging infrastructure on schedule. (Nevada Independent)

SOLAR: 

• A western Colorado county approves new land-use regulations aimed at preserving agricultural areas by encouraging utility-scale solar development on previously disturbed land. (Telluride Daily Planet)
• A rural Nevada county pushes back on the federal Bureau of Land Management’s plan to open hundreds of thousands of acres to solar development, fearing it will become “an industrial park.” (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
• A firm breaks ground on a 400 MW solar-plus-battery storage project in rural eastern Utah. (Solar Industry)
• California regulators schedule a public meeting on a proposed 1,150 MW solar-plus-battery storage system and green hydrogen generator in Fresno County. (news release)
• The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on the proposed Copper Rays solar project in Nye County, Nevada. (news release)

GRID: The Western power grid reached a record-breaking peak load on July 10 even though demand was relatively moderate on California’s system. (RTO Insider, subscription)

WIND: A Hawaii wind facility’s operator says a new system designed to deter bats and prevent collisions with turbines has been successful so far. (Hawaii Public Radio)

OIL & GAS: 

• New Mexico regulators propose raising oil and gas permitting fees to help fund staff to process applications and enforce rules. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
• New Mexico advocates warn that Project 2025, the right-wing playbook for a second Trump administration, calls for nixing the oil and gas drilling ban around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. (NM Political Report) 

URANIUM: The Navajo Nation and a mining company continue working to negotiate a deal that would allow uranium ore shipments across tribal land. (AZ Mirror)

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