OIL & GAS: Environmental and Indigenous groups sue the Biden administration for upholding Trump-era oil and gas leases on 45,000 acres of federal land in the Greater Chaco Region in northwest New Mexico. (Associated Press)
ALSO:
• Occidental Petroleum agrees to spend $6.5 million to reduce emissions from its Permian Basin facilities to settle a lawsuit brought by environmentalists in 2021. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
• An oil company threatens to compel a Colorado county to share the costs and responsibilities of drilling in a neighboring county through “forced pooling” if the county does not lease its land to the company. (Daily Camera)
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom blasts Valero for raking in record profits while the price of gasoline soared and renews calls for an oil windfall tax. (Los Angeles Times)
• High fossil fuel prices lead Wyoming to bring in nearly $330 million more in oil and gas tax revenues than predicted at the beginning of this fiscal year. (Oil City News)
NUCLEAR: PacifiCorp and TerraPower consider deploying five advanced nuclear reactors at retired coal plants in Wyoming in Utah in addition to the facility planned for Kemmerer, Wyoming. (Salt Lake Tribune)
UTILITIES:
• NorthWestern Energy asks Montana regulators to allow it to recover capital costs without going through a rate case process, but critics say the utility is trying to skirt a preapproval statute struck down by courts this year. (Flathead Beacon)
• Colorado clean energy advocates urge regulators and lawmakers to allow communities to purchase power directly from wholesalers, but opponents say that could disrupt utilities’ efforts to move away from coal. (CPR)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• An Oregon nonprofit launches an agriculture-equipment “rideshare” program allowing farmers to try out electric tractors for several months. (Daily Yonder)
• A small Colorado school district becomes the first in the state with an all-electric bus fleet. (Daily Camera)
WIND: A California utility agrees to purchase power from a 300 MW wind power facility proposed for northern Mexico. (Wind Power)
STORAGE: An Arizona utility plans to bring two grid-charged battery storage systems with a combined output of 340 MW online by 2024. (news release)
HYDROGEN: A New Mexico startup plans to operate its proposed nationwide network of mobile hydrogen generators from its central command center in Albuquerque. (Albuquerque Journal)
TRANSITION: Analysts predict continued wind and solar power development in oil-rich Kern County, California, will enable its economy to seamlessly weather the energy transition. (KGET)
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