Arizona-Utah uranium hauling plan draws opposition

MINING: Indigenous and environmental advocates push back on a company’s plan to haul uranium ore from a northern Arizona mine to its southeastern Utah mill, citing safety and environmental risks. (Arizona Republic)

ALSO: The U.S. EPA adds a former uranium mining district on the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona to the federal Superfund list, unlocking funds to clean up the contaminated site. (Arizona Republic)

OIL & GAS: Colorado regulators renew a Denver-area petroleum refinery’s water quality permit and require it to limit discharges of PFAS and other hazardous substances. (Colorado Sun)

SOLAR:

• A developer proposes a 600 MW solar-plus-storage facility on private land in southeastern Colorado. (News-Tribune)
• The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on a proposed 400 MW solar-plus-storage installation and associated transmission line in northern Nevada. (news release)

STORAGE: A developer plans to quadruple the battery capacity of a 400 MW solar-plus-storage facility in development in southeastern Utah. (Energy Storage News)

UTILITIES: A New Mexico advocacy group petitions the state’s Supreme Court to toss regulators’ decision allowing a utility to partially recover coal plant investments from ratepayers. (NM Political Report)

POLLUTION: Utah, Wyoming, Alaska and Montana join 21 other Republican-led states in a legal bid to block new Biden administration rules aimed at reducing deadly soot pollution. (Associated Press)

CLIMATE:

• An Oregon appeals court rejects several municipalities’ bid to toss state climate rules governing local land use, transportation and development. (OPB)
• A series of severe late-winter storms turn California’s snowpack deficit into a surplus, easing concerns about summer wildfires and drought-diminished hydropower capacity. (Washington Post)

GRID:

• A severe cold snap in the Northwest that left thousands of households without power this winter alerts utilities to the need to harden the power grid against extreme weather, wildfires and human attacks. (Cascadia Daily News)
• A report predicts energy-intensive semiconductor manufacturing facilities planned for Arizona and Idaho could strain power grids and increase demand for fossil fuel-generated electricity. (Verge)

NUCLEAR: A federal court begins reviewing a petition calling for the cancellation of a license for an interim spent nuclear reactor fuel repository proposed for southeastern New Mexico. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

TRANSITION: Arizona local officials look to fill the economic void left by impending coal plant closures after state regulators reject utilities’ proposed transition funding. (Arizona Republic, subscription)

ELECTRIFICATION: A California startup looks to expand its line of smart circuit panels to enable home electrification without distribution grid upgrades. (Canary Media)

INNOVATION: Colorado researchers develop a flexible fabric-like power generating material. (9 News)