Big batteries help Arizona utility weather extreme heat

STORAGE: Arizona Public Service activates grid-scale battery installations at nine solar facilities, helping the utility meet record high power demand during the ongoing heat wave. (Arizona Republic, subscription)

UTILITIES: Pacific Gas & Electric ends its $2.5 billion tree-trimming program, saying there are more effective ways to mitigate wildfire hazard such as undergrounding utility lines. (CBS Sacramento)

OIL & GAS:
• California advocates propose a ballot initiative that would require health and safety buffer zones around oil and gas wells and counter an oil industry attempt to overturn a similar setback law. (Los Angeles Times)
• Wyoming economists attribute stronger than expected oil and gas tax revenues to a winter cold snap that increased natural gas demand and prices. (WyoFile)
• New Mexico regulators receive $1.1 million in federal funding for pipeline and natural gas storage facility inspections and regulation enforcement. (NM Political Report)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Zero-emissions vehicles make up 25% of all new car sales in California for the first time during the second quarter of this year. (E&E News, subscription)
• A class-action lawsuit in California accuses Tesla of falsely advertising vehicle driving ranges. (Reuters)
• A southern California city plans to launch an electric bicycle lending program aimed at building interest in zero-emissions mobility. (Los Angeles Times)
• An Oregon nonprofit plans to launch a low-cost electric vehicle rental program in low-income Las Vegas neighborhoods. (KVVU)

EFFICIENCY: California officials say a new method of measuring the value of and incentivizing efficiency investments has helped reduce grid strain. (Canary Media)

CLEAN ENERGY: A Washington state college receives $1 million in federal funding to develop a clean energy center. (Oregon Business)

CLIMATE: A timber company looks to terminate a forest carbon-offset program in southern Oregon after a 2021 wildfire destroyed much of the project’s trees. (OPB)

SOLAR: Advocates urge a court to overturn a northern California county’s approval of a proposed solar facility, saying it violates open space preservation ordinances. (The Independent)

WIND: California regulators extend the public input period on a proposed offshore wind marine terminal in Humboldt Bay. (Times-Standard)

CRITICAL MINERALS:
• Federal regulators issue a source material license to a proposed rare earth elements processing plant in Wyoming. (news release)
• A Permian Basin drilling firm works to extract lithium from oil and gas wastewater. (Bloomberg Law, subscription)

NUCLEAR: A consortium of municipal utilities applies for a federal permit to begin preliminary construction work on a proposed small modular nuclear reactor facility in Idaho. (news release)

COMMENTARY: A Nevada physician says withdrawing the state from a national climate alliance will result in more pollution and stifle the burgeoning clean energy economy. (Nevada Independent)