California advocates: Overhaul the state low-carbon fuel program

BIOFUELS: California advocates call on the state to overhaul its low-carbon fuel standard program to support and fund electric vehicles and charging infrastructure rather than biofuels. (Canary Media)

OIL & GAS: U.S. Coast Guard officials say an oil sheen spotted off southern California’s coast last week may have emanated from a natural seep on the ocean floor. (ABC News)

COAL:

• The U.S., Canada and Indigenous groups announce a plan to tackle British Columbia coal mine pollution contaminating Northwest rivers and lakes. (Associated Press)
• The developer of a proposed coal export terminal in Oakland, California, sues the city for blocking the facility even though a judge ruled in January the project could move forward. (East Bay Times)

SOLAR: New Mexico’s Supreme Court rejects investor-owned utilities’ bid to loosen the state’s community solar program’s rules. (Albuquerque Journal)

GRID: Federal regulators approve new rules allowing California’s grid operator to participate in an extended day-ahead power market once it goes live. (RTO Insider, subscription)

CLEAN ENERGY: A California power agency awards cities in the northern part of the state $11.5 million to help fund clean energy-related projects. (Daily Journal)

CLIMATE: The U.S. Energy Department awards five New Mexico startups over $6 million to research, develop and scale up climate technology. (news release)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• California advocates worry rising power costs may discourage residents from switching to electric vehicles, even though charging EVs remains cheaper than fueling gasoline cars. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Washington state school districts pilot a zero-emissions vehicle technician training curriculum. (news release)

UTILITIES:

• California regulators approve a program aimed at encouraging major utilities to underground power lines to reduce wildfire hazard. (Utility Dive)
• California’s public utility commission urges federal regulators to reject a utility’s request to recover transmission projects’ costs while they are under construction. (Utility Dive)
• Regulators approve Public Service Company of New Mexico’s efficiency incentive programs. (Albuquerque Journal)
• An analysis finds Utah and Wyoming have the nation’s lowest electricity rates, while Hawaii’s are the highest. (Deseret News)
• California regulators are set to consider an advocacy groups’ petition calling on them to factor environment and public health into clean energy development decisions. (news release)

MINING:

• Tribal nation citizens urge a federal human rights commission to push back on a predicted uranium mining boom, saying Indigenous communities continue to suffer from Cold War-era extraction of the fuel. (Inside Climate News)
• A Navajo Nation-owned energy company partners with a mining firm on a proposed lithium extraction project in Arizona. (Mining Technology)

COMMENTARY:

• A Utah editorial board calls on Gov. Spencer Cox to veto legislation that would allow the state to purchase a coal power plant to keep it operating beyond its scheduled retirement date, saying it would risk billions of taxpayer dollars. (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Arizona advocates urge residents to vote for non-incumbent, pro-clean energy candidates for the board of Salt River Project, the nation’s largest public power company. (Arizona Republic)