California allows Diablo Canyon to run until 2030

NUCLEAR: California regulators vote to allow the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant to continue operating for five years beyond its scheduled 2025 retirement date. (Associated Press)

OIL & GAS: 

• Colorado advocates push back on a proposal to limit oil and gas facilities’ nitrogen oxide emissions, saying an intensity cap would be difficult to enforce and would not reduce pollution. (Colorado Sun)
• New Mexico extends an oil and gas drilling ban on state lands around Chaco Culture National Historical Park for another 20 years. (KRQE)
• Oil and gas-related jobs in Wyoming decrease by about 6% from a year ago due to lower commodity prices. (Cap City News)

CLIMATE:

• Seattle’s city council votes to require large buildings to achieve net-zero emissions by the year 2050, affecting about 4,100 structures. (KNKX)
• Washington state raises $370 million from its final carbon auction of 2023, bringing the cap-and-invest program’s first-year revenues to just over $2 billion. (Crosscut)
• Portland, Oregon’s clean energy fund brings in $540 million more than expected, prompting officials to expand spending to additional city climate projects. (OPB)

SOLAR: An Arizona solar panel installation firm ceases operations, lays off dozens of employees and files for bankruptcy. (Phoenix Business Journal, subscription)

TRANSPORTATION: An analysis finds California’s zero-emissions vehicle mandates and other climate programs could lead to a nearly $6 billion decrease in gasoline tax revenues and a shortage of highway repair funds. (CalMatters)

HYDROPOWER: Northwest tribal nations and environmentalists say their $1 billion salmon recovery deal with the Biden administration is a road map for dismantling hydropower dams. (Associated Press)

STORAGE: California’s energy commission awards a firm $30 million to build a long duration iron-air battery storage project near Mendocino. (news release)

UTILITIES:

• New Mexico regulatory examiners find the state’s largest utility made ​“imprudent” investments in the Four Corners coal plant and Palo Verde nuclear plant and should not be allowed to recoup those expenditures through a customer rate hike. (Albuquerque Journal)
• An Arizona utility regulator calls for a stronger ethics code after her colleague meets with utility investors and the American Gas Association. (12 News)

WIND: A Washington state advisory council will decide next month whether to recommend approval of a controversial proposed 200-turbine wind facility near Kennewick. (Tri Cities Area Journal of Business)

COMMENTARY: California needs to stop bickering over the minutiae of net metering policy and cost-shifting and wholeheartedly embrace rooftop solar to tackle climate change, an energy journalist argues. (Los Angeles Times)