California asks to run gas plants without pollution restrictions

GRID: California’s grid operator asks the Biden administration to allow natural gas power plants to run without pollution restrictions for 60 days to reduce grid strain. (Reuters)

ALSO: Hawaii embarks on a program allowing two-way integration of residential solar-plus-storage systems into the grid to modulate electricity supply and demand. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, subscription)

COAL:
• A federal judge strikes down an Obama-era rule that closed a loophole allowing coal companies to reduce royalties for mining on public lands, but keeps an oil and gas-related rule intact. (E&E News)
• Colorado and Wyoming energy communities explore non-fuel uses for coal to prop up regional economies as the industry declines. (Grand Junction Sentinel).
• New Mexico regulators wrap up a hearing on Public Service Company of New Mexico’s proposal to turn over its share of a coal power plant to a Navajo Nation-backed company. (Santa Fe New Mexican) 

OIL & GAS:
• The House Natural Resources Committee passes a bill that would halt oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, raise royalties on public land drilling and levy royalties on flared or vented methane. (Reuters)
• New Mexico environmentalists and the oil and gas industry debate the proposed federal endangered species listing of the lesser prairie chicken. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

CLIMATE: California, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Nevada set all-time summer heat records in 2021, according to federal data. (Los Angeles Times)

SOLAR: The federal Bureau of Land Management begins the bidding process to lease 4,800 acres in Utah for solar development. (news release)

GEOTHERMAL: Construction begins on a 30 MW geothermal power project in Mammoth Lakes, California. (news release)

HYDROGEN: Chevron is poised to acquire a stake in a Utah project that would produce green hydrogen and store it in underground salt caverns to create a ​“Western Energy Hub.” (Power Magazine)

WIND: California’s senate passes a bill directing state agencies to set offshore wind production goals and to create a plan to deploy large-scale wind power by 2045. (news release)

BIOFUELS: Colorado’s Supreme Court allows a biogas producer’s $100 million lawsuit against state regulators to proceed. (Colorado Sun)

TRANSPORTATION: Xcel Energy introduces a program to expedite electric vehicle deployment in Colorado, which includes incentives for low-income customers. (Colorado Public Radio)

COMMENTARY:
• Colorado county leaders say the state’s strongest-in-the-nation methane emissions rules have spawned a thriving methane mitigation industry. (Colorado Sun)
• The CEO of a New Mexico rural cooperative that left its generation & transmission association five years ago says distribution cooperatives ​“need to serve their members’ energy goals, not the financial objectives of their G&T providers.” (Utility Dive)
• Converting Oregon’s heavy trucks, busses and vans to cleaner power sources would cut climate pollution and improve the state’s air quality, an environmental advocate says. (Portland Tribune)