California confronts Sable over offshore drilling

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Western Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

FOSSIL FUELS

• California’s Coastal Commission plans to issue a cease-and-desist order aimed at shutting down Sable Oil’s offshore drilling project in the Santa Barbara Channel, saying the firm lacks proper state permits. (Santa Barbara News-Press)

• A news outlet looks into a private firm nominating nearly 320,000 acres of federal land in northwest Arizona for oil and gas leasing even though there are no known petroleum reserves in the area. (Arizona Republic)

• Spanish firm Repsol steps up land acquisition and oil and gas drilling on Alaska’s North Slope, becoming one of the region’s most active petroleum companies. (Northern Journal)

• Northern Natural Gas proposes expanding its Permian Basin operations with new pipelines and compressor stations. (Gas Compression)

• California advocates say the Trump administration’s planned $75 million subsidy for a stalled coal export terminal in Oakland could lead more state and federal lawmakers to join the coalition opposing the proposed project. (Politico)

GRID

• Sonoma Clean Power begins installing smart thermostats in 1,000 income-qualified households as part of an effort to expand its multi-resource virtual power plant in northern California. (Utility Dive)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Washington state’s Supreme Court begins hearing a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s approval of the proposed 1.15 GW Horse Heaven wind facility, saying it failed to consider environmental and cultural impacts. (Washington State Standard)

• A California legislative committee votes to advance a bill that would clear the way for residential plug-in solar panels. (PV Magazine)

• California’s Supreme Court decides not to hear an appeal challenging the state’s decision to slash compensation for rooftop solar, effectively ending the legal battle over the net-metering policy. (PV Magazine)

• Southern California Edison signs on to purchase output from the 128-MW BigBeau solar-plus-storage project in Kern County. (Solar Quarter)

• Sunrock Distributed Generation brings online a 1.2-MW carport solar-plus-storage project at the Monterey County Jail in Salinas, California. (King City Rustler)

DATA CENTERS

• Socorro County, New Mexico’s commissioners vote to adopt a yearlong moratorium on new data centers and related infrastructure to allow a committee to develop regulations for the facilities. (Source NM, Counterpunch)

UTILITIES

• Wyoming ranchers and farmers call on state regulators to reject Rocky Mountain Power’s proposed $71 million rate hike, saying it will disproportionately affect large-scale irrigators during an already difficult drought year. (WyoFile)

• Seattle’s city council considers proposed rules that would expand income qualifications for the city’s utility discount program. (Capitol Hill Seattle)

COMMENTARY

• An Alaska scientist urges state and federal policymakers, researchers, and industry to take a ​“fresh look” at the geothermal potential of the Copper Basin near Glenallen. (Alaska Beacon)