California investigators: Utility tower sparked 2025 Eaton Fire

UTILITIES

• Investigators determine an idle Southern California Edison transmission tower sparked the 2025 Los Angeles-area Eaton fire that killed 19 people and destroyed more than 9,400 structures. (Los Angeles Times, Associated Press)

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes capping wildfire-related damages utilities pay to insurance companies, hedge funds, and disaster attorneys, saying the legislation would prioritize payouts to individual victims of utility-sparked blazes. (E&E News)

• An anti-poverty nonprofit accuses Public Service Company of New Mexico of forfeiting a $350 million merger termination fee from a private equity firm looking to acquire the utility. (Source NM)

NUCLEAR

• California startup Valar Atomics raises $1 billion to fund commercialization of its helium-cooled 5-MW Ward 250 nuclear microreactor, even though the design has yet to be federally licensed. (Canary Media)

• California awards General Atomics a $20 million tax credit to build a nuclear fusion blanket component testing facility in Poway. (KPBS)

FOSSIL FUELS

• New Mexico’s environment department says it plugged a record number of abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells last year with the help of Biden-era federal grants, but that about 1,600 wells still need to be remediated. (Source NM)

• The U.S. Interior Department proposes a rule that would weaken Obama-era exploratory oil and gas drilling regulations for the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf. (news release)

• A federal judge blocks the federal Bureau of Land Management from issuing 17 oil and gas leases in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska while Indigenous groups’ lawsuits seeking to block drilling are pending. (Northern Journal)

• A federal judge rejects the Trump administration’s bid to move advocacy groups’ lawsuit over oil and gas leasing in sage grouse habitat to a Wyoming court. (Cowboy State Daily)

• A federal appeals court rules that citizens can sue Suncor over its Denver-area refinery’s pollution if they can prove state regulators are too lax in enforcing laws. (Colorado Sun)

• Wyoming regulators launch an investigation of reports of foul odors emanating from the Jim Bridger coal plant’s evaporation ponds. (WyoFile)

• A U.S. Senate committee advances legislation that would double the payment period for federal coal leases in an effort to bolster industry interest, but a Wyoming economist says it may be ​“too little, too late” to make a difference. (Cowboy State Daily)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Data show that solar generation outpaced coal, gas, and other electricity sources on Utah’s grid for the first time ever this May. (Deseret News)

• Sandia National Laboratories researchers in New Mexico work to develop and commercially scale solar-powered coffee roasting technology. (KOB 4)

• Avantus closes a $1.05 billion corporate credit facility to fund 24 GW of planned solar-plus-storage installations in California and the Southwest. (ESS News)

GEOTHERMAL

• Energy firm Zanskar says it has successfully revived the Lightning Dock geothermal power plant in New Mexico to make it one of the nation’s most productive facilities of its kind. (Wired)

CLIMATE

• California advocates, local governments, and labor unions call on Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers to fully fund climate programs imperiled when regulators watered down the state’s emissions trading program. (E&E News)

GRID

• Data show solar and wind power curtailments in California continue to climb as new clean energy generation outpaces new grid capacity. (Reuters)

STORAGE

• AES withdraws its proposed grid-scale battery energy storage system in the Coyote Valley in San Jose, California, following intense local opposition. (Mercury News)