California lawmakers look to tackle utility spending

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UTILITIES

• A Democratic California lawmaker introduces a legislative package aimed at tackling utilities’ spending by limiting their return on equity on risk-reducing investments, shifting costs from customers to utility-backed debt, and creating ​“performance-based” regulatory structures. (Canary Media)

• California State Sen. Ben Allen (D) criticizes utility executives as they threaten to protect their shareholders if legislation limiting the companies’ wildfire liabilities doesn’t pass. (Los Angeles Times)

• Generation and transmission firm BHE Montana signs on to join the California grid operator’s Extended Day-Ahead Market in 2028. (E&E News, news release)

NUCLEAR

• Navajo Nation advocates and residents wrest control of a public hearing to push back against Laramide Resources’ proposed in-situ uranium mining project near the site of a 1979 radioactive waste spill in central New Mexico. (Source NM)

• U.S. House Democrats investigate alleged insider trading by executives of Energy Fuels — a uranium firm operating in southeastern Utah — related to the Trump administration opening Bears Ears National Monument to new mining claims. (E&E News, news release)

FOSSIL FUELS

• A top California energy regulator says he is open to working with the Trump administration to address high fuel prices by keeping petroleum refineries in the state open, but criticized the administration’s efforts to restart offshore oil production and stifle offshore wind development. (Politico)

• Phillips 66, Kinder Morgan, and HF Sinclair announce their decision to move forward with the proposed Western Gateway pipeline that would carry gasoline and other refined fuels from Texas to Arizona and California. (E&E News)

• Arizona advocates say Gov. Katie Hobbs’ (D) agreement with the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe to work on a just transition for coal communities is ​“long overdue.” (news release)

CLIMATE

• Colorado ranchers file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting Boulder’s lawsuit seeking to hold petroleum corporations liable for climate change-related disasters, saying wildfire, drought, and extreme weather jeopardize their livelihoods. (Colorado Newsline)

• A federal appeals court denies an Oregon law firm’s petition to rehear a Western youth-led lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration’s fossil fuel-friendly executive orders, saying the request was unprecedented in scope. (Daily Montanan)

CLEAN ENERGY

• RepSol proposes a 500-MW solar-plus-storage facility on Arizona state trust land west of Tucson. (Arizona Daily Star)

GEOTHERMAL

• An energy company says it has successfully drilled a 1,000-foot well for a Colorado school district’s planned ground-source geothermal heat pump project. (Colorado Sun)

• A top New Mexico energy official urges tribal leaders to consider tapping geothermal resources under their lands to bolster their energy sovereignty and the state’s power grid. (Source NM)

STORAGE

• Arevon brings online its 300 MW Nighthawk battery energy storage project in Poway, California. (KPBS)

LITHIUM

• A California appeals court revokes Imperial County’s approval of Thermal Resources’ proposed geothermal and lithium extraction project near the Salton Sea, saying the county’s environmental review was inadequate. (Courthouse News)