California lawmakers open door for nuclear plant to keep running

NUCLEAR: California lawmakers pass a bill to lend Pacific Gas & Electric $1.4 billion and otherwise support the utility’s bid to keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant running beyond its planned 2025 retirement date. (Los Angeles Times)

COAL: Hawaii’s only coal plant shuts down, forcing utilities to rely on oil-fired power until solar and wind facilities delayed by supply chain constraints come online. (Los Angeles Times)

OIL & GAS:
• California lawmakers pass a bill banning new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of houses, schools or other ​“sensitive receptors,” while requiring emissions monitoring of existing wells in the buffer zone. (Los Angeles Times)
• Hawaii families sue the federal government for allegedly failing to warn residents that drinking water had been contaminated by leaks from a U.S. Navy fuel storage facility. (USA Today)
• The Biden administration asks a federal court to review its ban on new oil and gas permitting off the coast of California, after a court previously blocked the ban. (Reuters)
• More than 1,000 oil and gas wells in New Mexico remain idle under a state program allowing companies to temporarily stop running pumps during the pandemic. (KUNM)
• A watchdog group finds oil and gas companies flared or vented nearly $1 billion worth of natural gas from operations on public lands over the last decade, depriving federal coffers of some $76 million in royalties. (E&E News, subscription) 

TRANSPORTATION: California lawmakers pass a bill that would offer a $1,000 tax credit to lower-income households that don’t own a car. (Bloomberg)

GRID: California Gov. Gavin Newsom declares a state of emergency and grid operators call for statewide electricity conservation measures as a prolonged heat wave moves into the region. (Mt. Shasta News)

UTILITIES:
• California lawmakers pass a bill aiming to speed up a review of Pacific Gas & Electric’s plan to bury 10,000 miles of power lines to reduce wildfire risk. (Bloomberg)
• San Diego Gas & Electric funds a California college’s tuition-free program training arborists to clear trees away from utility lines to reduce wildfire risk. (Times of San Diego)

CLIMATE: Irvine, California, climate activists say the city is not doing enough to achieve its goal of becoming a zero-carbon economy by 2030. (Los Angeles Times)

STORAGE: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill aimed at expediting energy storage deployment by ending a requirement that land be subdivided when it’s leased for storage.
(Energy Storage News)

SOLAR:
• A Colorado utility completes construction of a 4.5 MW solar-plus-storage installation on a college campus in the western part of the state. (9News)
• A Hawaii university completes construction of one of the nation’s largest solar parking canopies. (news release)
• California lawmakers pass a bill requiring large utilities to create community solar programs for lower-income customers. (news release)

EFFICIENCY: Generators installed on a California gym’s stationary workout bikes send human power back to the grid. (Spectrum News)