California lawmakers push last-minute climate, energy bills

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CLIMATE

• California lawmakers introduce a last-minute bill package that would bolster the state’s utility wildfire fund, expand and integrate the state’s grid into an independent regional entity, and reauthorize the carbon cap-and-invest program. (Utility Dive, Los Angeles Times)

GRID

• Think tank GridLab says California utilities can defer or avoid infrastructure upgrades and save customers money by using virtual power plants and grid flexibility to relieve pressure at distribution network ​“sweet spots.” (Canary Media)

• California regulators order utilities to develop and offer dynamic demand-flexibility rates, which are expected to reduce solar curtailment and bring down costs. (PV Magazine)

CLEAN ENERGY

• A southern Idaho county’s commissioners vote to effectively ban utility-scale solar installations on irrigated agricultural land and ​“farmland of statewide or local importance,” sparking advocates’ pushback. (Idaho Statesman)

• California lawmakers consider legislation aimed at expediting solar development on water-stressed farmland. (CalMatters)

• Data show that Los Angeles is on pace this year to have its fewest number of new rooftop solar installations since 2020. (LAist)

• New Mexico’s new Local Solar Access Fund expects to begin accepting applications for state money early next year. (Source NM)

PUBLIC LANDS

• The Trump administration moves to rescind the Biden-era federal Bureau of Land Management’s public lands rule that aimed to put conservation on a par with energy development, mining, and grazing. (OPB, news release)

FOSSIL FUELS

• California lawmakers introduce last-minute legislation that would waive some environmental reviews for new oil and gas wells in Kern County, but heightens reviews of proposed pipeline rehabilitations. (KPBS)

• Crimson Midstream says it may have to shut down California’s largest inland oil pipeline within months if state regulators don’t approve a requested rate increase, potentially choking off supplies to Bay Area refiners. (Bloomberg)

UTILITIES

• A federal judge rules in favor of PacifiCorp subsidiary Rocky Mountain Power in its lawsuit over Wyoming regulators discounting infrastructure expenses the utility hoped to pass on to ratepayers. (WyoFile)

• Xcel Energy plans to sell water rights originally intended for a coal plant that was never built to farmers in eastern Colorado. (Colorado Sun)

TRANSPORTATION

• The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority launches the nation’s first hydrogen-powered passenger train on a nine-mile route in southern California. (Press-Enterprise)

HYDROPOWER

• Northwest states, tribes, and environmental groups revive lawsuits seeking to decommission or revise operations of Columbia River Basin hydropower dams to protect endangered salmon and other fish after the Trump administration pulled out of a legal ceasefire. (Washington State Standard)

CARBON CAPTURE

• The U.S. EPA approves Arizona’s proposal to oversee carbon dioxide and other underground injection wells. (E&E News)

CRITICAL MATERIALS

• Energy Fuels says it has successfully manufactured rare earth permanent magnets for EVs using materials processed at its White Mesa mill in southeast Utah. (news release)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Chart: Trump is slowing climate progress. Here’s how much. — Dan McCarthy

• Illinois farmers find that sheep and solar arrays go well together — Kari Lydersen