California offshore wind lease auction brings in $757 million

WIND: The first federal offshore wind lease auction in the Pacific Ocean nets $757 million in winning bids for five parcels along the northern California coast, where deep waters will necessitate floating turbines. (CNBC)

SOLAR: Researchers find wildfire smoke reduced California solar installations’ output by 10% to 30% in September 2020 compared to previous years. (Bloomberg)

CLEAN ENERGY: Idaho advocates form an advisory council aiming to educate policy-makers and residents about clean energy’s economic benefits. (Idaho Capital Sun)

UTILITIES: New Mexico advocates criticize the absence of utility commission nominees from the Navajo Nation or northwestern New Mexico, where regulators have ruled on high-profile cases. (Associated Press)

TRANSPORTATION:
• Portland, Oregon, becomes the nation’s first city to phase out the sale of petroleum diesel by 2030 by blending it with increasing amounts of cleaner biofuels. (Oregonian)
• An Arizona startup opens a facility in Tucson where it plans to convert captured carbon dioxide into aviation fuel and other goods. (Tucson Sentinel)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A federal judge rejects Tesla’s bid for a retrial after a jury found the company liable for racial discrimination at its factory in Fremont, California. (Reuters)

OIL & GAS:
• A Colorado real estate firm proposes drilling an oil and gas well on the edge of a master planned community the company developed. (Greeley Tribune)
• Colorado environmentalists plan to rally at U.S. Forest Service offices to protest the agency’s approval of a proposed oil railway from the Uinta Basin in Utah. (Post-Independent)

BATTERIES:
• The U.S. Energy Department awards California researchers $16 million to scale up lithium-ion battery recycling and to develop methods to extend energy storage systems’ lives. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• An Oregon researcher works to develop anion batteries that would use iron or carbon in place of lithium, cobalt and nickel, making them more sustainable. (KGW)
• A California recycling company is fined $25,000 for improperly disposing of lithium-ion batteries and igniting several garbage truck fires. (E-Scrap News)

HYDROPOWER: Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska begins acquiring almost all of its electricity from hydropower, reducing its reliance on diesel generators. (KINY)

COMMENTARY: A Colorado advocate calls on regulators to create rules addressing the cumulative impacts of oil and gas development, rather than getting bogged down in data-gathering and emissions inventories. (Colorado Sun)