California regulators adopt landmark industrial electrification rule

ELECTRIFICATION: Southern California regulators approve rules aimed at slashing nitrogen oxide emissions by requiring businesses to replace fossil fueled industrial boilers and water heaters with electric ones. (Canary Media)

CARBON CAPTURE: PacifiCorp considers contracting with a New Mexico carbon capture firm formerly led by the utility’s current CEO to retrofit a Wyoming coal plant, raising conflict-of-interest concerns. (E&E News)

POLLUTION: Southern California regulators roll back a rule allowing industrial facilities to avoid paying emissions fees after advocates argued it removed the impetus for businesses to reduce pollution. (Los Angeles Times)

GRID: Regional transmission organization SPP proposes to link the Western and Eastern grids for the first time by placing seven Western entities under its tariff. (E&E News, subscription)

SOLAR: A California community choice aggregator agrees to purchase 48 MW of power from two proposed solar-plus-storage installations in the southern part of the state. (news release)

WIND:

• The federal Bureau of Land Management says it looked to strike a balance between environmental protection and the need for clean energy when proposing approval of a scaled-back version of the Lava Ridge wind facility in Idaho. (Boise State Public Radio)
• Southern Oregon residents push back on proposed offshore wind development, citing unsubstantiated claims about the effects of turbine vibrations and electromagnetic waves. (KPIC)

OIL & GAS:

• California regulators approve 10 new drilling permits in Kern County, even as Gov. Gavin Newsom slams the industry for hampering the state’s fight against climate change. (Fresno Bee)
• California regulators find a botched oil and gas pipeline pressure test contaminated a city’s drinking water with petroleum last week. (Bakersfield Californian)
• Oregon and Washington officials continue to seek the source of tar balls that washed up on beaches after collecting nearly one ton of oily residue. (KOIN)
• Colorado residents call for a county to hold hearings on a proposal to drill 166 oil and gas wells in the Denver area. (Sentinel)

CLEAN ENERGY: Washington state seeks residents’ input on utility-scale clean energy in an effort to guide future development. (NW News)

MINING:

• A Nevada county votes to support a petition calling on the federal Bureau of Land Management to block a lithium mining company’s proposed exploratory drilling, saying it threatens limited groundwater supplies. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
• The Republican-dominated U.S. House allows a law compensating former uranium industry employees exposed to radioactivity to expire after advocates had pushed to expand its scope. (Arizona Republic)

COAL: Colorado officials plan to attempt to extinguish an underground coal seam fire in an abandoned mine near the ignition point of the destructive 2021 Marshall Fire. (CBS News)

COMMENTARY: An energy columnist analyzes competing efforts to establish Western regional transmission organizations and day-ahead power markets, laying out the benefits, drawbacks and obstacles standing in the way of both options. (Canary Media)