California residents sue over Moss Landing battery blaze

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STORAGE

California residents file a lawsuit accusing the operators of the Moss Landing battery energy storage system of failing to maintain adequate safety measures after the facility caught fire last month. (Los Angeles Times)

GRID

• Southern California Edison acknowledges its equipment may have sparked a small wildfire on the same day that the deadly Los Angeles blazes erupted, but is still looking into its potential role in the larger fires. (Associated Press)

• New Mexico regulators consider proposed grid modernization rules that would define distributed generation and clarify cost-benefit analysis guidelines. (New Mexico Political Report)

• Xcel Energy plans a high-voltage transmission line from Texas to southeastern New Mexico in an effort to expand and harden SPP’s grid. (KVII)

FOSSIL FUELS

• An analysis finds California lawmakers last year rejected legislation aimed at holding fossil fuel companies accountable for pollution after the oil and gas industry spent record high amounts on lobbying and campaign contributions. (Inside Climate News)

• Advocates push back on Republican federal lawmakers’ effort to rescind a Biden-era oil and gas facility methane emissions fee, saying doing so would harm the economy and the environment. (Inside Climate News)

• Industry experts say China’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. liquefied natural gas imports could lower the fuel’s price domestically and further dampen demand for Wyoming coal. (WyoFile)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Some of the largest Biden-era clean energy-related loans now threatened by the Trump administration were awarded to projects in Western states. (Canary Media)

• A Wyoming county votes to reject a proposed 199 MW solar-plus-storage facility on private land near Casper following heated opposition. (Cowboy State Daily)

• Developers launch permitting for the proposed 1,000 MW Deschutes solar-plus-storage project on private land in northern Oregon. (Energy Storage News, subscription)

• Federal lawmakers from Alaska and Nevada introduce legislation that would streamline geothermal permitting in areas that have already been studied. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

NUCLEAR

• Utah lawmakers advance legislation aimed at encouraging nuclear power development in the state. (Deseret News)

• Federal lawmakers from southern California introduce legislation aimed at expediting reactor fuel removal from the San Onofre nuclear plant and other facilities. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

TRANSPORTATION

The Trump administration plans to investigate California’s troubled high-speed rail project’s delays and rising costs. (CalMatters)

COMMENTARY

• A Washington state editorial board urges lawmakers to pass a bill that would allow electric vehicle startups to sell directly to consumers. (Seattle Times)

• Colorado advocates call for the creation of a fossil fuel company-funded program that would help pay for climate change-exacerbated disaster recovery in the state. (Colorado Sun)