California schools transition to fully electric bus fleet

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A northern California school district becomes the nation’s first to transition to a fully electric bus fleet that is equipped with bidirectional chargers that can feed power back to the grid. (Los Angeles Times, Wired)

ALSO:

• Oregon’s electric vehicle rebate program may deplete its annual funding less than two months after launching due to higher than anticipated demand. (Statesman Journal)
• Electric vehicle maker Fisker plans to shutter its headquarters in southern California as part of an effort to stave off bankruptcy. (Los Angeles Times)

OIL & GAS: 

• Federal wildlife officials extend endangered species protections to a rare species of lizard in the Permian Basin, saying oil and gas development, sand mining and climate change threaten its survival. (Associated Press)
• The Biden administration awards New Mexico and California a total of $60 million to plug and remediate 323 high-risk orphaned oil and gas wells and associated infrastructure (news release)
• New Mexico regulators say they have plugged 138 abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells, including at least one methane ​“super emitter,” since October 2022. (news release)

COAL:

• U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, considers joining Republicans challenging the Biden administration’s proposal to end federal coal leasing in the Powder River Basin. (E&E News)
• Utah joins 24 other states in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the U.S. EPA’s new rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. (Utah News Dispatch)

POLLUTION: Utah lawmakers chide state regulators for working to comply with the U.S. EPA’s ozone pollution limits rather than pushing back against federal standards. (Salt Lake Tribune)

UTILITIES: PacifiCorp files a lawsuit accusing Wyoming utility regulators of disregarding federal requirements when approving only part of its proposed electricity rate hike in January. (WyoFile)

WIND: Developers urge California regulators to increase offshore wind energy procurement targets from 2,000 MW to 5,000 MW by 2030, saying it would keep them on track to meet climate goals. (RTO Insider, subscription)

SOLAR: Nevada creates a unit to investigate allegations of fraud, theft, unlicensed contract work and other questionable business practices in the residential solar installation industry. (KTNV)

BATTERIES: A fire at a southern California battery energy storage system burns through the facility’s roof and forces evacuations. (Fox 5 San Diego)

CLIMATE: An investigation clears Washington Gov. Jay Inslee of accusations he improperly ousted a transportation official for claiming the state’s new carbon market would raise gasoline prices. (E&E News, subscription)

CLEAN ENERGY: California’s grid sets new record highs for solar and battery output as clean power sources exceed demand at some point during 34 consecutive days. (news release)