California sues Trump over wind buyout

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CLEAN ENERGY

• California files a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration’s deal paying off Golden State Wind to abandon its offshore wind leases along the state’s coast, saying the agreement jeopardizes thousands of jobs and the state’s investments in the industry. (New York Times)

• University of California Davis researchers look for ways to combine solar energy and farming to help crops withstand climate change-related stress. (KPBS)

• Pacific Gas & Electric awards WestLight Energy a $7.5 million grant to help fund a proposed community solar-plus-storage system in Pescadero, California. (Daily Journal)

UTILITIES

• California lawmakers reject a bill that would have capped utilities’ wildfire-related damage payments to insurance companies, survivors, local governments, and corporations, instead agreeing on a narrower utility-wildfire related legislative package. (CalMatters)

• Boulder, Colorado, officials expect Xcel Energy to meet its 2027 emissions reductions target required by its franchise agreement with the city, but say the utility is falling behind on reaching 2030 goals. (Boulder Reporting Lab)

GEOTHERMAL

• The Frontier Observatory for Research in Geothermal Energy, or FORGE, launches a four-month study in Utah exploring ​“unknown variables required to ensure long term enhanced geothermal systems production remains commercially viable.” (Utility Dive)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The federal Bureau of Land Management plans to auction 600 acres of oil and gas leases adjacent to a contested planned drilling operation near Aurora Reservoir in Colorado. (Colorado Sun)

• An analysis finds oil and gas companies spent more than $17 million during the first half of the year lobbying against California legislation proposing stricter regulations and new costs and liabilities for the fossil fuel industry. (Grist)

• New Mexico economists say inflated oil prices resulting from the Iran war will give state lawmakers about $924 million in ​“new money” from oil and gas-related taxes and royalties for the 2028 budget (Alamogordo Town News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• West Coast officials launch an effort to establish a zero-emission truck corridor from Canada to Mexico by 2030 that would include shared policies and standardized public chargers along one of the nation’s busiest freight corridors. (Los Angeles Times)

• Boise, Idaho’s school district adds eight electric buses to its fleet and plans to deploy them in high-traffic areas. (Idaho EdNews)

DATA CENTERS

• California lawmakers forge a compromise on legislation aimed at preventing the rising costs of data center-driven electricity demand and related utility infrastructure from being foisted on other consumers. (Los Angeles Times)

NUCLEAR

• Anfield Energy looks to raise at least $50 million in financing to refurbish and reopen its Shootaring uranium mill in Utah, one of the nation’s three licensed and permitted facilities of its kind. (Northern Miner)

COMMENTARY

• A New Mexico advocate says Bernalillo County’s new community benefits requirements for clean energy developers seeking incentives and tax breaks will benefit the grid and the region’s residents. (Albuquerque Journal)