California’s high court clears way for Oakland coal export terminal

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Western Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

FOSSIL FUELS

• California’s Supreme Court refuses to hear a bid to block a proposed coal export terminal in Oakland and clears the way for development to proceed. (Cowboy State Daily)

• Colorado advocates criticize state regulators for reaching a settlement with Suncor Energy over its Denver-area refinery’s water quality permit without public input, saying the new restrictions are inadequate. (Colorado Newsline)

• The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management curtails its environmental analysis of a planned oil and gas lease sale and its impacts on endangered Beluga whales in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. (E&E News)

• A federal Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sale brings in almost $8.5 million for 32 parcels on 39,225 acres in Wyoming. (news release)

UTILITIES

• Southern California Edison seeks public input on its plan to compensate victims of the Los Angeles-area Eaton Fire up to hundreds of thousands of dollars each, even though it hasn’t accepted responsibility for sparking the blaze. (Los Angeles Times)

• Arizona advocates push back on regulators’ plan to repeal utility energy efficiency standards, saying it could threaten grid reliability and increase electricity rates. (KJZZ)

GRID

• Pacific Gas & Electric continues a pilot program testing how virtual power plants made up of customers’ batteries and home energy controls can meet grid needs on the neighborhood level. (Canary Media)

• The U.S. Interior Department again delays its final decision on the proposed $4.2 billion Greenlink North transmission project in Nevada. (Nevada Independent)

• Palo Alto, California’s city council approves a $161.7 million battery energy storage power purchase agreement and moves forward with a $300 million grid upgrade as part of an effort to accommodate rapidly growing demand. (Palo Alto Online)

DATA CENTERS

• An NV Energy official says proposed data centers are projected to triple the Nevada utility’s 9,000 MW peak demand in coming years and that his company is ​“excited to serve this load.” (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

WIND

• California officials and industry insiders say the state is sticking with its goal of developing 25 gigawatts of floating offshore wind energy by 2045 despite expiring federal tax credits and Trump administration hostility. (Los Angeles Times)

SOLAR

• Western Colorado advocates say increasingly restrictive local land-use codes imperil utility-scale solar development and the region’s energy transition. (Sopris Sun)

• Utah firm rPlus Energies secures $100 million in tax equity funding for its 125 MW Pleasant Valley solar project under development in southern Idaho. (PV Magazine)

• Developer GlassPoint plans to install a 750 MW concentrated solar array with molten salts-based thermal storage at the Searles Valley Minerals mine in southern California. (news release)

• A developer agrees to settle an advocates’ challenge to its planned 1.24 million square foot distribution, warehousing, and manufacturing facility in southern California by installing rooftop solar and electric vehicle chargers. (news release)

PUBLIC LANDS

• U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, introduces legislation that would eliminate two national monuments in the state and nix a Grand Canyon-area ban on new uranium mining claims. (KJZZ)

• Wyoming advocates urge the federal Bureau of Land Management to retain Biden-era oil and gas drilling restrictions on the wildlife-rich ​“Golden Triangle” section of the Red Desert. (WyoFile)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• San Francisco firm EV Realty breaks ground on a 76-unit, 10 MW electric truck charging depot in southern California. (Canary Media)

LITHIUM

• Advocates call for heightened scrutiny of the proposed Hell’s Kitchen lithium extraction project in southern California and for changes aimed at protecting the environment and bringing maximum benefits for local communities. (CalMatters)

COMMENTARY

• A Stanford University professor says fast-tracking oil and gas drilling permits will not lower fuel prices, saying economics, not regulations, dictate levels of in-state crude oil production. (CalMatters)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Chart: See how solar is booming globally — Dan McCarthy

• A coal-burning steel plant may thwart Cleveland’s climate goals — Kathiann M. Kowalski

• EV Realty lands $75M to expand electric truck charging in California — Jeff St. John