California’s oil and gas climate lawsuit faces hurdles

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Western Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

CLIMATE

• Legal experts say state and local governments’ lawsuits seeking to hold the oil and gas industry accountable for climate change’s impacts face legal hurdles, including fossil fuel-friendly government policies. (CalMatters)

• A firm proposes developing a carbon-neutral cement production facility in southern California. (Global Cement)

GRID

• Energy experts condemn the Trump administration’s Bonneville Power Administration staff firings, saying they will imperil grid reliability without saving taxpayer dollars since BPA is a self-funding federal agency. (Seattle Times)

• State lawmakers, including in California and Utah, introduce legislation aimed at addressing data centers’ growing demand on the power grid. (E&E News)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Some central California residents push back on a proposed 75 MW solar-plus-storage installation over safety concerns, citing the recent blaze at the Moss Landing battery facility. (Merced Focus)

• Arizona advocates criticize the Salt River Project utility for setting a low compensation rate for rooftop solar, saying it will discourage distributed generation adoption. (news release)

• A developer brings a community solar project online designed to serve disadvantaged and low-income households in San Jose, California. (news release)

• Oregon advocates say the state’s community solar program could perish without needed reforms to combat delays, capacity limits and obstructive power companies. (Oregonian)

POLLUTION

• Arizona lawmakers urge the Trump administration to exempt the Phoenix area from federal ozone rules after the U.S. EPA found air pollution reached ​“serious” levels, saying the problem is ​“uncontrollable.” (Cronkite News)

UTILITIES

• Southern California Edison’s parent company acknowledges its equipment may have sparked the deadly Eaton Fire, but assures investors self-insurance and the state’s wildfire fund would buffer the company’s finances. (Utility Dive)

• California Gov. Gavin Newsom calls on utilities to bury power lines as they rebuild following the devastating Los Angeles-area fires. (E&E News)

COMMENTARY

• A California editorial board calls on regulators to address rising electricity bills by reining in utilities’ profits, not slashing compensation for legacy rooftop solar. (Tribune)

• A California university professor urges Los Angeles to rebuild the homes and businesses destroyed by this winter’s fires to be all-electric, saying including natural gas hookups increases cost, danger and climate impacts. (PV Magazine)

• A California journalist says the Trump administration’s firing of federal employees and shuttering of Interior Department offices could hamper its ​“energy dominance” agenda. (Quitting Carbon)