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Chamber of Commerce targets California climate laws

By Jonathan P. Thompson

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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.

CLIMATE

  • The U.S. Chamber of Commerce asks the Supreme Court to pause new California laws requiring large companies to report direct and indirect carbon emissions and disclose the risks climate change poses to the firms. (Associated Press)

GRID

  • Oregon regulators reaffirm their approval of the B2H high-voltage transmission project after advocates claimed the line would serve a single data center instead of about 620,000 PacifiCorp customers in the state. (Oregonian)

  • The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation plan to build three microgrids to provide backup power during outages. (OPB)

OIL & GAS

  • Colorado advocates urge state regulators to reject Crestone Peak Resources’ proposed oil and gas drilling project near a Denver-area reservoir, saying it would threaten endangered frogs that inhabit the area. (Capital & Main)

  • U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, sets a Senate hearing to consider whether the Biden-era federal Bureau of Land Management prioritized conservation over energy development. (E&E News)

  • The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on its proposal to auction oil and gas leases in March 2026 covering 72,848 acres in Colorado and 19,957 acres in Nevada. (news release)

DATA CENTERS

  • Next 10 and UC Riverside researchers find California data centers’ electricity use and carbon emissions nearly doubled between 2019 and 2023, driven largely by AI-related computing growth. (CalMatters)

  • A Pacific Gas & Electric executive says developers tentatively have requested data center connections that would draw about 9.5 GW from the utility’s grid and nearly double the utility’s average energy demand. (Politico)

CLEAN ENERGY

  • Alamosa County, Colorado’s commissioners advance a proposed 600 MW solar-plus-storage project in the rural San Luis Valley, saying they hope it will spur transmission development into the area. (Alamosa Citizen)

  • A clean energy trade group warns the Trump administration’s pivot toward fossil fuels threatens more than half of proposed solar projects’ capacity in Nevada, Arizona, Montana, and Colorado. (KUNR)

  • The Bingham Canyon copper mine in Utah signs on to acquire 78.5 MW from the newly completed Monte Cristo wind project in Texas. (Utah News Dispatch)

  • Chandler, Arizona, breaks ground on a project to install solar arrays at 22 municipal facilities. (news release)

  • Napa Valley College considers options for a defunct solar project it installed in 2006. (Mercury News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

  • California’s Air Resources Board cancels a popular electric bicycle rebate program and diverts funding to a clean car program, citing ​“state budget constraints.” (Smart Cities Dive)

  • The Redwood Coast Airport in northern California successfully integrates two electric vehicles into its solar-plus-storage microgrid, allowing the cars to send power back to the facility. (Ars Technica)

TRANSPORTATION

  • Denver International Airport seeks proposals for new energy sources to meet projected increased electricity demand due to electrification and growing passenger numbers. (Big Pivots)

  • The Olympic fuel pipeline in the Northwest ruptures, constraining deliveries to the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. (KVNU)

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