Clean energy blockade upended

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.

CLEAN ENERGY

• A federal judge sides with clean energy groups to pause Trump administration policies blocking wind and solar projects that require federal permits. (Canary Media)

• Pima County, Arizona, is among jurisdictions letting solar developers conduct remote virtual inspections, helping speed projects by avoiding time-consuming visits from municipal officials. (Canary Media)

• NextEra inks a transmission interconnection agreement for an unspecified 200 MW of wind power under development in western Wyoming. (WyoFile)

• A solar-plus-storage array is curbing power bills and preventing outages that could jeopardize food supplies at a Meals on Wheels operation in Portland. (KGW)

• Advocates rally across 19 Utah cities to get their leaders to recommit to a 100%-renewables program. (Fox 13)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Xcel Energy’s Colorado subsidiary says it’s in talks with Tri-State Generation to secure capacity from the Craig coal plant’s Unit 1 to avoid a potential summer power shortfall — a unit that the Trump administration has kept online past its planned retirement. (RTO Insider)

• Colorado regulators approve an oil and gas drilling plan in Aurora, providing a test for a state law that requires officials to consider the health and safety impacts of new drilling projects and engage local communities. (Colorado Sun)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• California drivers bought about 57,000 EVs during the first quarter of 2025, down nearly 40,000 from the same period last year. (E&E News)

• Colorado registrations of new EVs and plug-in hybrids plunged 64% in the first quarter of 2026, compared to 2025, dragging the state’s entire new car market down. (Colorado Sun)

HYDROPOWER

• The Upper Colorado River Commission approves a record release of water from Flaming Gorge to ensure Lake Powell doesn’t fall below hydropower-generating levels later this summer. (Salt Lake Tribune)

EMISSIONS

• Consulting firm E3 finds the Pacific Northwest can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as much as 96% from 1996 levels by 2030, though it’ll need to address regulatory barriers and transmission shortages first. (RTO Insider, report)

• Two Colorado executives and a former Colorado School of Mines professor buy an abandoned mine with plans to plug its methane leaks. (Aspen Times)