Colorado governor orders public safety outage probe

UTILITIES: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis directs state utility regulators to investigate Xcel Energy’s planned outage to reduce wildfire hazard last weekend and consider reforming public safety power shutoff guidelines. (CPR)

ALSO: Hawaii lawmakers advance legislation that would allow the state’s largest electric utility to pass on wildfire-risk mitigation costs to ratepayers. (Hawaii Tribune-Herald)

OIL & GAS: 

• The federal Bureau of Land Management removes about 3,000 acres from an upcoming oil and gas lease sale in the Permian Basin to protect underground cave systems and aquifers. (Carlsbad Current-Argus, subscription)
• Washington state, federal and tribal agencies complete the emergency response to a gasoline pipeline spill state last December. (news release)

METHANE: California regulators call on a city to track down and mitigate methane leaks in a park built atop a long-shuttered municipal landfill. (Los Angeles Times)

TRANSPORTATION:

• U.S. Sen Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, joins Republicans voting to roll back a Biden administration rule requiring state transportation departments to set vehicle carbon emissions reduction goals. (Nevada Current)
• The Biden administration awards a Washington city $14.5 million to purchase electric buses and otherwise support public transit. (Spokesman-Review)
• An Arizona city votes to keep its public transit system fare-free through June 2025. (Arizona Luminaria)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Colorado city’s police force adds electric bicycles to its patrol fleet to give officers more flexibility and speed. (KDVR)

SOLAR:

• California’s Supreme Court agrees to consider advocates’ challenge to 2023 rules slashing net-metering compensation for rooftop solar. (E&E News, subscription)
• A developer proposes two solar-plus-battery storage installations with a combined 400 MW generating capacity in southeastern New Mexico. (Renewables Now)
• A 12.5 MW solar-plus-battery storage installation comes online in Oahu, Hawaii. (Pacific Inno)

GRID:

• A study finds virtual power plants could serve more than 15% of California’s peak electricity demand and save about $750 million annually in grid costs by 2035. (E&E News, subscription)
• Advocates propose transitioning oversight of the Western energy imbalance and day-ahead power market from California’s grid operator to an independent regional entity. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• The U.S. Energy Department awards Washington State University $2.4 million to research extreme weather’s effects on the power grid. (Pullman Radio)

BIOFUELS: A data center operator plans to begin fueling backup diesel generators with hydrotreated vegetable oil at its facilities in Oregon and California in an effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. (Register)

MINING:

• New Mexico’s and Arizona’s governors call on the Biden administration to create a new federal process for cleaning up abandoned uranium mines. (Albuquerque Journal)
• Montana lawmakers urge the U.S. Congress to support an effort to extract rare earth elements and other minerals from contaminated water in the shuttered Berkeley Pit copper mine. (Montana Free Press)
• A company plans to reopen a uranium mine in Wyoming that has been idle since 1991. (KTJA)