Colorado property owners sue over carbon-reduction land use codes

CLIMATE: Colorado property owners file a lawsuit seeking to block new state and local rules requiring greenhouse gas emissions reductions in large buildings, saying they are too costly and go beyond federal guidelines. (Colorado Sun)

SOLAR:

• A California rooftop solar installation firm plans to lay off about 1,000 of its 3,800 employees as it struggles to cope with a prolonged industry slump and reduced state rooftop solar incentives. (Orange County Register)
• A Colorado county approves land-use regulations for utility-scale solar installations, with less stringent rules for residential and agrivoltaic projects. (Grand Junction Sentinel)
• The Biden administration’s Solar for All program includes $500 million for tribal nations to expand solar power access to underserved communities. (ICT)
• The U.S. Agriculture Department awards four Arizona businesses nearly $1 million to install solar systems. (KTAR)
• The University of Denver partners with a firm to develop 23 MW of solar installations on and off its campus. (Solar Power World)

PUBLIC LANDS:

• The Biden administration looks to expedite clean energy development on federal land by streamlining permitting and lowering fees, while also minimizing the projects’ environmental impacts. (Canary Media)
• The Havasupai and Hopi Tribes look to defend the newly designated Ancestral Footprints national monument and its uranium mining ban near the Grand Canyon from a lawsuit. (news release)

OIL & GAS: 

• Federal regulators reject a firm’s proposal to dump oil and gas wastewater into a Wyoming aquifer, saying it could contaminate tribal nations’ drinking water. (WyoFile)
• A Colorado oil and gas industry-backed initiative that would require economic impact statements for future ballot measures qualifies for the November ballot. (CPR)

TRANSMISSION: Tribal nations and advocates ask a federal appeals court to review a lower court’s rejection of their bid to block construction on an Arizona segment of the SunZia transmission line. (E&E News, subscription)

NUCLEAR: New Mexico business leaders propose a small modular nuclear reactor at a federal radioactive waste depository in the southeastern part of the state. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

GEOTHERMAL:

• Hawaii lawmakers propose allocating $6 million to study the feasibility of developing geothermal power on state lands. (Honolulu Civil Beat)
• An Alaska firm plans to expand its geothermal exploration at an island volcano in Cook Inlet. (Petroleum News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: The Las Vegas Raiders partner with NV Energy to install electric vehicle chargers at their stadium. (Fox 5 Vegas)

COMMENTARY:

• A California university professor says the string of 37 days this spring that clean energy sources met all of the state’s power demand heralds a new era of renewable power generation. (Scientific American)

Northwest energy experts urge utilities to build on the success of the existing Western energy imbalance market by joining and supporting the California grid operator’s day-ahead regional power initiative. (Utility Dive)