Colorado regulators review oil and gas drilling health effects

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FOSSIL FUELS

• A Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission research review finds those living near oil and gas facilities are at risk of short-term health effects, but regulations effectively mitigate long-term impacts. (Westword)

• Los Angeles advocates call on the city to revoke E&B Natural Resource’s license to operate an oil and gas well in South L.A., saying its toxic emissions are harming the neighborhood’s residents. (LAist)

• A federal judge signs off on a deal removing Endangered Species Act protections for the dunes sagebrush lizard that lives in the Permian Basin oil and gas fields. (E&E News)

• Navajo Nation residents and advocates push back on a tribal company’s bid to expand its coal mine in northwestern New Mexico and license it to operate for another 110 years. (KNAU)

• The U.S. Interior Department releases a report estimating that existing, active mines on federal lands contain 4.2 billion short tons of coal reserves and that unmined public lands contain an additional 356 billion tons of the fuel, saying that is enough to supply the nation for at least 600 years. (news release)

GEOTHERMAL

• Rodatherm Energy proposes a 10-MW advanced geothermal plant on private land in Brigham City, Utah. (KSL)

CLIMATE

• Oregon’s governor-appointed Climate Action Commission calls on lawmakers and regulators to protect and restore forests, grasslands, and wetlands to enable them to capture and store more carbon dioxide. (Oregon Capital Chronicle)

• Oregon advocates say they’ve gathered enough signatures to put a proposed climate tax for Eugene on November’s ballot that would fund clean energy projects and green jobs programs. (OPB)

CLEAN ENERGY

• University of California Berkeley develops a plan to limit and mitigate a clean energy project’s harm to native butterfly habitat after wildlife advocates sound alarms. (CBS News)

DATA CENTERS

• Wyoming regulators reject Anschutz Corporation’s bid to classify its proposed solar and natural gas plants that would directly power data centers as non-public utilities. (WyoFile)

NUCLEAR

• The Port of Long Beach signs an agreement with the U.S. Maritime Administration to use and test small modular nuclear reactors in commercial vessels, ports, and other marine facilities. (Riviera)

• An empty uranium ore-hauling truck crashes and rolls over while crossing the Navajo Nation, prompting calls for an investigation into the accident and stricter regulations on transporting the fuel. (KNAU)

PUBLIC LANDS

• New Mexico tribal leaders and federal lawmakers call on the Trump administration to back off its proposal to rescind an oil and gas leasing ban around Chaco Culture National Historical Park in the San Juan Basin. (Source NM)

HYDROGEN

• Southern California water and agricultural firm Cadiz partners with RIC Energy to develop solar facilities to power its proposed green hydrogen production facility on its ranch in San Bernardino County. (news release)

GRID

• Washington state environmentalists and construction workers urge policymakers to streamline transmission permitting to enable clean energy development and create jobs. (KUOW)

• Extreme heat strains power grids and lightning strikes utility equipment in Oregon, leaving at least 10,000 Portland General Electric customers without power. (Oregonian)

COMMENTARY

• Colorado elected officials call on federal lawmakers and residents to push back on the federal Bureau of Land Management’s plan to lease out hundreds of thousands of acres to oil and gas companies and to relax reclamation bonding rules. (Colorado Sun)