Colorado to spend $200 million on heat pumps, efficiency

• Ocean Energy Management seeks nominations and industry input on proposed offshore oil and gas leasing along California’s southern and central coasts. (Reuters)

• A taxpayer advocacy group finds the Trump administration lowering federal oil and gas royalty rates has not increased average lease bids. (Nevada Current)

• ConocoPhillips plans on moving forward with oil and gas exploration drilling on Alaska’s North Slope even after its contractor’s rig toppled over in one of the firm’s fields. (Northern Journal)

• The federal Bureau of Land Management approves 15 proposed oil and gas wells in Uintah County, Utah. (news release)

CLEAN ENERGY

• The Utah lawmaker behind the state’s plug-in solar legislation expects safety certification body Underwriters Laboratory to develop a standard for the technology to bring it into compliance with the new law. (PV Magazine)

• The Northern Cheyenne Tribe in southeastern Montana installs a solar-plus-storage array as part of an effort to gain energy sovereignty. (Daily Yonder)

GRID

• Colorado residents and businesses criticize Xcel Energy over its public safety power outage during high wildfire hazard in December, saying the utility should underground its lines. (CPR)

• A journalist looks into the way California policies have helped turn a Utah agricultural community into a coal and then natural gas and hydrogen-production hub. (Deseret News)

CLIMATE

• Colorado officials say the climate change-exacerbated snow drought in the Southwest will likely lead to diminished hydropower generation at Glen Canyon Dam this summer. (Colorado Sun)

• A Democratic New Mexico lawmaker reintroduces the ​“Clear Horizons Act” that would codify the state’s greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals through 2050. (E&E News)

NUCLEAR

• A Hawaii Clean Energy Office-led task force recommends against pursuing advanced nuclear reactors in the state, citing design uncertainty and waste concerns. (Nuclear News)

GEOTHERMAL

• An Idaho consortium partners with the U.S. Energy Department on an effort to develop enhanced geothermal resources in the state. (news release)

DATA CENTERS

• A New Mexico county considers making data center incentives contingent upon the facility running on 100% renewable power and other conditions. (City Desk ABQ)

COMMENTARY

• A journalist questions southern Utah elected officials’ bid to host a spent nuclear fuel repository. (Zak Podmore)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• EV charging has kept growing despite the Trump administration — Jeff St. John

• US solar manufacturing in 2026: What the heck to expect — Julian Spector

• New Hampshire Republicans want to raise taxes on homes with solar — Sarah Shemkus

• Wisconsin debates how to pay for the power-hungry AI boom — Kari Lydersen

• North Carolina may use batteries to give new life to old solar farms — Elizabeth Ouzts

• It takes two aluminum firms to build one power-hungry smelter, apparently — Maria Gallucci