Court rejects Oregon youth climate lawsuit

CLIMATE: A federal appeals court rejects a lawsuit filed by young Oregon climate advocates arguing the government’s fossil fuel-friendly policies violate their constitutional rights. (Associated Press)

ALSO: Montana regulators extend the public input period on a proposal to require utility commissioners to consider greenhouse gas emissions’ environmental and health impacts in decisions. (Daily Montanan)

OIL & GAS: 

• Researchers worry equipment preventing satellites from detecting oil and gas methane flaring will hamper their work and diminish industry accountability. (Guardian)
• Developers of a proposed liquefied natural gas pipeline and export terminal in Alaska call for mothballing the project if it does not secure adequate state and private funding by the end of the year. (Anchorage Daily News)
• Nevada officials predict the federal Bureau of Land Management’s increased oil and gas reclamation bond and royalty rates will eliminate drilling in the low-petroleum-producing state. (Nevada Independent)
• The U.S. House passes legislation that would reinstate oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge overturned by the Biden administration, but it is unlikely to make it through the Senate. (The Hill)

RESEARCH: Stanford University plans to investigate its long-running energy program funded by fossil fuel companies after its impartiality is questioned. (E&E News, subscription)

UTILITIES: Oregon utilities step up wildfire hazard mitigation efforts as forecasters predict an unusually hot and dry summer in the Northwest. (KGW)

COAL: Federal lawmakers from Montana push back against new U.S. EPA regulations on coal plant pollution, saying they will harm the state’s fossil fuel industry. (Daily Montanan)

CLEAN ENERGY: The Biden administration awards $43 million to 11 projects in Western states to expand rural and tribal communities’ access to small-scale clean energy. (news release)

SOLAR:

• A solar material manufacturing facility in Washington state reopens after sitting idle since 2019, sparking hopes of establishing a complete domestic photovoltaic panel supply chain. (New York Times)
• A solar component manufacturing company plans to expand its production facility in California to meet rising demand. (PV Magazine)
• The Biden administration awards a tribal energy company $2.6 million to install solar systems on Navajo Nation homes that lack electricity. (news release)
• A Colorado college program installs solar and battery systems at off-grid homes on the Navajo Nation. (Renewables Now)

HYDROGEN: A U.S. military base in Hawaii plans to integrate hydrogen production, storage and utilization technology into an existing solar-powered microgrid. (H2 View)

GRID: Officials say attacks on Western power grid infrastructure by white supremacists and other extremists is on the rise. (High Country News)

MINING: The U.S. Senate and House pass legislation that would ban low-enriched uranium imports from Russia and boost efforts to revive idled mines in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. (World Nuclear News)