Federal court nixes New Mexico nuclear waste license

NUCLEAR: A court vacates a company’s license to develop an interim spent nuclear reactor fuel repository in southeastern New Mexico, saying federal regulators lacked authority to issue the permit. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

NATURAL GAS:

• Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signs legislation aimed at expediting Puget Sound Energy’s transition away from natural gas, including a provision critics argued would unfairly benefit the utility’s investors. (Washington State Standard)
• California proposes building codes that would make it harder to install natural gas appliances in new homes and encourage electric heat pump deployment. (E&E News, subscription)
• Oregon advocates criticize state lawmakers for traveling on a ​“misleading junket” to Denmark with a natural gas utility’s lobbyist to learn about using biomethane to reduce emissions. (Oregon Capital Chronicle)

OIL & GAS: Hundreds of people attend a public hearing in Colorado to debate proposed legislation that would ban oil and gas drilling in the state by 2030. (CBS News)

UTILITIES: Oregon consumer advocates urge regulators to implement measures aimed at mitigating utility rate increases’ impacts on customers. (KPIC)

SOLAR:

• A nonprofit and a New Mexico school district partner to install solar systems at off-grid Navajo Nation homes. (Durango Herald)
• California researchers find covering commercial and industrial rooftops with solar arrays could help close the clean energy equity gap by expanding low-income communities’ access to the technology. (news release)
• The developer of a proposed solar installation in northern Wyoming’s ​“Hail Alley” says the photovoltaic panels will be resistant to the frozen rain pellets and other extreme weather. (Cowboy State Daily)
• Two solar installations totalling 260 MW of capacity are under construction in southern Colorado. (CPR)
• A New Mexico city agrees to purchase power from a solar facility being constructed on tribal land in the northwestern part of the state, saying it will cost less than the natural gas generation it replaces. (news release)

BIOFUELS: Environmental justice advocates push back on a proposed facility in southern California that would convert scrap wood into fuel pellets, saying the increased truck traffic would pollute overburdened communities. (CBS News)

WIND: U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland meets with California tribal leaders to hear their concerns about proposed offshore wind development along the northern and central coast. (North Coast Journal)

CLIMATE: California asks a federal judge to dismiss business groups’ lawsuit seeking to overturn a new state law requiring companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related risks. (Reuters)

MINING: A company says China’s ban on some critical mineral exports increases the value of a rare earth element deposit it plans to mine in Wyoming. (Cowboy State Daily)

TRANSITION: Arizona advocates call on the state’s utility commission to help communities affected by coal plant closures after regulators denied utilities’ proposal to extend $100 million in assistance. (KNAU)