Feds acknowledge Columbia River hydropower dams harm salmon, tribes

HYDROPOWER: The Biden administration acknowledges that federally operated hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River have harmed salmon and the tribal nations reliant on them, bolstering efforts to decommission the facilities. (Associated Press)

OIL & GAS: 

• California advocates worry an oil and gas operator will be allowed to skirt a new law requiring firms to post reclamation bonds before merging with other companies. (Capital & Main)
• Republican politicians travel to the Permian Basin to attack the Biden administration’s alleged anti-fossil fuel policies even though the field continues to set oil production records. (E&E News, subscription)

COAL: Utah lawmakers water down a law aimed at keeping a coal plant operating beyond its planned retirement date following widespread opposition from advocates and utilities. (Utah News Dispatch)

TRANSMISSION:

• Advocates say the 18-year permitting saga for the SunZia transmission line in the Southwest is a success story illustrating the challenges of building large-scale clean energy infrastructure. (Heatmap)
• NV Energy seeks incentives to help it recover projected costs of the planned multi-billion-dollar Greenlink transmission project before it comes online. (Nevada Current)

SOLAR:

• The U.S. Agriculture Department awards a western Colorado electric cooperative $72.6 million to help fund a planned 20 MW solar-plus-battery storage facility. (Colorado Sun)
• A California startup designing software and robots to facilitate solar development on challenging terrain secures $20 million in financing. (Bloomberg)
• A solar array tracker and software producer opens a new manufacturing facility in Las Vegas. (news release)

ELECTRIFICATION: California lawmakers consider legislation that would require labels on gas stoves warning customers of the appliances’ health risks. (Politico)

STORAGE: California awards three firms $26.7 million to develop long-duration energy storage projects to serve disadvantaged, low-income and tribal communities. (Utility Dive)

CLIMATE:

• A Colorado city implements the nation’s first embodied carbon energy code aimed at improving building materials’ sustainability. (Boulder Reporting Lab)
• California advocates say a planned freeway expansion aimed at reducing congestion will result in more traffic and greenhouse gas emissions and imperil state climate goals. (Los Angeles Times)

NUCLEAR: Wyoming steps up funding for a company looking to develop nuclear micro-reactors to power large industrial operations and augment the grid. (Cowboy State Daily)

PUBLIC LANDS: Wyoming and Utah file a lawsuit seeking to block the federal Bureau of Land Management’s new public land rule that puts conservation on a par with energy development, saying it threatens their resource-based economies. (WyoFile)

MINING: Federal lawmakers from Arizona and New Mexico introduce legislation aimed at reforming antiquated mining laws to better equip them to handle a pending rush on energy transition-related minerals. (NM Political Report)