Feds award Colorado coops $1.1 billion to speed the energy transition

UTILITIES: The Biden administration awards rural electric cooperatives $9.7 billion in grants and loans to expedite the clean energy transition, with about $1.1 billion going to three Colorado coops. (Big Pivots)

ALSO: Arizona regulators approve a proposed high-voltage overhead power line through midtown Tucson following pushback from residents and city officials. (Arizona Daily Star)

SOLAR: The U.S. EPA awards the Hopi Tribe in Arizona $20 million to bring solar power to about 900 off-grid homes. (KNAU)

BUILDINGS: The U.S. Energy Department awards Colorado $20 million to help implement its building performance standards aimed at cutting large structures’ carbon emissions, with the funds targeting disadvantaged communities. (Canary Media)

CLIMATE:

• Utah youth advocates ask the state Supreme Court to consider their lawsuit accusing the state’s fossil fuel-friendly policies of violating their constitutional rights after a lower court dismissed their case. (Idaho Capital Sun)
• The Biden administration awards tribal nations $300 million to fund programs aimed at combating climate change and cutting greenhouse gas emissions, including about $113 million to tribes in Arizona, Alaska and the Northwest and Colorado. (news release)

OIL & GAS: Colorado regulators plug and reclaim 25 oil and gas wells in the western part of the state that were abandoned when the operating company went bankrupt. (Grand Junction Sentinel)

HYDROPOWER: The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in southwestern Colorado completes construction on an irrigation-integrated hydropower system that harnesses excess pressure in water pipes. (Hydro Review)

STORAGE: A fire breaks out in a grid-scale battery energy storage installation in a San Diego suburb as county officials consider banning new facilities until stricter fire safety restrictions are in place. (KUSI, Voice of San Diego)

WIND:

• The Biden administration plans to advance a proposed marine sanctuary off the California coast that would carve out space for offshore wind transmission. (E&E News)
• Democratic U.S. senators from Oregon criticize federal regulators for allegedly rushing offshore wind leasing along the state’s southern coast as five companies prepare to bid on the parcels. (KDRV, OPB)
• Federal data show Colorado has the nation’s third highest number of wind energy-related jobs per capita behind North and South Dakota. (Axios)

COMMENTARY: An economist argues that more federal just transition efforts should be directed toward oil and gas communities to help devise holistic economic development strategies. (The Conversation)