Feds look to overhaul sage grouse rules to accommodate drilling

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Western Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

OVERSIGHT

• The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on its proposal to amend greater sage grouse management plans to open more public land to energy development and mining. (Cowboy State Daily, news release)

BUILDINGS

• Colorado adopts a new building code designed to decarbonize and increase efficiency in residential and commercial buildings without increasing housing prices. (CPR)

CLEAN VEHICLES

• Switch Maritime’s first-of-its-kind hydrogen ferry has been sailing in San Francisco for a year, and is inspiring development of a bigger, faster version in New York City. (Canary Media)

COAL

• Pueblo County, Colorado, calls on the Trump administration to order Xcel Energy to continue operating the Comanche coal generators beyond their scheduled retirement 2025 and 2031 retirement dates. (Colorado Sun)

• The U.S. Interior Department plans this fall to offer a federal coal lease in Utah to Canyon Fuel Company and one in Montana to Navajo Transitional Energy Company. (news release)

OIL & GAS

• California regulators delay implementing rules that would require oil companies to pay penalties on excessive profits, prompting advocates’ criticism. (Associated Press)

• Colorado electric cooperative United Power completes construction on the 162 MW Mountain Peak Power gas plant in the northeast part of the state as part of an effort to meet data center-driven demand. (Big Pivots)

• The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public comment on its proposal to lease 103 oil and gas parcels on about 73,000 acres across Colorado. (news release)

GEOTHERMAL

• A federal Bureau of Land Management geothermal lease sale in Oregon brings in $430,518 for two parcels on 5,235 acres. (news release)

• The federal Bureau of Land Management plans to auction 113 geothermal leases on about 378,000 acres in Nevada this October. (news release)

CLEAN ENERGY

• The Trump administration withdraws $427 million in pledged federal funding for the proposed Humboldt Bay Offshore Wind terminal in northern California, putting the project in jeopardy. (CNBC)

• The California Solar and Storage Association petitions state regulators to fine Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison $10 million for allegedly failing to comply with rooftop solar interconnection time limits. (PV Magazine)

• Alaska utility executives say proposed large-scale wind and solar developments will not break ground before federal clean energy tax credits expire, leaving the state dependent on natural gas generation and vulnerable to price volatility. (Northern Journal)

• A Wyoming rancher pushes back on clean energy development opponents, saying wind turbines are no more harmful than cell towers, oil wells, or transmission lines. (Cowboy State Daily)

• Navajo Transitional Energy Company launches an effort to install solar arrays on 125 off-grid Navajo Nation households. (news release)

STORAGE

• Xcel Energy adapts a historic pumped hydropower storage facility in the Colorado mountains to stabilize the grid and back up solar and wind generation. (Power)

GRID

• Tri-State Generation and Transmission proposes a high-impact load tariff agreement aimed at streamlining grid connections for data centers and other large power users. (Denver Gazette)

COMMENTARY

• New Mexico Climate Center’s CEO urges regulators to expedite community solar applications so they can take advantage of expiring federal tax credits. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Video: Bill McKibben on the tremendous rise of renewable power

• ‘It’s madness’: Trump-voting fishermen oppose Revolution Wind halt — Clare Fieseler

• Halting Revolution Wind could be a disaster for New England’s grid — Jeff St. John

• The incoherence of Trump’s​‘energy emergency’ — Kathryn Krawczyk

• This campaign will help you go electric before federal tax credits end — Alison F. Takemura

• Texas created a $7.2B fund for gas plants. Hardly any are being built. — Paul Cobler