Feds recommend greenlighting scaled back Willow project

OIL & GAS: The federal Bureau of Land Management recommends approval of a scaled back version of ConocoPhillips’ proposed Willow oil and gas drilling project in Alaska. (New York Times)

ALSO:
• A watchdog group calls for a probe of a senior federal Bureau of Land Management official’s financial ties to ConocoPhillips as the agency evaluated the Willow project in Alaska. (E&E News)
• Alaska lawmakers propose a bill that would create working groups aimed at expanding oil and gas production and increasing fines on companies responsible for oil spills. (High Country News)
• Colorado regulators threaten to revoke a violation-plagued oil and gas firm’s operating license if it does not promptly pay $1.9 million in fines and clean up 78 sites. (Colorado Sun)
• A taxpayer advocacy group finds methane lost due to oil and gas facility flaring, venting and leaks deprived Indigenous nations of $21.8 million in potential royalties in 2019. (Grist)
• Spokane, Washington, begins studying how a petroleum pipeline’s failure would affect its primary drinking water source. (Spokesman-Review)

CLIMATE: Lawyers argue Alaska’s pro-fossil fuel development policies make it liable for climate change-related damages to Native villages. (Undark)

UTILITIES: Pacific Gas & Electric will face trial for manslaughter over its role in sparking the 2020 Zogg Fire that killed four people in northern California. (Associated Press)

SOLAR: A judge rules a Colorado man accused of attacking a solar facility in Nevada is unfit for trial and must undergo further psychiatric evaluation. (Associated Press)

GRID: An Oregon electrical cooperative receives a $90 million federal loan to expand and improve the power grid in the rural northeastern part of the state.
(NBC Tri-Cities)

NUCLEAR: Pacific Gas & Electric estimates decommissioning the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant will cost $4.1 billion while it continues work to operate the plant beyond its 2025 retirement date. (KSBY)

BATTERIES: Tucson, Arizona’s city council agrees to offer $4.3 million in incentives to two battery manufacturers planning to establish and expand production facilities in the city. (Tucson Sentinel)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Pacific Gas & Electric begins offering customers $1,000 to $4,000 rebates for purchasing used electric vehicles. (Bakersfield Californian)
• California first responders receive training to fight electric vehicle battery fires. (KTVU)
• A California county transit agency purchases 10 battery electric buses to replace compressed natural gas vehicles. (news release)

COMMENTARY: A California researcher says streamlining clean energy permitting could actually slow development while making ecosystems more vulnerable to negative impacts from construction. (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)