Hawaii LNG plans taint its energy transition

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.

FOSSIL FUELS

• Democratic Hawaii Gov. Josh Green backs the proposed Longboard liquefied-natural-gas import terminal and associated 500-MW gas plant, throwing the state’s energy transition into doubt. (Canary Media)

• New Mexico industry observers worry produced oil and gas wastewater disposal problems could hamper drilling in the Permian Basin within five years. (Capital & Main)

• Colorado advocates push back on the federal Bureau of Land Management’s proposed oil and gas leases on the Roan Plateau in the western part of the state, saying it could harm wildlife habitat. (Aspen Times)

• Colorado counties call on Gov. Jared Polis to step up efforts to address a 2024 pipeline rupture and 200,000-gallon gasoline spill in the southwestern part of the state. (Durango Herald)

DATA CENTERS

• Tech firm QTS proposes adding 98 backup diesel generators to its 160-MW data center complex near Denver International Airport, spurring air pollution concerns. (CPR)

• Missoula County, Montana’s commissioners consider a proposed moratorium on new data centers to allow them to develop regulations to mitigate the facilities’ environmental impacts. (Inside Climate News)

CLEAN ENERGY

• New Mexico regulators say 16 of 47 planned community solar projects are now online and generating about 71 MW. (Source NM)

• Avantus secures $525 million in construction financing for its Aratina 2 solar-plus-storage project under development in Kern County, California. (Power)

• Arizona utility Salt River Project signs on to purchase 600 MW of power from Pattern Energy’s SunZia wind facility in New Mexico. (news release)

STORAGE

• Peak Energy plans to establish a grid-scale sodium-ion-battery manufacturing facility in Sacramento, California. (Los Angeles Times, Solar Builder)

• California State University Bakersfield develops a 3.5-MW solar-plus-storage project to supply about 40% of its electricity. (Solar Bytes)

• EVelution Energy breaks ground on a 28-MW solar array to power its EV battery-grade cobalt sulfate processing plant under development in Yuma, Arizona. (Charged)

EFFICIENCY

• Arizona advocates criticize regulators for eliminating the state’s energy efficiency standards for large utilities, saying they should have instead adapted the rules to current grid conditions and technology. (KJZZ, E&E News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• WattEV opens its seventh heavy-duty electric truck charging depot in California near Fresno. (Charged)

• Walmart plans to install EV charging stations at six of its California locations. (Los Angeles Times)

CRITICAL MATERIALS

• The U.S. Energy Department awards Peabody Energy a grant to fund its pilot processing facility to extract rare earth and critical minerals from coal at its Rawhide mine in Wyoming. (WyoFile)

HYDROPOWER

• Rural Nevada utilities seek new electricity sources as continued drought depletes Lake Mead and diminishes Hoover Dam’s hydropower output. (Nevada Current)

GRID

• Oregon residents and advocates push back on an agreement between the city of Portland and PGE that would allow the utility to cut hundreds of trees in the city’s Forest Park to make way for a proposed transmission line. (Oregonian)

• Wyoming regulators call on Rocky Mountain Power officials to explain the utility’s role in a 2025 outage that left more than 250,000 customers without power for nine hours or more. (WyoFile)

• Lightning strikes utility equipment in western Colorado, leaving about 27,000 customers in the Vail Valley without power for 14 hours. (Vail Daily)