‘Historic partnership’ looks to develop clean energy on Navajo Nation

CLEAN ENERGY: Avangrid and the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority look to develop up to 1,000 MW of solar, wind and battery storage facilities on the Navajo Nation. (Albuquerque Journal)

ALSO:
• Alaska lawmakers consider creating an energy independence fund to finance sustainable energy development and efficiency projects. (Daily News-Miner)
• Colorado officials hope a planned business and research park adjacent to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will accelerate the national transition to clean energy. (Denver Post)

NATURAL GAS:
• Montana lawmakers pass legislation banning the evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions and their climate impacts in an effort to nullify a court order halting a natural gas power plant’s construction. (Montana Standard)
• Nevada environmental advocates oppose a utility’s proposed ratepayer-funded $3 billion natural gas pipeline replacement project, saying it would prolong the use of fossil fuels. (Public News Service)

OIL & GAS: A Colorado county’s officials question state data supporting a directive requiring oil and gas producers to reduce ozone-forming emissions, saying the numbers are based on faulty monitor readings. (Greeley Tribune)

COAL:
• Demand for power from the Colstrip coal plant in Montana continues to climb even as developers build wind and solar facilities nearby. (Missoulian)
• Navajo Nation advocates and health officials say many retired Navajo coal miners have black lung disease but face barriers to accessing federal benefits. (KSUT)
• Colorado launches an effort to investigate and extinguish an underground abandoned coal mine fire near Boulder that may have sparked the destructive 2021 Marshall blaze. (9News)

UTILITIES:
• An Arizona city’s residents are set to vote on a proposal to add a resilience fee to electric utility bills to pay to bury power lines and fund efforts to fight climate change. (Arizona Daily Star)
• California advocates say utilities’ proposals to comply with a new state law by adopting income-based fees will not significantly reduce low-income customers’ bills. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• A Colorado municipal utility says it saved customers $2.1 million in five months after joining the Southwest Power Pool’s energy imbalance market. (FOX21)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Private firms invest millions of dollars to build out electric vehicle charging infrastructure at California shipping ports. (Reuters)
• Oregon transportation officials say the state will need to extensively build out its electric vehicle charging network to meet the Biden administration’s new auto pollution reduction targets. (KATU)

TRANSPORTATION: San Francisco leaders call for more protected bike lanes after a motorist struck and killed an elite cyclist, the city’s 34th bicyclist fatality since 2010. (San Francisco Chronicle)

BIOFUELS: An Alaska city receives more than $600,000 in federal rural energy funds to support a biomass-fueled district heating system. (Biomass Magazine)