Investigation: Drilling on stolen lands funds public universities

OIL & GAS: Fossil fuel extraction on state trust lands taken from Indigenous nations in the 19th century provide public universities with millions of dollars of annual funding. (Grist)

ALSO:

• A Sierra Club report finds oil and gas companies in California are skirting state regulations by failing to plug tens of thousands of idle oil and gas wells. (DeSmog)
• An Alaska utility says a critical natural gas storage facility came ​“extremely close” to being unable to deliver fuel during a recent unusually severe cold snap. (Anchorage Daily News)
• Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Alaska and Utah join other Republican-led states calling on the Biden administration to rescind its ​“TikTok-inspired” liquefied natural gas export permitting pause. (E&E News)

CARBON CAPTURE: New Mexico lawmakers kill legislation that would have created a regulatory framework for carbon sequestration projects. (NM Political Report)

DIVESTMENT:

• West Coast regulators say insurance companies risk significant financial losses if they delay divesting from fossil fuels. (Bloomberg)
• Oregon’s treasurer unveils plans to transition the state public employee retirement fund to a net-zero carbon emissions portfolio by 2050. (KTVZ)

CLEAN ENERGY: Utah advocates worry lawmakers’ attempts to prop up coal could deprive the state of clean energy investments and drive up utility rates. (Utah News Dispatch)

SOLAR:

• Rural Idaho residents debate the pros and cons of solar facilities, with some welcoming the economic boost and others fearing the loss of farmland. (KIFI)
• Washington state lawmakers kill a bill that would have required proposed solar facilities to secure water rights prior to development. (KIMA)

ELECTRIFICATION: The Hanford nuclear site in Washington state receives $5 million in federal funding to replace diesel-powered boilers with electric ones. (NonStop Local)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Nevada utility plans to construct nearly two dozen public electric vehicle charging stations in and around Las Vegas. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

UTILITIES: A Montana judge rules that a zoning decision that could affect NorthWestern Energy’s construction of a natural gas plant along the Yellowstone River lies with the local county, not a nearby town. (Daily Montanan)

GRID: State regulators approve Hawaiian Electric’s five-year plan to harden the grid against wildfires, extreme weather and other climate change-exacerbated disasters. (RTO Insider, subscription)

NUCLEAR: Federal regulators advance a California startup’s bid to produce advanced nuclear reactor fuel using uranium recovered from a defunct experimental facility in Idaho. (World Nuclear News)

HYDROPOWER:

• The U.S. Energy Department awards $71.5 million in incentives to 46 hydropower projects, including ones in Colorado, California, Oregon and Idaho. (BIC Magazine)
• Alaska lawmakers look to pause a utility’s plan to divert water around a hydropower dam rather than decommission it to help downstream fish. (Alaska Public Media) 

COMMENTARY: A California columnist says the recent bomb cyclone that battered the state is a call to stop arguing about which climate solutions are best and begin implementing them. (Los Angeles Times)