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Judge orders Columbia Basin dams to dial down hydropower

By Jonathan P. Thompson

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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.

HYDROPOWER

  • A federal judge orders Columbia River Basin hydropower dams in the Northwest to generate less electricity and release more water to mitigate impacts on beleaguered salmon, sparking utilities’ concerns. (OPB, Associated Press, KTVH)

STORAGE

  • The Solar Energy Industries Association finds California leads the nation in battery storage capacity, with Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oregon also making the top five. (Nevada Current, KJZZ)

  • A Los Angeles-area city considers installing grid-scale battery energy storage systems and building data centers in a former shopping mall, sparking residents’ concerns. (KABC)

UTILITIES

  • An Oregon jury orders PacifiCorp to pay $305 million in damages to 15 survivors of the 2020 Santiam Canyon wildfire, bringing the utility’s total liability related to the blazes above $1 billion. (Western Edge, OPB)

  • Nevada regulators approve NV Energy’s plan to refund $63 million to about 43,000 ratepayers the utility mistakenly overcharged for two decades. (Nevada Independent)

SOLAR

  • Colorado lawmakers introduce legislation that would allow residents to install plug-in solar without utility approval. (Colorado Sun)

  • U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, a Montana Republican who voted against federal clean energy tax credits, reportedly installed a rooftop solar and battery system on his home. (Daily Montanan)

  • Soleil Renewable Energy proposes a 700 MW solar-plus-storage project in California’s Kern County. (news release)

COAL

  • Idaho Power and NV Energy expect to complete converting their North Valmy coal plant in Nevada to run on natural gas by June. (Capital Press)

OIL & GAS

  • Benicia, California, residents and officials work to find ways to reinvent the community and economy as the Valero refinery prepares to shut down this spring. (The Guardian)

  • An aerial monitoring effort finds oil and gas facilities in Colorado emit at least twice the amount of methane reported by operators. (Capital & Main)

  • The Trump administration revokes federal endangered species protections for the lesser prairie-chicken, an imperiled bird that lives in the Permian Basin. (Colorado Sun)

  • Federal regulators launch their environmental review of proposed offshore oil and gas leases along California’s coast despite local and state officials’ opposition. (E&E News)

  • The top federal offshore oil and gas drilling regulator in Alaska says his office lacks the staff to adequately oversee existing operations or those being pushed by the Trump administration. (E&E News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

  • California electric vehicle maker Lucid lays off 319 employees, but says the layoffs will not affect workers at the firm’s Arizona manufacturing facilities. (Los Angeles Times)

GRID

  • South Dakota utility Black Hills Energy and Montana energy firm PowerWatch plan to join the California grid operator’s Western Energy Imbalance Market in May. (E&E News)

NUCLEAR

  • California regulators approve waste discharge permits for Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, clearing the way for the facility to continue operating through 2030 or longer; it was previously slated to retire this year. (Los Angeles Times)

  • Utah officials ask the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to grant the state oversight of microreactor licensing, uranium enrichment, and spent fuel storage and reprocessing. (E&E News)

  • Arizona’s House of Representatives passes legislation that would ban counties from regulating small nuclear reactors co-located with data centers or other large energy users. (AZ Mirror)

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