Judge orders Pentagon to resume wind reviews

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.

CLEAN ENERGY

• A federal judge in Oregon orders the U.S. Defense Department to resume routine military reviews of proposed onshore wind farms, ending the Trump administration’s de facto moratorium on the facilities. (Canary Media, Oregonian)

• RWE says it has agreed with the Trump administration to relinquish federal offshore wind leases in California, New York, and Louisiana in exchange for $1.2 billion. (NBC Los Angeles)

• Eugene, Oregon, residents are set to vote in November on a ballot initiative that would create a clean energy fund to pay for climate projects. (OPB)

• Bozeman and Missoula, Montana’s city councils vote to join NorthWestern Energy’s Green Power Program to allow residents to receive some or all of their electricity from renewable sources. (Montana Public Radio)

NUCLEAR

• California startup Oklo says its Groves Isotope Test Reactor has sustained a chain reaction at its site in Austin, Texas, making it the fifth reactor under a federal pilot program to achieve criticality. (Canary Media)

• California firm Deep Fission says the U.S. Energy Department has signed off on the company’s Gravity Nuclear Reactor safety design agreement. (Power)

• California business and labor groups and elected officials urge state lawmakers to move to extend Diablo Canyon nuclear plant’s operations beyond its scheduled 2030 closure date. (E&E News)

• Nevada Democrats U.S. Sens. Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez-Masto introduce legislation that would permanently prevent Yucca Mountain from becoming the nation’s spent nuclear fuel repository. (E&E News)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Colorado fossil fuel advocates gather enough signatures to put an initiative on the November ballot that would add the right to sell or buy natural gas for cooking to the state constitution in an effort to block restrictions on the fuel. (Colorado Sun)

• The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on 15 proposed oil and gas leases covering about 4,054 acres in New Mexico and Oklahoma. (news release)

• Navajo Nation residents and advocates accuse Peabody Energy of inadequately reclaiming its defunct coal mines on Black Mesa in northern Arizona. (KJZZ)

• A U.S. Senate committee advances a bill authorizing a land swap in Montana aimed at helping Signal Peak Energy expand its Bull Mountains coal mine. (Montana Free Press)

UTILITIES

• Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes challenges the state utility regulators’ repeal of energy efficiency standards, saying the commission failed to complete required economic assessments. (KJZZ)

• Community advocates rally at San Diego Gas & Electric’s headquarters to protest the utility’s rising rates and profits, saying ​“our suffering is their business model.” (KPBS)

POLITICS

• U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) continues to buck the party line by supporting the proposed Alaska LNG pipeline, more oil and gas drilling, and more petroleum refining in the state. (E&E News)

GRID

• California community choice aggregator Clean Energy Alliance signs on to purchase 60 MW from Hydrostor’s Willow Rock Energy Storage Center. (news release)

• California clean energy advocates say the California grid operator’s proposed accounting change could incentivize up to 2 GW of behind-the-meter batteries to participate in CAISO’s wholesale power market. (Utility Dive)