Judge shoots down ExxonMobil’s bid to truck oil in central California

OIL & GAS: A federal judge rejects ExxonMobil’s bid to truck millions of gallons of crude oil through central California, stifling the company’s plans to restart offshore wells shut after a 2015 pipeline spill. (Associated Press)

ALSO:

• Permian Basin oil drillers test a method of capturing and injecting methane back into a well instead of flaring, venting or piping it to market, but advocates say regulators lack resources to oversee the process. (Capital & Main)
• A toxicology report finds substances released from a California oil refinery in 2022 did not contain unsafe levels of heavy metals, but nearby residents remain skeptical. (Mercury News)
• President Biden vetoes a Republican-led bill that would have removed federal protections for the lesser prairie chicken that lives in the Permian Basin. (Associated Press)

UTILITIES:

• Washington state residents sue Inland Power and Light Company for allegedly sparking the Gray fire in August that burned 240 homes and killed one person. (Associated Press)
• A Colorado wholesale power provider looks to hit its goal of zero-carbon emissions by 2030 by upping solar and wind generation and converting a retiring coal plant to run on hydrogen and biofuels. (Loveland Reporter-Herald)
• The deadly Maui wildfires prompt Hawaiian Electric to delay implementation of a time-of-use rate pilot program. (Hawaii Public Radio)

GRID: New Mexico regulators weigh the pros and cons of the state’s utilities joining one of two regional transmission organizations being developed in the West. (RTO Insider, subscription)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• Wyoming officials worry the Biden administration’s environmental justice requirements may hurt the state’s ability to compete for federal clean energy funds aimed at disadvantaged communities. (WyoFile)
• The U.S. Energy Department looks to convert 30 square miles of the contaminated Hanford nuclear site in Washington state into a clean technology park. (RTO Insider, subscription)

HYDROPOWER: The Biden administration directs federal agencies to honor tribal treaty and trust obligations by restoring Northwest salmon populations, lending momentum to efforts to breach hydropower dams. (OPB)

SOLAR: The federal Bureau of Land Management greenlights a proposed 19 MW solar-plus-storage installation in southern Nevada. (KLAS)

MICROGRIDS: An oil and gas company plans to construct a solar-and-storage powered microgrid outside Los Angeles to provide electricity to its production facilities. (Solarquarter)

BATTERIES:

• Some southern California residents push back on a proposed 200 MW battery energy storage facility, citing concerns about fire risk. (San Clemente Times)
• An Oregon long-duration battery energy storage manufacturer enters into a partnership with Honeywell aimed at growing the startup’s production capacity and market share. (GeekWire)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona installs six DC fast electric vehicle charging stations. (Electrek)

CRITICAL MINERALS:

• Researchers look to extract rare earth elements from contaminated water in the Berkeley Pit, a shuttered Montana copper mine. (Montana Standard)
• A mining company seeks exploratory drilling permits for its proposed lithium brine project in southern New Mexico. (news release)

COMMENTARY: Alaska conservationists urge state lawmakers to extract themselves from a fossil fuel-induced ​“fog of doubt,” end subsidies for oil and gas development and redirect the funds toward clean energy. (Alaska Beacon)