Judge temporarily blocks Arizona lithium drilling

MINING: A federal judge temporarily blocks a proposed lithium project’s exploratory drilling in western Arizona after the Hualapai tribe sued over impacts to cultural sites. (Associated Press)

OIL & GAS: 

• Advocacy groups call on New Mexico regulators to require oil and gas companies to comply with state law and plug and remediate more than 3,300 inactive wells. (news release)
• A federal agency appellate board rejects a company’s bid to abandon a 40-year-old oil well off California’s coast without following decommissioning rules. (E&E news, subscription)
• A California judge rejects an oil company’s bid to keep spill contingency plans secret for a pipeline near Santa Barbara that ruptured catastrophically in 2015. (Santa Barbara Independent)
• Policy experts predict a Harris/​Walz administration policy for oil and gas drilling on public lands would continue Biden’s efforts to limit leasing, tighten regulations and target demand by encouraging clean energy development. (E&E News, subscription)

COAL: A federal court denies a firm’s bid to force federal regulators to rush their review of a proposed expansion of its Bull Mountains coal mine in Montana. (news release)

GEOTHERMAL: The federal Bureau of Land Management extends the public comment period for the proposed Fervo Cape enhanced geothermal project in southwestern Utah. (KSL)

HYDROPOWER:

• A national laboratory’s study finds climate change could increase seasonal precipitation and hydropower production in the Northwest in coming decades, but will likely diminish generation in the Southwest. (OPB)
• Data show climate change-exacerbated drought has diminished Glen Canyon Dam’s hydropower production by 17% since the late 1990s, forcing Western state utilities to turn to natural gas generation and raise rates. (Colorado Sun)

SOLAR:

• The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on its draft environmental analysis of the proposed 400 MW Easley solar-plus-battery storage project in southern California. (news release)
• Las Vegas installs solar streetlights to reduce energy consumption and foil would-be copper wire thieves. (Fox 5)

WIND: Idaho plans to challenge the Bureau of Land Management’s forthcoming approval of the proposed Lava Ridge wind project, even though environmental advocates now support it after the agency reduced its scope. (Idaho Capital Sun)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• California developers call on the state to stop taxing income from sales of federal clean energy tax credits, saying the exemption would lower utility bills. (Politico)
• A Washington county begins crafting regulations for large-scale wind and solar facility siting. (Spokesman-Review)
• Clean energy advocates say California is leading efforts to remove hurdles to interconnecting large distributed generation resources like community solar and big box store rooftop arrays. (Utility Dive)
• California advocates urge state lawmakers to reject proposals to cut clean energy and efficiency program funding for schools and low-income communities. (news release)

CLIMATE: California’s attorney general urges the U.S. Supreme Court to reject Republican-led states’ bid to quash lawsuits looking to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for climate change. (E&E News, subscription)

COMMENTARY: A California editorial board urges state lawmakers to reject Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to delay implementation of an oil and gas well setback law, saying the public suffers health effects every day enforcement is postponed. (Los Angeles Times)