Lawyers: Oil industry could be liable for Arizona heat deaths

CLIMATE: An advocacy group’s legal analysis finds Arizona could reasonably bring homicide charges against the fossil fuel industry for hundreds of deaths caused by a climate change-exacerbated 2023 heat wave. (Guardian)

OIL & GAS: 

• A study finds more than half of the 47,000 oil and gas wells in Colorado don’t generate enough money to pay for their end-of-life plugging and remediation, potentially saddling taxpayers with the tab. (Colorado Sun)
• A California oil and gas industry group withdraws a ballot initiative challenging a 2022 law prohibiting drilling near homes and schools, and says it plans to sue over the ban instead. (Politico, subscription)
• California lawmakers advance legislation that would fine oil companies $10,000 daily for operating low-producing wells near homes and schools. (E&E News, subscription)
• The Biden administration awards Alaska and Arizona nearly $30 million to plug and reclaim abandoned oil and gas wells. (news release)

ELECTRIFICATION: Santa Cruz, California’s city council votes to ban the use of gasoline-powered leaf blowers. (East Bay Times)

SOLAR: Records show an Arizona solar manufacturing company benefited from the Inflation Reduction Act after lobbying Congress and donating to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. (Associated Press)

WIND: A developer proposes an offshore wind power facility off Hawaii’s coast. (Honolulu Civil Beat)

HYDROPOWER: Records show federal government officials in the 1940s and 1950s welcomed Northwest hydropower dams’ destruction of salmon fisheries and the tribal nations reliant upon them. (ProPublica)

TRANSPORTATION: Washington state considers implementing a fee on e-commerce doorstep deliveries to help replace dwindling gasoline-tax revenues. (E&E News)

POLITICS: Conservative Climate Caucus founder Rep. John Curtis wins the Utah Republican primary for Mitt Romney’s Senate seat. (Heatmap)

STORAGE:

• A report finds California has led the nation’s battery energy storage system buildup by adding 8,600 MW of capacity since 2019. (Reuters)
• An Arizona utility seeks proposals to develop up to 50 MW of demonstration non-lithium-ion long-duration energy storage projects. (news release)

MINING: The Havasupai Tribe continues to push back against a uranium mine reopening near the Grand Canyon, saying it could contaminate their drinking water source. (KJZZ)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• California regulators order Tesla to fix air quality problems at its Bay Area manufacturing facility after it racks up more than 100 toxic emissions-related violations. (Associated Press)
• California agencies unveil plans to develop living-wage and skills-based electric vehicle industry careers for disadvantaged communities. (RTO Insider, subscription)

COMMENTARY:

• California’s increasingly clean energy mix proves the rest of the country can be powered with 100% clean energy sources, a climate advocate argues. (New Yorker)
• A journalist worries the rapid buildup of electricity-intensive data centers in Western states to power AI and cryptocurrency mining imperils the energy transition. (High Country News)