Navajo advocate battles proposed oil wastewater site near family home

OIL & GAS: A Navajo Nation resident and advocate pushes back against an oil and gas company’s proposal to convert a water well into a wastewater injection site near his family’s home. (Capital & Main)

ALSO:

• The federal Bureau of Land Management cancels Trump-era oil and gas leases on more than 40,000 acres of archaeology rich land in southeastern Utah. (news release)
• An environmental group sues the U.S. EPA for not forcing Colorado regulators to correct oil and gas facilities’ flawed air pollution permits. (news release)
• Alaska lawmakers strip a carbon capture bill of a proposal that would increase a major oil and gas company’s state tax bill by about $100 million. (Anchorage Daily News, subscription)
• The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on a proposed 120-acre oil and gas lease in eastern Colorado. (news release)

CLIMATE: California Gov. Gavin Newsom touts $11 billion in climate projects funded by the state’s greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program over the last decade, but critics say the efforts haven’t done enough to reduce pollution. (Los Angeles Times)

SOLAR:

• A California firm expects its residential solar-plus-storage virtual power plant to supply more than 60 MW to the state’s grid this summer after its membership surpasses 16,000. (news release)
• Idaho residents push back against a proposed solar installation, saying it could harm property values. (KTVB)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• Alaska residents are set to vote on utility board elections and a mayoral race that could determine whether clean energy sources are integrated into the state’s largest power grid to address a looming natural gas shortage. (Heatmap)
• Washington state seeks rural residents’ input on utility scale clean energy development. (KXRO)

UTILITIES: An Arizona nonprofit prepares to help a growing number of Phoenix residents pay their utility bills after experiencing unprecedented demand for the aid last summer. (ABC 15)

COAL: Mining companies in Wyoming hint at potential layoffs at Powder River Basin facilities after larger-than-expected production decreases. (WyoFile)

HYDROGEN: A company breaks ground on a $550 million green hydrogen production hub in Arizona. (Hoodline)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• An Arizona school district uses federal funding to replace 47 diesel school buses with electric ones. (Arizona Republic)
• A California startup begins marketing a DC-to-DC solar-powered electric vehicle charger. (electrek)

TRANSMISSION:

• The U.S. Energy Department proposes designating national interest transmission corridors to expedite permitting in the Northwest and in eastern Colorado and New Mexico. (Utility Dive)
• Arizona residents, advocates and tribal nations continue to lob legal challenges at the SunZia transmission project designed to carry wind power from New Mexico to the California grid. (Inside Climate News)

COMMENTARY: A California editorial board urges Los Angeles leaders to make climate goals legally enforceable and ​“not mere aspirations to be shrugged off by finger-pointing bureaucrats.” (Los Angeles Times)