New Mexico limits power plant carbon emissions

COAL: New Mexico regulators finalize a rule limiting coal power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions, further complicating a company’s effort to restart a retired coal plant and run it while installing carbon capture. (NM Political Report)

GEOTHERMAL: The Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe urges the Biden administration to permanently block a proposed geothermal power plant in Nevada, saying it would imperil a sacred spring and a rare toad. (Washington Post)

SOLAR:
• Chevron partners with a developer to build a 20 MW solar installation in southeast New Mexico to power the oil and gas company’s Permian Basin operations. (Midland Reporter-Telegram)
• A California clean energy hardware firm says Inflation Reduction Act tax credits prompted its plans to begin manufacturing solar microinverters in the U.S. (Canary Media)
• An Alaska utility considers building a community solar project on a contaminated pipeline site. (Daily News-Miner)
• California researchers work to develop a space-based solar power generation system that wirelessly transmits electricity to earth. (SciTechDaily)

CLIMATE:
• San Jose’s city council allocates $350 million to install batteries to store solar power and help it reach carbon neutrality by 2030. (SF Gate)
• California awards $96.2 million to 10 tribal and disadvantaged communities for projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and providing economic opportunities. (Los Angeles Times)
• A Colorado aviation company donates $500,000 to an effort to capture methane leaking from abandoned coal mines in the western part of the state. (Aspen Daily News)

UTILITIES: New Mexico officials interview candidates for the state’s first governor-appointed utility regulatory board and debate whether the governor will have the authority to fire commissioners. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

TRANSPORTATION: California environmentalists call on regulators to tighten a proposed ban on sales of fossil fuel big rigs by 2040 even though trucking officials claim it would devastate their industry. (CalMatters)

LITHIUM: In a remote Nevada valley, lithium companies battle over rights to water they need for proposed extraction operations. (Nevada Independent)

GRID: A Colorado energy official says a Western regional transmission organization is ​“imperative” to develop a clean and reliable power grid. (RTO Insider, subscription)

BIOFUELS: Oregon farmers drop a legal challenge to a proposal to build the nation’s largest renewable diesel refinery on the banks of the Columbia River, but reject an agreement to cease opposition to the plant. (Willamette Week)

CARBON CAPTURE: California environmental justice advocates push back on an oil-producing county’s proposal to become a carbon capture and sequestration hub, citing the risk of leaks. (Bakersfield Californian)