New Mexico looks to raise oil and gas royalty rates

OIL & GAS: A New Mexico agency extends a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on state land in an effort to pressure lawmakers to raise royalty rates for drilling. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

POLITICS: U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, a New Mexico Democrat who represents parts of the Permian Basin, touts his state’s new clean energy jobs and record oil and gas production in his re-election bid. (Politico)

TRANSPORTATION:

• Data show third quarter electric vehicle sales in California rose 2% over the previous three months, but Tesla sales fell 3.5%. (Los Angeles Times)
• California awards a transit agency in the northern part of the state $15.9 million to build a solar-powered charging hub for its planned zero-emission bus fleet. (Patch)
• A southern California transit district breaks ground on a hydrogen fueling station for its zero-emissions bus fleet. (City News Service)
• Alaska’s marine transit agency plans to add six hybrid ferries to its fleet over the next 20 years. (KTOO)
• A northern Colorado city launches an electric scooter and bicycle rental pilot program in an effort to expand transportation choice. (Greeley Tribune)
• Data show more than 9,000 Denver residents have redeemed city-provided electric bicycle rebate vouchers, with nearly half of them going to low- and moderate-income people. (Denver Gazette)

CLIMATE: A federal study finds urban trees in hot, dry cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas provided more cooling benefits than those in more humid areas. (Nevada Current)

SOLAR:

• A developer proposes a 90 MW solar-plus-storage installation in the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado. (Valley Courier)
• Nevada’s largest utility slowly adds solar generation capacity to balance its energy portfolio while still relying on natural gas plants. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

BATTERIES: A New Mexico county approves a $190 million industrial revenue bond to fund a proposed 150 MW battery energy storage system. (Energy Storage News)

GRID: NV Energy officials say they chose to join the California grid operator’s day-ahead power market over a competing one because it would deliver greater benefits. (RTO Insider, subscription)

UTILITIES:

• A Louisiana firm proposes acquiring New Mexico’s largest natural gas utility for $1.25 billion, saying it expects demand to grow even though some analyses predict the opposite. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
• A Sierra Club report finds Idaho Power is struggling to transition to clean energy and is replacing retiring coal generation with natural gas rather than wind or solar. (Northern Rockies News Service)

PUBLIC LANDS: Tribal nations call on President Biden to designate three national monuments in the California desert and withdraw the land from future energy development and mining. (KYMA)

BIOFUELS: A Utah copper mine transitions its heavy equipment and trucks to run on biofuels, which is expected to reduce annual carbon emissions by 450,000 metric tons. (news release)

COMMENTARY: A Western advocate says hydrogen fuel can help clean up hard-to-decarbonize applications like cement and steel production, but is not a climate change solution on its own. (Westwise Blog)