Oil company plans carbon capture for massive Alaska drilling project

Western Energy News is taking a break for the Fourth of July. We’ll be back Monday, July 8.

CARBON CAPTURE: An oil and gas company plans to reduce emissions from its Pikka drilling project in Alaska by buying offsets and capturing and sequestering carbon from wells, power plants and directly from the air. (Northern Journal)

ALSO: A Western governors group’s decarbonization report calls for pioneering industrial and natural carbon capture and sequestration efforts, but says little about reducing fossil fuel burning or transitioning to clean energy. (Inside Climate News)

OIL & GAS: 

• A Colorado regulator recommends a company’s proposal to drill 155 oil and gas wells in the Denver area be approved even though residents and advocates oppose the plan. (Colorado Sun)
• Permian Basin oil and gas field truck drivers’ form a labor movement to protest low wages and poor working conditions. (Texas Tribune)
• New Mexico advocates continue to push back on a proposal to reuse treated oil and gas wastewater in industrial applications, saying it would increase the risk of already frequent spills. (New Mexico Political Report)

CLIMATE:

• A ballot initiative aimed at repealing Washington state’s carbon cap-and-invest program would cut nearly $850 million in funding for environmental programs if it succeeds. (Crosscut)
• California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes delaying by two years laws requiring large companies to report greenhouse gas emissions and climate risk exposure. (E&E News, subscription)
• Democratic U.S. Congress members join advocates calling on the courts to reconsider an Oregon youths’ climate lawsuit against the federal government after an appeals court tossed the case in May. (Oregon Capital Chronicle)

TRANSPORTATION: Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon joins 26 other Republican-led states in a lawsuit seeking to block the Biden administration’s fuel efficiency standards for gasoline powered vehicles, saying they are ​“unworkable.” (WyoFile)

UTILITIES: Public Service Company of New Mexico says its proposed rate hike — the largest in the utility’s history — is needed to fund decarbonization and energy transition efforts. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

SOLAR:

• The U.S. Supreme Court orders a lower court to reconsider a 2023 ruling affirming federal regulators’ approval of a solar-plus-storage facility in Montana after overturning the Chevron deference doctrine. (E&E News)
• U.S. Energy Department laboratories in New Mexico agree to purchase power from the 170 MW Foxtail Flats solar-plus-storage installation planned for the northwestern part of the state. (news release)
• A developer proposes a 74.5 MW solar installation on private land in northeastern Montana. (KFYR)
• A church in a lower-income neighborhood of Los Angeles installs a solar-plus-storage array as part of an effort to increase clean energy awareness. (news release)
• Colorado researchers develop a molecule that improves perovskite solar cells’ performance. (news release)

STORAGE: The Biden administration awards an Arizona electric cooperative $55.2 million to install three battery energy storage systems. (AZPM)

WIND: A developer proposes a 150 MW wind power facility in eastern Wyoming. (Cowboy State Daily)

GEOTHERMAL:

• A Colorado report predicts state investment will spur industry to develop several utility-scale geothermal electricity plants in coming years. (Colorado Sun)
• Companies prepare to explore geothermal energy generating potential in a small northeastern Colorado oilfield town. (Denver 7)

GRID: Portland General Electric signs on to join the California grid operator’s regional day-ahead power market. (RTO Insider, subscription)