PG&E avoids criminal charges for Dixie and Kincaid Fires

UTILITIES:
• Pacific Gas & Electric avoids criminal charges for its role in sparking last year’s Dixie Fire and the 2019 Kincade Fire by agreeing to pay $55 million in civil penalties and payments to local nonprofits and educational institutions. (Los Angeles Times)
• California regulators fine SoCalGas $150,000 for using ratepayer funds to oppose stricter energy efficiency rules even though public advocates recommended a $255 million penalty. (Utility Dive)

GRID:
• High winds and wet, heavy snow damage utility lines in Oregon and Washington, leaving 100,000 people without power. (Oregonian)
• Pacific Gas & Electric launches a pilot project to install up to 9,000 ​“smart” electric water heaters that pre-heat water and store it for use when the grid is overloaded. (Canary Media)
• California regulators allocate $40 million to incentivize purchases of electric heat pump water heaters, on top of a previous $44.7 million. (Utility Dive)

STORAGE:
• The developer of three large-scale battery storage systems in southern California says pandemic-related supply chain constraints will delay the project’s completion. (Energy Storage News)
• Colorado researchers explore using depleted oil wells for energy storage by injecting them with compressed gas and then releasing it to spin a turbine. (news release)

SOLAR: Researchers say San Diego will need to blanket inland agricultural areas with solar panels to hit its emissions-reduction targets, but some farmers are resistant to selling their land. (Voice of San Diego)

HYDROPOWER: State regulators fine Idaho Power $1.5 million for unpermitted pollution at 15 hydroelectricity facilities in the southern part of the state. (Boise State Public Radio)

OIL & GAS:
• A federal court rejects Wyoming environmentalists’ bid to halt a 3,500-well oil and gas drilling project in a critical wildlife migration corridor. (WyoFile)
• Alaska lawmakers approve a $1,300 energy relief payment to residents, in addition to a $1,250 dividend from the state’s oil and gas fund. (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)
• Wyoming’s oil and gas industry has added 900 jobs during the last 12 months, but employment numbers still fall short of pre-pandemic totals. (Oil City News)
• Hawaii officials plan to install eight monitoring wells around the U.S. Navy’s Red Hill fuel tanks to track groundwater contamination from the facility. (Honolulu Civil Beat) 

COAL:
• Wyoming’s coal mines add 300 employees to keep up with increasing demand driven by high natural gas prices. (Cowboy State Daily)
• Wyoming researchers develop a coal-derived crop fertilizer that could be used in place of more expensive biochar. (Wyoming News Now) 

NUCLEAR: A California startup proposes storing spent nuclear reactor fuel in mile-deep boreholes constructed using oil and gas horizontal drilling techniques. (Brattleboro Reformer)

TRANSPORTATION:
• An audit finds a dozen new electric vehicles owned by the city of Los Angeles sat unused for two years because the city lacked proper charging infrastructure. (LAist)
• Oregon transit agencies expect to receive $153 million in federal funding this year, much of which will fill budget gaps from pandemic-related ridership slumps. (Oregonian)