Pipeline company fined $1 million for SoCal offshore oil spill

OIL & GAS: The owner of a pipeline that ruptured and spilled 25,000 gallons of oil into the ocean off Southern California last year agrees to pay $1 million in cleanup costs. (Associated Press)

ALSO:
• ConocoPhillips increases spending on federal lobbying as it seeks final approval for its Willow oil drilling project proposed for Alaska’s North Slope. (Open Secrets)
• A New Mexico law aimed at reducing ozone-precursor and methane emissions from oil and gas facilities goes into effect next month. (news release)

ELECTRIFICATION:
• A Colorado utility pushes back on a provision in a proposed emissions reduction plan that would require developers to pay for natural gas hookups, saying it could amount to a ​“de facto gas ban.” (Denver Post)
• California is set to require new and renovated schools to install electric heat pumps, solar panels and electric vehicle chargers. (E&E News, subscription)

COAL: Wyoming coal industry officials say railroad capacity shortages are preventing companies from meeting rising demand for coal. (Casper Star-Tribune)

SOLAR: A renewable energy firm designs a horizontal solar installation in California’s Central Valley that takes up one-third as much land as conventional facilities with similar generating capacities. (Yale Environment 360)

WIND: A Montana conservation group calls for a market-based system to reduce bird kills at wind power facilities. (Deseret News)

UTILITIES: Biden administration officials meet with power utility executives to discuss federal responses to wildfires. (E&E News, subscription)

NUCLEAR: A Colorado lawmaker proposes replacing a retiring coal power plant in the northwestern part of the state with small modular nuclear reactors. (Post-Independent)

URANIUM:
• The U.S. EPA reverses a prohibition on a Utah uranium mill accepting waste from a Washington state Superfund site. (KJZZ)
• U.S. Department of Energy officials call on Congress to invest more money into propping up domestic uranium mining to reduce reliance on imports. (E&E News, subscription)

TRANSITION: A Utah University establishes a research center in a rural coal community to develop new energy technologies. (Salt Lake Tribune) 

POLITICS: Conservation groups credit Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper, a former petroleum geologist, for negotiating a compromise on the Senate’s proposed climate and inflation bill. (Denver Post)

CLIMATE: A survey finds most Californians support clean energy mandates and a proposed greenhouse gas emissions reduction program that would be funded by a tax on the wealthy. (Mercury News)