Push to expand highways complicates Colorado climate fight

TRANSPORTATION: Colorado’s sweeping transportation bill passed a committee vote yesterday, but a plan to expand highways — which advocates note is a step backward on climate action — is a growing point of tension. (Denver Post)

SOLAR:
• Denver-based Guzman Energy is planning an 80 MW solar array in western Colorado to supply a co-op that cut ties with Tri-State Generation and Transmission last year. (PV Magazine)
• A California company that has installed more solar roofs than Tesla announces plans for a new research and manufacturing facility. (Canary Media)
• Hawaiian Electric is seeking public comments on how to increase adoption of rooftop solar. (Maui Now)
• Tesla will install a rooftop solar array at its Fremont, California, plant as part of a settlement over air pollution violations. (Teslarati)

ELECTRIFICATION: Colorado advocates discuss how provisions in a state climate bill will help advance the phase-out of gas appliances in homes. (Colorado Sun)

CLIMATE:
• A Washington lawmaker says the legislature looked carefully at the shortfalls of California’s cap-and-trade system to avoid repeating mistakes in a recently passed climate bill. (U.S. News and World Report)
• Meanwhile, Oregon lawmakers are studying a conservative-backed program in British Columbia after efforts to pass a carbon tax prompted Republican walkouts in 2019 and 2020. (Jefferson Public Radio / InvestigateWest)

OIL & GAS: The Interior Department said Friday it would drop a Trump administration proposal that could have weakened rules for drilling in Arctic waters. (Associated Press)

NUCLEAR: Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill Friday that revokes a 1978 law requiring nuclear plants be put to a public vote. (KPVI)

FINANCE: Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak asks lawmakers to create a state infrastructure bank that could help fund roads, public transportation and energy storage projects. (Associated Press)

COAL: A state report finds Wyoming lost 16,000 jobs in 2020, with 5,900 of those coming from the mining sector. (Cowboy State Daily)

TRANSITION:
• A University of Wyoming professor will spend a year in France to study how a former coal-producing region transitioned away from fossil fuels. (Wyoming Public Media)
• A Wyoming legislative committee discusses ways to diversify the state’s tax structure, which remains heavily dependent on coal and oil revenues. (Wyoming News Now)

COMMENTARY:
• A Utah climate advocate and a former U.S. representative say conservatives need to engage on the clean energy transition to avoid ​“governing by executive order.” (Deseret News)
• A Nevada advocate says a proposal to expand Las Vegas’s growth boundary will encourage sprawl and increase emissions at a time when the state needs to be more aggressive on climate change. (Las Vegas Sun)