Report: Data centers, electrification drive up Northwest power demand

GRID: A report predicts an influx of data centers and high-tech manufacturing, along with building and transportation electrification measures, will increase power demand by 30% in the Northwest over the next decade. (Idaho Capital Sun)

CLIMATE: Washington state advocates, businesses and lawmakers garner support for their campaign to defeat a ballot measure aimed at repealing the state’s carbon cap-and-invest program. (Crosscut)

OIL & GAS: 

• California’s petroleum industry mounts a multi-pronged campaign to block legislation aimed at easing oil and gas pollution’s burden on underserved communities. (Inside Climate News) 
• Alaska lawmakers consider bills addressing a looming natural gas shortage that would encourage more drilling and renewable energy development and upgrade distribution systems. (Alaska Beacon)
• A California appeals court orders a judge to reconsider commercial fishing companies’ restitution claims relating to a 2015 offshore oil spill near Santa Barbara. (Courthouse News Service)

TRANSPORTATION: Colorado lawmakers consider levying a production fee on oil and gas companies to fund a transit district’s completion of long-planned Denver-area commuter rail lines. (Colorado Sun)

HYDROPOWER:

• Federal regulators reject another proposed pumped hydropower energy storage project on the Navajo Nation after the tribal government opposes it. (Navajo Times)
• A national laboratory study finds Alaska’s largest power grid could support up to 300 MW of tidal energy generated in the Cook Inlet. (news release)

SOLAR:

• Republican U.S. senators from Western states push back on the federal Bureau of Land Management’s proposed public lands solar plan, saying it could affect livestock grazing and other extractive uses. (E&E News, subscription)
• A southern California municipal water district brings a solar installation online to power a pumping station. (KUSI)

ELECTRIFICATION: The U.S. Interior Department allocates $71 million to help electrify tribal community homes. (Indian Gaming)

STORAGE: A company proposes a 500 MW compressed air energy storage facility in Kern County, California. (Inside Climate News)

NUCLEAR: A company begins preparing a Wyoming site for the development of an advanced nuclear reactor. (Cowboy State Daily)

MINING:

• An effort to designate a national monument and ban new uranium mining claims and oil and gas leases in the Dolores River region of western Colorado gains steam. (Durango Herald)
• Utah regulators permit a company to pump groundwater for its proposed direct lithium extraction operation in the southeastern part of the state. (news release)
• A company applies for federal and state permits to reopen a long-idled uranium mine in southern Utah. (news release)

COMMENTARY:

• A California columnist calls on labor unions, industry, lawmakers and advocates to negotiate a ​“grand bargain” that would end infighting and support robust community, residential and utility-scale solar development. (Los Angeles Times)
• A consumer advocate urges California lawmakers to pass legislation requiring state pension funds to divest from fossil fuel companies. (East Bay Times)