Sources: Biden leaning toward Arizona national monument, uranium ban

URANIUM: Sources say President Biden is leaning toward designating a national monument and banning new uranium mining claims on 1.1 million acres of federal land near the Grand Canyon. (Washington Post)

UTILITIES:
• Oregon utility Avista agrees to phase out natural gas infrastructure subsidies, expand low-income weatherization programs and stop using ratepayer funds for anti-climate lobbying or litigation. (KLCC)
• California regulators and advocates raise concerns about Pacific Gas & Electric’s plan to drop its tree-trimming program aimed at reducing wildfire risk. (East Bay Times)
• Wyoming advocates call for more federal and state funding for utility bill payment assistance programs to meet growing demand. (WyoFile)
• An Oregon vineyard sues Pacific Power over its role in sparking the 2020 Labor Day fires, saying smoke and soot damaged its grape harvest. (KOIN)

CLIMATE: An outburst from a glacial-dammed lake outside Juneau, Alaska, floods the Mendenhall River and destroys at least two homes. (CBS News)

CLEAN ENERGY:
• Idaho Power proposes a program making it easier for private firms to sell clean energy back to the utility. (Idaho Capital Sun)
• Developers advance a proposed 163 MW solar facility in Wyoming’s ​“hail alley.” (Cowboy State Daily)
• A 3.8 MW community solar facility comes online in southern California. (Victorville Daily Press)

GEOTHERMAL:
• Alaska plans to offer geothermal energy leases on a volcano northwest of Anchorage. (Alaska Beacon)
• An enhanced geothermal power breakthrough at a Nevada demonstration site bolsters Western governors’ efforts to scale up and deploy the technology. (Stateline)

COAL: Xcel Energy’s early closure of the Comanche coal plant in Colorado could cost ratepayers $89 million for water that will go unused. (Colorado Sun)

GRID:
• A Montana economist says the state risks becoming an electricity net importer because transmission and generation infrastructure buildout is not keeping up with demand. (Daily Inter Lake)
• The Western Energy Imbalance Market generates $799 million in benefits during the first half of this year. (RTO Insider, subscription)

OIL & GAS: Colorado regulators launch an initiative aimed at reducing the oil and gas industry’s water consumption. (Denver7)

POLITICS: A conservative think tank’s ​“battle plan” for a potential Republican presidency includes encouraging oil and gas drilling, discouraging renewable energy development and dismantling energy incentives in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. (New York Times)

COMMENTARY:
• A California university professor calls on Southern California Edison to reject a national utility industry group’s efforts to ​“kneecap climate action.” (Los Angeles Times)
• A California utility journalist outlines ways residents can keep the lights and air conditioners running during increasingly frequent power outages. (Los Angeles Times)