Study: oil and gas pollution burdens communities of color

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Western Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

OIL & GAS

• A peer-reviewed study finds deaths and health impacts stemming from oil and gas-related air pollution disproportionately burden Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Latino communities, with California one of the most affected states. (Los Angeles Times)

• A federal Bureau of Land Management-commissioned report expects oil and gas production from the San Juan Basin in New Mexico to be lower than previously expected over the next three decades. (Capital & Main)

UTILITIES

• Arizona’s Supreme Court orders Salt River Project to comply with the state’s public records law, ending the utility’s bid to shield information from an environmental group. (Arizona Republic)

CLEAN ENERGY

• California residents and environmental justice advocates raise concerns about potential impacts to Fresno County agricultural communities after state regulators fast-track utility-scale solar and battery storage installations in the area. (Los Angeles Times)

• Washington state utility Seattle City Light looks to solar installations in rural Oregon to meet growing demand after relying almost solely on hydropower. (Seattle Times)

• The Solar Energy Industries Association urges U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to rescind new restrictions on clean energy development on federal lands, calling them ​“discriminatory permitting treatment.” (E&E News)

• Redwood Energy and Danco prepare to break ground on an all-electric apartment complex and a solar and battery-powered microgrid in Petaluma, California. (Microgrid Knowledge)

• Torrance, California’s city council approves a land-use amendment clearing the way for a mobile home park to build a solar installation in open space. (Daily Breeze)

• A northern California school district cancels a planned solar installation, citing the looming federal clean energy tax credit phaseout. (EdSource)

• Denver International Airport proposes an 18 MW solar installation on 90 acres near the facility. (Denverite)

• Pivot Energy contributes $60,000 to Colorado State University to support research on solar projects in dryland ecosystems in the desert Southwest. (news release)

COAL

• A federal judge advances Wyoming’s, Montana’s, and other states’ lawsuit alleging large investment companies conspired to drive coal prices up and production down. (Cowboy State Daily)

HYDROPOWER

• Oregon State University plans to begin operating its PacWave South grid-connected wave-energy test facility along the state’s southern coast sometime next year. (Quitting Carbon)

NUCLEAR

• Wyoming residents continue to debate the benefits and drawbacks of a proposed nuclear manufacturing facility and spent-fuel storage site. (Oil City News)

COMMENTARY

• A California professor urges lawmakers to reject legislation aimed at expediting oil and gas drilling, saying it won’t affect gasoline prices or petroleum refinery closures. (Stanford CEPP)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Trump admin halts construction of nearly finished offshore wind farm — Clare Fieseler

• Trump admin blocks funds for farmers who want solar — Kari Lydersen

• Trump admin’s new anti-renewables rule rooted in fossil-fuel misinformation — Kathiann M. Kowalski

• US solar plant construction is on a record-breaking spree — for now — Julian Spector

• Clean energy is getting its own national day of action. It’s about time. — Alison F. Takemura

• Why power bills are rising — and why that’s not changing soon — Kathryn Krawczyk