Trump looks to gut Colorado, Northwest national lab budgets

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.

CLEAN ENERGY

• The Trump administration and congressional Republicans propose dramatically slashing the budgets for and laying off thousands of employees from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado. (Colorado Newsline)

• Colorado advocates say the state could lose $156 million in already awarded federal funds if the U.S. EPA follows through with reported plans to cancel the $7 billion Solar for All program. (Colorado Sun)

• The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power brings the Eland solar-plus-storage project online to supply about 7% of the city’s total electricity needs. (Spectrum News 1)

GRID

• The Brattle Group says the California grid operator’s test of a virtual power plant comprising 100,000 distributed batteries successfully added an average of 535 MW onto the grid. (Electrek)

• Nevada-based Redwood Materials says its method of stacking used lithium-ion batteries is the cheapest way to build long-duration energy storage, threatening the mission of startups looking to improve LDES technology. (Canary Media)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The U.S. Interior Department approves the proposed Rosebud Mine expansion on federal land in Montana, clearing the way for the extraction of 33.75 million tons of fuel for the Rosebud and Colstrip coal plants. (Montana Free Press, news release)

• Washington state regulators fine HF Sinclair and Tesoro a total of $2.7 million for violating dangerous waste laws by storing sulfuric acid and spilling oily wastewater. (Washington State Standard)

• A Colorado researcher says the science on oil and gas drilling is nearing a tipping point at which there is conclusive evidence proving fossil fuel extraction harms human health. (Capital & Main)

• The federal Bureau of Land Management seeks public input on 11 proposed oil and gas leases on 20,000 acres in Nevada, where industry interest historically has been weak. (KLAS)

• Peabody Energy reports its Powder River Basin coal mines’ profits increased during the first half of the year as overall company revenues fell. (Cowboy State Daily)

OVERSIGHT

• New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney says the state will continue ​“leading on climate action” even as the Trump administration rolls back federal regulations. (Albuquerque Journal)

UTILITIES

• Colorado regulators greenlight Tri-State Generation’s proposed 307 MW natural gas plant at the site of a retiring coal facility in the northwestern part of the state. (Big Pivots)

• Xcel Energy officials say they are ​“prepared to go to court” in September to fend off allegations the utility’s equipment sparked the destructive 2021 Marshall Fire near Boulder, Colorado. (CPR)

• Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signs a bill allowing regulators to develop performance-based plans aimed at encouraging utilities to improve operations and reduce costs, develop distributed generation, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (PV Magazine)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• A Hawaii shipping company halts EV deliveries to the state, citing lithium-ion batteries’ fire risks. (E&E News)

• New Mexico signs a $5 million contract with GreenPower to acquire six electric school buses and charging stations with vehicle-to-grid capability. (EV Report)

NUCLEAR

• A University of Wyoming professor works to develop technology to protect nuclear reactors from earthquake damage. (Cowboy State Daily)

MINING

• The Trump administration fast-tracks federal permitting for the Sweetwater in-situ uranium extraction project in southwestern Wyoming. (Inside Climate News, Resource World)

• Rover Critical Minerals abandons its proposal to mine lithium at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada as commodity prices fall and opposition intensifies. (news release)

COMMENTARY

• A Wyoming columnist calls on state lawmakers to rescind a law requiring utilities to study retrofitting aging coal plants with carbon capture, saying the technology is unfeasible and will increase electricity rates. (WyoFile)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• This Massachusetts town banned gas — and housing boomed anyway — Sarah Shemkus

• Meet Minnesota’s electric coffee roasting pioneers — Dan Haugen

• Can EV ambassadors help Chicago drivers go electric? — Kari Lydersen