Trump looks to hike clean energy fees for federal lands

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Western Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

CLEAN ENERGY

• The Trump administration moves to rescind a Biden-era policy that lowered fees for clean energy development on federal lands, saying it unfairly favored wind and solar. (Reuters, news release)

FOSSIL FUELS

• New Mexico regulators ban oil and gas companies from discharging produced wastewater into waterways or aquifers, drawing environmental advocates’ praise and industry’s criticism. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

• Oregon advocates pack a public hearing to oppose Zenith Energy’s proposed state air quality permit that would allow it to continue storing and offloading oil and renewable fuels at its Portland terminal. (Oregonian)

• A federal judge orders the Trump administration to rehire fired workers who tested coal miners for black lung disease. (Wyoming Public Media)

• Tallgrass Energy proposes a natural gas pipeline that would extend from the Permian Basin to the Rockies Express Pipeline to move fuel to midwestern and eastern states. (S&P Global)

UTILITIES

• Nevada investigators find NV Energy has overcharged about 60,000 residential customers by a total of more than $71 million over seven years after misclassifying types of residences. (Nevada Independent)

• Colorado regulators vote to monitor Xcel Energy’s reliability and customer service performance, following reports the utility had problems answering customer calls, sending out bills, and avoiding outages. (Colorado Sun)

• Arizona advocates criticize Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs for signing legislation allowing utilities to transfer debt into low-interest securitization bonds, saying it lacks oversight provisions and could perpetuate coal burning. (Arizona Capitol Times)

• Western state advocates say Rocky Mountain Power’s continued reliance on coal generation is exacerbating climate change and increasing the utility’s wildfire-related liabilities. (Portland Tribune)

GEOTHERMAL

• Nevada regulators approve NV Energy’s plan to add 115 MW of enhanced geothermal power to the grid to power Google data centers. (news release)

GRID

• Avista Utilities proposes burying power lines in eastern Washington urban wildlands in an effort to reduce wildfire hazard. (Spokesman-Review)

• Rocky Mountain Power continues to investigate the causes of multiple outages that left about 14,000 Utah customers without power this week. (KSL)

TRANSITION

• New Mexico’s energy department begins developing the state’s comprehensive energy transition strategy. (news release)

CRITICAL MINERALS

• A California lawmaker introduces legislation that would create a ​“green empowerment zone” around the Salton Sea aimed at ensuring lithium development benefits local communities. (CalMatters)

CLIMATE

• The Tucson Unified School District votes to hire a consultant to help craft a student-led climate action plan aiming to reach net-zero emissions by 2040. (Arizona Luminaria)