Trump slashes Utah national monuments by 90%

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PUBLIC LANDS

• President Trump issues proclamations reducing Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments in southern Utah by about 90%, reopening nearly 3 million acres of federal land to mining claims and oil and gas and coal leasing. (Inside Climate News, Land Desk)

UTILITIES

• Far-right candidates mount bids to unseat two Republican Arizona Corporation Commission members, saying the utility regulators haven’t done enough to keep coal plants running. (KJZZ)
• Seattle City Council votes to expand the city’s Utility Discount Program to 31,000 additional low-income households in an effort to tackle increasingly unaffordable electricity. (news release)

CLIMATE

• Oregon regulators advance a proposed community climate investment program that would use polluter-generated funds to help low-income residents install heat pumps, solar panels, and EV chargers and make energy-efficiency upgrades. (Oregonian)

FOSSIL FUELS

• New Mexico lawmakers consider proposed legislation that would require larger setbacks between schools and new oil and gas wells. (KRQE)
• New Mexico regulators seek more contractors to bolster its abandoned and orphaned oil and gas well plugging and reclamation program. (Santa Fe New Mexican)
• State data show New Mexico oil and gas operators reported 17,373 incidents spilling more than 4.5 million gallons of oil, distillates, and produced wastewater during the first half of 2026. (news release)
• A federal Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction in Montana sells one of four offered parcels, triggering noncompetitive leasing for the remaining three. (news release)

DATA CENTERS

• Advocates call on Montana utility regulators to create a separate customer class for data centers, saying they are distinct from other large-load customers. (Daily Montanan)
• New Mexico utility officials urge state lawmakers to reject a proposed moratorium on new data centers, saying the facilities bring jobs and revenues that can fund grid modernization projects. (Source NM)
• An energy policy consultant warns New Mexico lawmakers that data center–associated fuel-cell or gas-powered microgrids could imperil state climate goals by emitting significant volumes of greenhouse gases. (Source NM)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Boise, Idaho’s City Council votes to allocate $50,000 to the city’s first community solar project. (news release)
• Terra-Gen brings online its 80-MW Lockhart solar project in San Bernardino County, California. (Renewables Now)

STORAGE

• San Diego County’s planning commission approves the 85-MW Starlight solar-plus-storage project on about 500 acres near Boulevard, California, despite pushback from local residents. (KPBS)

GRID

• Pacific Gas & Electric plans public safety power outages due to high wildfire hazard in northern California this week. (CBS News)

CRITICAL MATERIALS

• A Canadian firm proposes a nickel mine in southern Oregon, citing a growing demand for the EV-battery material. (OPB)