Trump sues to block California gas restrictions

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.

ELECTRIFICATION

• The Trump administration files a lawsuit seeking to block gas hookup and appliance restrictions in two California cities, claiming the rules violate a 1975 federal law. (Reuters, KQED)

• Washington state’s Supreme Court is set this month to consider the legality of a voters’ referendum banning restrictions on natural gas appliances. (Capital Press)

STORAGE

• Pinal County, Arizona’s supervisors approve esVolta’s proposed 3.2 GWh battery energy storage system. (Energy Storage News)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Sacramento Municipal Utility District pulls out of an agreement to purchase power from the proposed Coyote Creek agrivoltaic project, citing supply chain constraints, tariffs, and pending litigation. (KRCA)

• A California lawmaker introduces legislation that would streamline heat pump and plug-in solar system permitting. (news release)

• Ormat Technologies brings online the Arrowleaf solar-plus-storage project in southern California to supply San Diego Community Power. (news release)

UTILITIES

• An Anschutz Corporation subsidiary proposes a 2,000 MW gas generating facility in southern Wyoming to complement the firm’s Chokecherry Sierra Madre wind project under development nearby, both of which are intended to meet rising data center-driven electricity demand. (KTGA)

• NW Natural proposes having ratepayers shoulder the costs of its $8.3 million investment in a failed renewable natural gas production facility that is shutting down. (OPB)

GRID

• Nevada advocates laud the federal Bureau of Land Management’s plan to redo its environmental analysis of the proposed 235-mile Greenlink North transmission project across the central part of the state. (Las Vegas Review-Journal, news release)

• Colorado regulators approve Tri-State Generation and Transmission’s application to join SPP’s regional transmission organization. (Public Power)

DATA CENTERS

• Laramie County, Wyoming’s commissioners approve Crusoe Energy Systems’ and Tallgrass’ proposed AI data center complex and gas-fired generation facility near Cheyenne, despite residents’ pushback over the project’s massive scale. (Oil City News)

• Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, calls on state regulators to reconsider their approval of the proposed Project Blue data center’s contract with Tucson Electric Power and look more closely at its impact on utility customers’ rates. (E&E News)

• California officials predict data center-driven demand could increase the state’s electricity consumption by 50% over the next two decades. (Politico, news release)

OIL & GAS

• Wyoming oil and gas producers worry the Trump administration’s push to increase crude production in Venezuela will glut the market, decrease commodity prices, and hurt domestic drillers and severance tax revenue. (WyoFile)

• California consumer advocates file a lawsuit accusing five major oil companies of illegally hiking gas prices before new fuel regulations took effect. (E&E News)

HYDROPOWER

• Utah firm rPlus Hydro submits a revised plan for its proposed pumped hydropower storage project in Wyoming in an effort to address environmental concerns. (WyoFile)

TRANSPORTATION

• Washington state is set to launch its $126 million zero-emission commercial truck fleet incentive program, but advocates and lawmakers say it should have been implemented sooner. (Washington State Standard)

CLIMATE

• A Hawaii judge rejects fossil fuel companies’ bid to dismiss Honolulu’s lawsuit seeking to hold the oil and gas companies accountable for climate change-related disasters. (E&E News)

• Washington state officials significantly downgrade estimates of Climate Commitment Act-driven emissions reductions, saying a clerical error had inflated previous projections. (KIRO)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• ‘Win by time’: How Poland is preparing for the death of coal — Alexander C. Kaufman

• 7 numbers that explain why the future of buildings is all-electric — Alison F. Takemura

• PJM needs flexible data centers. Here’s a blueprint. — Jeff St. John