Trump suspends new clean energy leases, permits on federal lands

CLEAN ENERGY: The Trump administration suspends new clean energy leasing and permitting on federal lands for 60 days. (Heatmap)

ALSO: President Trump’s executive order halting disbursement of Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Law funds throws dozens of Alaska clean energy projects into limbo. (KNBA)

WIND: Clean energy advocates say Trump’s ban on new offshore wind leases won’t directly stop facilities planned along California’s coast, but it could still cripple the industry. (CalMatters)

OIL & GAS: 

• The Navajo Nation files a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s 2023 ban on new federal oil and gas leases around Chaco Culture National Historical Park, saying it causes financial hardship. (E&E News, subscription)
• Colorado residents and advocates look to block eight proposed oil and gas wells adjacent to a Denver-area city. (CBS Colorado)

BATTERIES:

• Experts say the industry has upgraded grid-scale battery storage systems’ safety in recent years, making another fire like the one at the Moss Landing site in California unlikely. (Canary Media)
• A California lawmaker introduces legislation that would block new grid-scale battery energy storage systems in sensitive areas and give local communities more control over permitting the facilities. (East Bay Times)

UTILITIES:

• A security camera video provides new evidence that Southern California Edison’s equipment may have sparked the deadly Eaton Fire. (Los Angeles Times)
• Tucson, Arizona’s city council considers establishing a public power authority to replace the existing utility or a community choice aggregator in an effort to reach clean energy goals. (Arizona Luminaria)
• Wyoming cities and counties urge lawmakers to reject legislation that would repeal the sales tax on electricity, saying it would diminish government revenues and the services they fund. (WyoFile)

GRID: New Mexico regulators consider establishing separate grid interconnection rules for rural electric cooperatives that are different from investor-owned utility regulations. (New Mexico Political Report)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: An electric vehicle battery fire in southern California forces several dozen residents to evacuate. (KTLA)

COAL:

• A Wyoming economist says the Trump administration’s plan to use coal generation to power new data centers may boost the state’s declining mining industry, but only temporarily. (Associated Press)
• In its final days, the Biden administration awarded Alaska $1.3 million to catalog and reclaim abandoned coal mines. (KUAC)

TRANSITION: A northwestern New Mexico city turns to outdoor recreation to help it weather a coal plant’s retirement and the decline of the natural gas drilling industry. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

CLIMATE: Nevada lawmakers propose legislation aimed at tackling climate change’s effects by mitigating urban heat islands and blocking summer utility shutoffs. (Nevada Current)

COMMENTARY: A California editorial board urges regulators to develop better safeguards and improve siting for battery energy storage projects in the wake of the Moss Landing fire, but not to impede the industry. (Sacramento Bee)