Trump unfreezes funds for Montana solar project

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

• A Montana tribal nation’s effort to bring solar power to off-grid homes moves forward after the Trump administration unfreezes a $136 million federal grant. (Tech Brew)

• Montana lawmakers pass a bill establishing a framework for private community solar projects and how they will connect to the grid. (Daily Montanan)

• Matrix Renewables brings a 261 MW solar project online in Idaho to power a Meta data center. (PV Magazine)

• A Washington state public utility district agrees to purchase power from Invenergy’s proposed 120 MW Quincy solar project. (news release)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Wyoming’s petroleum industry celebrates a Trump administration decision to cancel environmental reviews for more than 3,000 oil and gas leases amid confusion over the meaning and extent of the decision. (Cowboy State Daily)

• Environmental advocates sue California regulators over waivers allowing Sable Offshore to reopen an oil pipeline that ruptured in 2015 near Santa Barbara. (Noozhawk)

• Peabody Energy plans to ramp up coal production at its largest Powder River Basin mine after signing a multi-year contract to supply a Midwest utility. (Cowboy State Daily)

HYDROGEN

• A report finds green hydrogen production and power generation could advance California climate goals, but raises concerns about water use and local impacts. (Maven’s Notebook)

GEOTHERMAL

• Shell Energy agrees to purchase power from Fervo’s Cape Station geothermal project in southwestern Utah. (Power Technology)

ELECTRIFICATION

• Washington state’s building industry plans to appeal a court ruling overturning a 2024 initiative preemptively blocking state and local natural gas hookup and appliance restrictions. (Axios)

GRID

• Nevada advocates call on policymakers to create regulations ensuring utility customers don’t shoulder the cost of adding new data centers to the grid. (Sierra Nevada Ally)

• Portland, Oregon’s city council is set to consider a utility’s proposal to remove trees in an urban forest to make way for a new transmission line. (Willamette Week)

• Public Service Company of New Mexico says expected wind-driven fire hazard this week may prompt public power safety outages. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

UTILITIES

• Wyoming regulators approve a settlement between Rocky Mountain Power and the state’s consumer advocate reducing the utility’s proposed 14.7% rate hike to 10.2%. (WyoFile)

LITHIUM

• Nevada regulators say the Silver Peak lithium mine violated state air quality rules, but corrected the problem after enforcement actions were initiated. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

COMMENTARY

• A Colorado homeowner urges policymakers to continue to require adequate compensation for rooftop solar, saying it increases grid resiliency and lowers power costs. (Writers on the Range)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• Massachusetts regulators approve plans from National Grid and Unitil to offer lower seasonal electricity rates to heat pump owners, with a similar plan from Eversource in the works, Sarah Shemkus reports.

• Making plant-based meals the default at New York City hospitals proves an emission-reducing success, and shows how making climate-friendly options the norm can encourage their adoption, Michael Grunwald writes.