Washington climate law to fund Indigenous climate relocation

CLIMATE: Washington state allocates $52 million from its carbon cap-and-invest program to help relocate Indigenous communities threatened by climate change and rising sea levels. (Associated Press)

ALSO:

• Campaign data show the group looking to defend Washington state’s carbon cap-and-invest program has about 10 times more money than the group seeking to repeal it. (E&E News, subscription) 
• Republican federal lawmakers from Arizona reject science showing human-caused climate change is contributing to the state’s increasingly high temperatures. (Cronkite News)
• A study finds millions of low-income residents across the U.S., including in several Western states, risk having their power shut off this summer even as deadly heat waves grip the region. (Guardian)

SOLAR: A developer secures $1 billion in financing for its proposed 400 MW solar-plus-battery storage facility in eastern Utah. (Solar Industry)

OIL & GAS: 

• A peer-reviewed study finds Permian Basin oil and gas development contributes to high ozone pollution levels in Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeastern New Mexico. (The Hill)
• New Mexico residents and advocates call on state lawmakers to ban oil and gas facilities near homes and schools to mitigate harm from dangerous emissions. (Current-Argus)
• A Montana petroleum company agrees to pay $20,000 in fines, complete a mitigation project and donate equipment to a local fire district for allegedly violating federal law by spilling 4,800 gallons of gasoline into a stream in Yellowstone National Park. (news release)

UTILITIES: NorthWestern Energy plans to begin operations at a contested natural gas plant along the Yellowstone River in Montana this month, even as courts continue to consider legal challenges. (Billings Gazette)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: California officials say it is unlikely the state can meet its target of 1 million public electric vehicle chargers by the end of 2030 without substantial public and private investment, streamlined permitting and power grid upgrades. (CalMatters)

COAL: Wyoming’s congressional delegation calls on the Biden administration to abandon a proposal to end new federal coal leasing in the Powder River Basin, saying it would harm the state’s economy and grid reliability nationwide. (E&E News, subscription)

PUBLIC LANDS: Western oil and gas and mining groups file a lawsuit seeking to block the federal Bureau of Land Management’s new conservation-oriented public lands rule, saying it violates federal law. (E&E News, subscription)

GRID:

• Federal analysts say data centers and cryptocurrency mining facilities drove commercial electricity consumption growth in Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Oregon from 2019 through 2023. (Utility Dive)
• Federal prosecutors charge a Washington state man for allegedly attacking electrical substations in Oregon in November 2022. (OPB)

WIND: California regulators greenlight an offshore wind developer to conduct site surveys in Morro Bay on the state’s central coast. (Environment + Energy Leader)