Washington tribes get $32 million to combat climate change

CLIMATE: The Biden administration awards Washington state tribal nations more than $32 million to combat climate change’s disproportionate effects on Indigenous peoples. (Seattle Times)

ALSO:

• Political candidates in deeply conservative Utah highlight climate change as a campaign issue, but state lawmakers continue to enact fossil fuel-friendly policies. (Capital & Main)
• Alaska submits its first climate action plan to the federal government so it can access pollution reduction grants. (Alaska Public Media)

COAL: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signs controversial legislation opening the door for the state to purchase a coal power plant in order to keep it running past its scheduled retirement date. (Axios)

CLEAN ENERGY: The Biden administration allocates $475 million for clean energy projects on mine lands, including geothermal and battery storage systems at Arizona copper mines. (AZPM)

SOLAR:

• California regulators vote to allow residents to connect distributed solar and battery storage to the grid without paying for costly infrastructure upgrades. (PV Magazine)
• Federal regulators reject Arizona advocates’ request to penalize a utility for allegedly setting fixed rates that discriminate against rooftop solar customers. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• A Colorado school district plans to install solar panels on several of its facilities by the end of this year. (KOB)
• San Diego Community Power signs on to purchase the full capacity of a 400 MW solar-plus-battery storage installation in southern Nevada. (news release)

WIND: Developers are planning or building more than 3,000 MW of wind capacity in Wyoming, but are running up against local opposition and concerns about environmental impacts. (Cowboy State Daily)

GRID: Two Northwest utilities plan to join the California grid operator’s extended day-ahead power market, giving it a leg up on the Southwest Power Pool’s competing initiative. (RTO Insider, subscription)

OIL & GAS: 

• Colorado conservationists file ballot initiatives seeking to increase polluters’ penalties and establishing a right to a healthy environment to counter fossil fuel industry initiatives. (CPR)
• The operator of a Wyoming oil and gas field disputes regulators’ claim that it is exceeding limits for barium and radium in wastewater discharged into streams and says it will begin treating the water later this year. (WyoFile)

TRANSPORTATION: U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican, pushes back on the Biden administration’s new tailpipe emissions standards, saying they could ​“eventually get rid of the combustion engine.” (Alaska Public Media)

METHANE: A national laboratory and a California utility develop a method of using wind and solar power to generate hydrogen, which is then used to convert carbon to pipeline-ready methane. (Renewable Energy Magazine)

GRID: An appellate court revives rural activists’ lawsuit aimed at blocking a substation proposed by the Campo tribe in southern California, saying tribal sovereign immunity doesn’t apply on private lands. (East County Magazine)

COMMENTARY: California energy analysts say the state’s proposed income-based, fixed-charge utility rate structure is the most equitable solution to the ​“utility death spiral” if designed correctly. (Conversation)