Wyoming lawmakers target electric vehicles — again

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Wyoming lawmakers propose a tax that would more than double the price of electricity used to charge electric vehicles, saying the increased fee would be similar to current gasoline taxes. (Casper Star-Tribune)

ALSO:
• Wyoming transportation officials turn down federal electric vehicle charger funds rather than meet a condition that stations be installed every 50 highway miles. (E&E News)
• Denver offers another batch of vouchers in the latest round of its popular electric bike rebate program. (Denver7)
• Electric bike batteries catch fire in a Colorado garage, causing $250,000 worth of damage. (CBS Colorado)

CLIMATE:
• California lawmakers introduce bills that would require companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions, ban public pension funds from investing in fossil fuels and create a group to analyze corporations’ climate risks. (Associated Press)
• A Colorado county adopts a clean energy action plan aimed at reducing energy consumption and emissions from electricity generation and encouraging electric vehicle adoption. (Aspen Daily News)
• One of California’s most coal-dependent cities declares a climate emergency and adopts a goal of 100% carbon-free power by the end of the year. (ColoradoBoulevard.net)

UTILITIES:
• One of New Mexico’s three utility regulators recuses himself from decisions involving a proposed merger between Avangrid and the state’s largest utility, citing previous testimony on a related matter. (Associated Press)
• Montana lawmakers consider redrawing utility regulatory commission districts to comply with a judge’s order. (Missoulian)

OIL & GAS:
• New Mexico regulators investigate a methane cloud that appears to be spewing from an oil and gas facility in the Permian Basin after a satellite detected it. (Bloomberg)
• Colorado gasoline prices increase faster than in neighboring states after the state’s only oil refinery temporarily shut down for repairs. (CPR)
• Environmental groups call the Biden administration’s imminent decision on ConocoPhillips’ proposed Willow oil and gas drilling project in Alaska a climate action ​“bellwether.” (Bloomberg)

TRANSITION: New Mexico advocates call on state lawmakers to establish a $10 million fund to provide training and other aid to oil, gas and coal workers affected by the energy transition. (Albuquerque Journal)

COAL: Wyoming receives nearly $10 million in federal funds to clean up long-abandoned coal mines. (Casper Star-Tribune)

SOLAR: Wyoming’s Senate approves a bill that would repeal mandatory retail-rate net metering payments for rooftop solar generation. (Casper Star-Tribune)

WIND: A developer proposes building the nation’s largest offshore wind turbine assembly facility at the Port of Long Beach in California. (OffshoreWind.biz)

BIOFUELS: Hawaii’s Supreme Court begins hearing arguments as a bioenergy company looks to vacate regulators’ decision blocking power sales from the company’s facility. (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)

GRID:
• The Biden administration loans Western electricity cooperatives $185 million to modernize power infrastructure and increase grid security. (news release)
• A substation malfunction in southern California leaves more than 36,000 households without power. (Patch)
• A remote Alaska village school’s power plant catches on fire, leaving the facility and part of the community without electricity. (KTOO)