Advocates: New Mexico oil and gas firms exploit methane rule loophole

OIL & GAS: Advocates say a loophole in New Mexico’s methane emission rules allows oil and gas companies to vent record-high volumes of the potent greenhouse gas, endangering the state’s climate goals. (Capital & Main)

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ALSO: Alaska lawmakers advance legislation that would reduce state oil and gas royalties in hopes of spurring production and avoiding a looming natural gas shortage. (Alaska Beacon)

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CARBON CAPTURE: A California oil-reliant community looks to spur economic development by building a carbon capture and sequestration industry utilizing depleted oil fields. (High Country News)

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UTILITIES:

• New Mexico’s Supreme Court rules that regulators wrongly interpreted state law when they blocked the state’s largest utility from decoupling revenues from electricity and natural gas sales to encourage efficiency. (NM Political Report)
• San Diego advocates fail to garner enough signatures to put an initiative to municipalize the city’s electric utility on the November ballot, but could still force the city council to consider the proposal. (San Diego Union-Tribune)

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CLIMATE:

• Montana advocates call on utility regulators to speed up a decision on whether to consider climate change and its costs in decision-making. (Montana Standard)
• Oregon researchers find carbon dioxide is accumulating in the atmosphere 10 times faster than during any other period in the past 50,000 years. (KOIN)

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MICROGRIDS: Pacific Gas & Electric plans to build six remote microgrids in wildfire prone parts of northern California. (Microgrid Knowledge)

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SOLAR: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis slams the Biden administration’s plan to increase tariffs on China-made solar panels, lithium ion batteries and other goods, saying it will hurt consumers and clean energy development. (Colorado Newsline)

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CLEAN ENERGY: New Mexico awards seven companies $3.4 million to fund clean energy research and development. (news release)

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MINING: An Indigenous advocacy group petitions the U.S. Supreme Court to block a proposed copper mine in Arizona that would destroy a site considered sacred by tribal nations. (Arizona Republic)

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TRANSMISSION: Developers propose a 137-mile high-voltage transmission line to carry solar, wind and geothermal power from Arizona to southern California. (Coast News)

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COAL: Wyoming lawmakers consider slashing coal severance taxes to help the beleaguered industry even though studies have shown such incentives don’t affect employment or production. (WyoFile)

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TRANSPORTATION:

• Data show electric vehicle sales slowed during the first quarter of 2024 in Colorado even after the state introduced new incentives. (Colorado Sun)
• California officials seek drivers to participate in a pilot program testing a proposed mileage fee aimed at replacing gasoline excise taxes. (Los Angeles Times)
• The Biden administration awards California nearly $64 million to continue to build out its electric vehicle charging network. (KRON 4)

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COMMENTARY: A California columnist urges state lawmakers to reform a property tax law to make it easier to site utility-scale solar installations on non-productive farmland. (Los Angeles Times)

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