Colorado co-op cuts ties with Tri-State

UTILITIES: Colorado’s largest electric cooperative officially splits with Tri-State Generation and Transmission following years of wrangling over the wholesale power supplier’s rates, fossil fuel reliance and limits on local generation. (Greeley Tribune)

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ALSO: Arizona regulators reject a utility’s request to exempt its proposed natural gas plant expansion in the western part of the state from environmental reviews. (12 News)

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TRANSMISSION: Developers complete construction on the 125-mile Ten West Link transmission line designed to move solar power between California and Arizona. (Inside Climate News)

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GRID: PacifiCorp becomes the first entity to formally commit to the California grid operator’s extended day-ahead power market. (RTO Insider, subscription)

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SOLAR:

• A Colorado county extends a moratorium on large-scale solar installations to allow it to create land-use regulations for major utility projects. (Telluride Daily Planet)
• Idaho landowners tout the benefits of selling or leasing their property to utility-scale solar developers. (KIVI)

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CLEAN ENERGY:

• New Mexico’s renewable energy industry says a lack of qualified workers could hinder the state’s clean energy transition. (Albuquerque Journal)
• On a New Mexico visit, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm highlights the ways the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act has led to clean energy manufacturing job creation. (NM Political Report)

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COAL: Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon plans to sue the Biden administration over rules aimed at reducing power plant pollution, saying it will hasten the demise of the state’s coal industry. (WyoFile)

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OIL & GAS:

• Navajo Nation residents call for more federal and state oversight of an oil pipeline spill cleanup, saying they have lost trust in tribal regulators. (Fronteras)
• Wyoming and Montana join other states in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the federal Bureau of Land Management’s new methane waste prevention rule, saying it harms oil and gas producers. (WyoFile)
• A trial begins for a mass environmental injury lawsuit accusing the U.S. military of breaching its duty of care in its handling of a 2021 fuel facility leak in Hawaii that contaminated drinking water. (Associated Press)  

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HYDROPOWER: Alaska utilities send their proposed plan for the Eklutna hydropower dam to Gov. Mike Dunleavy after months of debate over the facility’s management. (KTUU)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Tesla lays off nearly 700 workers at its electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Sparks, Nevada, after a sales slump. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
• A southern California transit agency opens a solar-powered charging facility for its battery-electric buses and vans. (Orange County Register)

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CLIMATE: Portland, Oregon’s clean energy fund considers investing $50 million in seven school districts to fund solar installations, efficiency upgrades and other emissions reduction and climate change mitigation efforts. (OPB)

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