Montana’s high court rules against regulators on gas plant

OVERSIGHT: Montana’s Supreme Court finds state regulators and NorthWestern Energy skirted environmental laws by failing to account for a proposed natural gas plant’s potential greenhouse gas emissions, but allows the now-operational facility to continue running. (Daily Montanan)

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OIL & GAS:

• The Biden administration bans new offshore oil and gas drilling on more than 265 million acres of water, including along the entire West Coast and in the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska. (New York Times)
• Alaska economic officials expect the state’s oil and gas sector to gain 600 jobs this year but still remain far below 2014 employment levels. (KTOO)
• An investigation reveals oil and gas companies’ “playbook” for shirking liability for environmental damage, avoiding cleaning up their wells and offloading reclamation costs to taxpayers. (ProPublica)  

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MINING:

• Advocates call on federal land managers to address evidence allegedly showing the Thacker Pass lithium mine under construction in Nevada has caused groundwater levels to drop and is threatening an imperiled snail with extinction. (Associated Press)
• Southern Arizona advocates and residents push back on a proposed battery-metals mine in the Patagonia Mountains, saying it would harm streams and wildlife. (Inside Climate News)
• State and federal regulators approve a firm’s proposed uranium exploratory drilling plan in eastern Utah. (Proactive)

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SOLAR: Nevada regulators direct NV Energy to incorporate additional benefits of distributed solar and storage into its resource plans, drawing praise from the clean energy industry and advocates. (news release)

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GRID: A Colorado study finds major transmission expansions are necessary to realize the solar generating potential of the rural San Luis Valley in the southern part of the state. (Alamosa Citizen)

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UTILITIES: Pacific Gas & Electric say reduced operating costs and a federal loan should help the utility stabilize or even lower California customers’ bills in 2025 (Sacramento Bee)

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STORAGE: California’s grid operators plan to keep the existing natural gas fleet online even though increasing battery storage capacity is displacing some fossil fuel generation. (RTO Insider, subscription)

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COMMENTARY:

• A California analyst urges utilities to explain and promote their climate goals and the benefits of clean energy, saying they can’t achieve the necessary transition without customer buy-in. (Los Angeles Times)
• An environmental scientist urges New Mexico residents and officials to support a proposed solar-plus-storage project near Santa Fe, saying environmental and safety fears are overblown. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

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