Oregon regulators vote to reinstate landmark climate plan

CLIMATE: Oregon regulators vote to reinstate the state’s landmark climate plan aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions after a court invalidated the 2021 program over a technicality. (Oregon Capital Chronicle)

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ALSO: A western Colorado city seeks public input on its proposed energy and climate resilience action plan. (Post-Independent)

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OIL & GAS: Federal regulators charge Phillips 66 with violating environmental laws for allegedly discharging hundreds of thousands of gallons of industrial waste from its Los Angeles-area refinery into county sewer systems. (Mercury News)

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UTILITIES:

• New Mexico regulators reject state lawmakers’ and a school district’s calls to require a utility to replace a retired coal plant’s lost generation with solar in the northwestern part of the state. (Albuquerque Journal)
• Wyoming lawmakers join Utah’s call for Rocky Mountain Power to cut ties with parent company PacifiCorp to align the utility with the fossil fuel-friendly states. (WyoFile)
• A California court upholds a 2022 ruling dismissing a lawsuit challenging San Diego’s franchise agreements with its gas and electric utilities. (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Arizona Public Service says it has added 7,300 MW of clean energy and natural gas generation and battery storage to its portfolio over the last year. (news release)

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WIND: U.S. Sen. James Risch, an Idaho Republican, says he will work with the incoming Trump administration to kill the controversial proposed Lava Ridge wind facility on federal land in the southern part of the state. (E&E News, subscription)

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SOLAR:

• Arizona-based First Solar says competitive pressure, reduced demand and political and regulatory uncertainty drove a 10.8% revenue decline in this year’s third quarter. (Utility Dive)
• A firm begins operations at its new solar recycling facility in southwestern Arizona. (news release)
• A southern California city begins constructing two solar systems designed to power police and fire headquarters and other municipal facilities. (KCLU)
• A developer unveils six solar systems at southwestern Colorado schools, which are expected to save the district about $8 million in utility costs over the next two decades. (Durango Herald)

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STORAGE:

• A developer brings a 157 MW solar-plus-storage peaker plant online in southern California. (Power)
• A developer brings a 1 MW non-lithium battery energy storage system online at a U.S. Army base in Colorado. (Gazette)
• A California firm installs dozens of emergency rooftop solar-plus-storage systems in a Los Angeles-area neighborhood cut off from utility service by landslides. (Solar Builder Magazine)  

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TRANSITION: Northwestern New Mexico officials advance a proposed freight rail line aimed at spurring industrial development in the wake of a coal plant’s 2022 retirement. (Albuquerque Journal)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Nevada city brings an electric vehicle charging system online to power its police and municipal fleets. (news release)

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COMMENTARY: California regulators say their agency’s recent tweaks to the state’s low carbon fuel standards inadvertently incentivize “pollution-heavy practices over sustainable, low-impact solutions.”(Los Angeles Times)

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