Study: Bay Area EV adoption reduces carbon emissions

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: California researchers find electric vehicle adoption in the Bay Area has led to a 2.6% annual decrease in automobile emissions. (Courthouse News)

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ALSO:

• Colorado plans to spend $21 million to install 290 public electric vehicle charging ports at 46 locations, boosting the existing network by 30%. (Colorado Sun)
• New Mexico auto dealers petition regulators to block implementation of state clean air rules aimed at boosting electric vehicle sales, saying they will harm the industry. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

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TRANSPORTATION:

• Los Angeles secures $900 million in federal funding to expand and upgrade public transit networks in advance of the 2028 summer Olympics. (City News Service)
• Federal prosecutors charge 12 California residents with violating clean air laws by developing and marketing a machine that enables cars to cheat on state smog emissions tests. (Los Angeles Times)

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OIL & GAS:

• A climate group finds plugging and cleaning up wells in a single Wyoming oil and gas field could cost up to $900 million, or about 30 times more than proposed federal reclamation bond increases would generate. (E&E news, subscription, news release)
• U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, calls on the Biden administration to finalize proposed federal oil and gas leasing reforms. (Durango Herald)
• Wyoming considers allocating $9.8 million to a proposed pilot project that would inject highly concentrated oxygen into oilfields to stimulate production. (Gillette News Record)

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WIND: Developers bring a 152 MW wind power facility online in southeastern Idaho. (Renewables Now)

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SOLAR: The Biden administration awards $19 million to projects in California, Oregon and Utah to help install solar panels over irrigation canals. (Courthouse News)

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HYDROPOWER: Northwest officials predict low winter and spring precipitation levels will diminish this summer’s hydropower output from the region. (S&P Global)

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CLIMATE: A Colorado ski area says it has reached its goal of operating on a net-zero carbon footprint a year ahead of schedule. (KDVR)

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GRID: The Bonneville Power Administration’s staff recommends the agency join the Southwest Power Pool’s day-ahead power market rather than the California grid operator’s. (RTO Insider, subscription)

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COAL:

• A federal lawmaker from Utah calls a utility’s decision to continue operating coal plants in the state a good example of “market-driven policies” even as the industry benefits from state legislation aimed at boosting fossil fuels. (Utah News Dispatch)
• A judge upholds state regulators’ decision requiring a coal mine in western Colorado to monitor and limit stormwater discharge pollution into a river. (news release)  
• A company proposes using coal from a retiring Wyoming power plant as feedstock for ammonia production. (Cowboy State Daily)

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NUCLEAR: A federal study predicts that converting a coal plant to an advanced nuclear reactor would add about 30 to 100 full-time jobs, a figure in line with projections for a Wyoming conversion. (Utility Dive)

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