The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority is due to receive proposals for the second round of funding under its Natural Carbon Solutions Innovation Challenge program. The initiative aims to catalyze and de-risk innovative approaches to significantly increase the scale of negative emissions and carbon sequestration, reduce waste-related methane, and advance the state’s clean energy goals. This round has two challenge areas, each involving a two-step process to award funding. Phase 1 awardees will receive a certain amount to perform an in-depth feasibility assessment to qualify for Phase 2, under which awardees will receive funding to further implement the proposed project.

The District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment will conduct a virtual public hearing on its fiscal year 2025 Draft State Plan for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. The program assists income-eligible district households with heating and cooling energy costs. Eligible households may receive energy bill assistance as a one-time regular energy assistance benefit.

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation will hold a joint listening session with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support and enhance meaningful engagement with communities that have environmental justice concerns. The session, to be held in Suffolk County, supports the agencies’ efforts to promote and enhance existing state and federal environmental justice programs to better serve communities, build relationships between the agencies and community members, and help prioritize future outreach efforts for public participation. The agencies seek to hear directly from Long Island residents as they continue their work to reduce legacy contamination and pollution, and tackle the impacts of climate change.

The District of Columbia Public Service Commission will hold a virtual pre-hearing status conference to discuss Washington Gas Light Company’s application for adjustments of retail rates and charges applicable to natural gas services. The WGL Holdings subsidiary is seeking an increase of $45.6 million, or 16 percent, which includes a transfer of $11.7 million associated with costs from the natural gas system upgrades previously approved by the commission and currently being paid by customers through a monthly surcharge, bringing the net increase to $33.9 million, or 11.9 percent.

The Washington Department of Ecology seeks comments on proposed rule changes to ensure that greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity imported into Washington through centralized electricity markets are accounted for under the 2021 Climate Commitment Act. The rulemaking focuses on electricity from known generation sources and will give market operators the clarity they need to collect emissions data and identify importing entities. As centralized electricity markets continue to develop, additional rulemaking will be required to ensure that the department’s rules fully capture emissions from electricity that cannot be traced to a specific generation source. Currently, the state imports less than it exports, but imports are expected to increase. The department projects that almost 40 percent of Washington’s electricity will be imported by 2050 due to population growth and the transition to cleaner energy sources.

The California Air Resources Board and Québec’s Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change will release the results of their 40th joint quarterly carbon auction, which offered allowances for current and future years. The current auction offered 2019, 2021, and 2024 vintage allowances totaling about 51.2 million, and the advance auction offered 2027 future allowances totaling about 7.2 million. The previous auction held in May sold all of the nearly 51.6 million current allowances at a price of $37.02 per allowance and about 7.2 million future allowances at $38.35 per allowance. California’s cap-and trade program places an economy-wide cap on major emitting sources.

The California Energy Commission is due to receive comments on the feasibility of wave and tidal energy resources, as part of an update to its 2024 Integrated Energy Policy Report, or IEPR. A 2023 law requires the commission, in consultation with other state agencies, to evaluate factors that may increase the use of wave and tidal energy resources in California, such as findings on technological and economic feasibility, transmission needs and permitting processes, workforce and projects economic development needs, and monitoring strategies to evaluate impacts to marine and tidal ecosystems. At a recently held workshop, the commission discussed the status and next steps in meeting the requirements of the law and its inclusion in the IEPR update, and a draft study on wave and tidal energy feasibility.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is due to receive requests for intervention regarding Public Service Company of Colorado’s application for approval of its 2025-2027 wildfire mitigation plan, which includes a projected budget of about $1.9 billion. Public Service also seeks approval of its public safety power shut off plan, which defines the conditions under which the company would proactively de-energize portions of its system when there is imminent and significant risk of severe fire conditions. Further, the company proposes to recover transmission costs through the transmission cost adjustment consistent with previous approvals, and seeks approval of a wildfire mitigation adjustment rider that would be adjusted twice annually based on forecast and actual costs. 24A-0296E