NWPPA Morning Brief
A six-month pilot from NWPPA: a daily, 10- to 12-minute energy and policy intelligence briefing for community-owned electric utilities in the Western United States. New episodes publish every weekday morning, typically by 6:15 AM Pacific.
NWPPA Morning Brief
NWPPA Morning Brief - Thursday, June 25, 2026
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NWPPA Morning Brief — Thursday, June 25, 2026
In today's brief:
Top Federal Developments
- House Energy Subcommittee Marks Up Eight Electricity and Pipeline Bills — https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/chairmen-guthrie-and-latta-announce-energy-subcommittee-markup-of-eight-bills-on-electricity-and-pipeline-safety
- Pallone Calls for National Data Center Moratorium — https://www.eenews.net/articles/pallone-calls-for-national-data-center-moratorium/
- Report: Grid Operators Have Restructured Interconnection Queues, But Processing Is Not Yet Faster — https://www.utilitydive.com/news/generator-interconnection-reform-ferc-spp-miso-pjm/823613/
Top Regional / State Developments
- Oregon PUC Approves New Large-Load Rate Class — https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/oregon-energy-regulator-approves-new-rate-class-for-large-load-data-centers/
- Lake Powell Projected to Hit Minimum Power Pool by Spring 2027 — https://www.western-water.com/2026/06/17/lake-powell-faces-power-loss-by-spring-2027/
- Helion Receives Washington State Licenses for Malaga Fusion Plant — https://www.ans.org/news/2026-06-23/article-8140/helion-secures-new-licenses-from-washington/
- Utah's Largest Solar-Plus-Storage Project Reaches Commercial Operation — https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2026/06/rplus-energies-activates-400-mw-utah-solar-storage-project/
- Community Opposition to Battery Storage Sites Builds in Western Washington — https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/23/battery-storage-washington/
Pilot notice: AI-generated daily briefing. Verify before acting on it.
Before we begin, a quick note. The NWPPA morning brief is Generative AI, daily intelligence on the federal and Western developments shaping public power. It isn't human-reviewed before publication, so treat it like any AI tool and verify what you'll act on or cite. Sources are in the show notes. You're listening to the NWPPA morning brief. On today's brief, Oregon sets a Pacific Northwest precedent on data center cost allocation. Congress fractures on data center policy as eight electricity bills advance out of subcommittee. Lake Powell is now on a specific timeline toward losing Glen Canyon Dam's generating capability. Helion gets its first commercial fusion licenses in Washington state, and Western battery storage faces organized opposition on the ground. Today's briefing is brought to you by NWPPA's Women in Public Power Conference, July 28th to 30th in Santa Rosa, California. Three days of connection, candid conversation, and community by and for the women of public power. Register at NWPPA.org.
SPEAKER_00The Lake Powell story is the one I'd put in front of your board today. The Bureau of Reclamation's June 24 month study is now projecting Glen Canyon Dam could fall below minimum power pool, the elevation at which it can no longer spin its turbines by spring 2027. May inflow was 18% of the 30-year average. June is forecast at 7%. That's not a trend line, that's a cliff.
SPEAKER_01And the operating rules that govern the whole Colorado River system expire at the end of 2026. So the negotiation over what comes next is happening simultaneously with the reservoir sliding toward the floor. WAPA customers and anyone holding Glen Canyon allocations need a contingency in their resource plan now, not after the rulemaking.
SPEAKER_00Let's get into it. Start with the Oregon Large Load Rate class. The Oregon PUC approved a new framework requiring data centers and other large loads at 20 megawatts and above to pay for the grid infrastructure built to serve them. That covers data centers and crypto mining operations under a distinct rate class following Oregon's Power Act. This is the most concrete state-level precedent in the Pacific Northwest for assigning the cost of large load growth to the customers driving it, rather than spreading those costs across existing ratepayers.
SPEAKER_01The precedent question is real. Washington and Idaho regulators are watching the same load requests arrive, and Oregon just gave them a model with a specific threshold and a defined cost assignment mechanism. There's still a July 7th PUC decision pending on Portland General's specific tariff filing under this same act, so the framework isn't fully settled. But the directional signal is clear. Cost causation is becoming policy.
SPEAKER_00Worth noting the interaction with the federal picture because on the same day Oregon moved, the House Energy Subcommittee was marking up bills aimed at doing something similar at the federal level.
SPEAKER_01Which brings us directly to Capitol Hill.
SPEAKER_00Turning to the House markup, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy advanced eight bills Wednesday. The cluster that matters most for public power includes the Ratepayer Protection Act, the Protecting Families from AI Data Center Energy Costs Act, and the Load Forecasting Enhancement Act, all aimed at insulating existing ratepayers from costs driven by data center buildout. The Expediting Generator Interconnection Procedures Act is also in the package. Subcommittee passage is step one. Full committee and floor votes follow.
SPEAKER_01These bills reflect a real bipartisan consensus that existing customers shouldn't subsidize hyperscaler load growth. But Ranking Member Pallone's call for a nationwide moratorium on data center construction, made at the same markup, is pulling the Democratic caucus in a different direction. He's now the most senior House Democrat with energy jurisdiction to back a moratorium. That fractures the coalition these narrower ratepayer bills need to actually move.
SPEAKER_00For public power utilities whose load forecasts and tariff designs assume continued data center growth, the question is whether federal cost allocation reform arrives before any sighting restriction takes hold. The Oregon Action suggests state-level cost tools are moving faster than federal ones either way.
SPEAKER_01Next up, the Interconnection Reform Report. Advanced Energy United released a study finding that grid operators have made significant progress implementing FERC Order 2023, the 2023 rule requiring interconnection requests to be processed in clusters rather than one by one, but that queues are not yet moving faster. The report also found that fast-track interconnection policies are being used disproportionately by utility-affiliated and fossil heavy projects, according to Advanced Energy United.
SPEAKER_00That second finding is the one to watch at FERC. Advanced Energy United is an advocacy organization, and their framing of who benefits from fast-track pathways is exactly the kind of empirical claim that surfaces in future rulemakings and tariff proceedings. Public power members with generation or storage in CAISO or SPPQs, whether they're using FastTrack or getting blocked by it, have a direct stake in how that argument lands at the Commission. Network upgrade needs, supply chain, and permitting are still the binding constraints regardless of process reform.
SPEAKER_01Moving to the Helion Fusion story, Helion Energy announced it has received a radioactive materials license and a radioactive air emissions license from Washington state for its first commercial fusion plant called Orion, sited in Malaga, Washington. The company says this makes it the first in the world to hold regulatory authorizations for a commercial fusion facility. Construction started in July 2025 with a 2028 target and 50 megawatts or greater after ramp-up. Microsoft is the off taker.
SPEAKER_00The technology questions around fusion are real and unresolved, but the licensing pathway here is the precedent worth tracking. Helion used state radioactive materials and air emissions licenses, not NRC reactor licensing. If that pathway holds and scales, it changes the regulatory geometry for advanced energy siting in the Pacific Northwest significantly. Every utility thinking about next generation resources should be watching how Washington State's framework performs under actual construction and operations.
SPEAKER_01Over to the Utah Solar Plus Storage Project. R Plus Energy started commercial operations at Green River Energy Center in Emory County. 400 megawatts of solar paired with 400 megawatts and 1,600 megawatt hours of battery storage. The developer describes it as the largest solar plus storage facility in Pacific Core's sixth state service territory.
SPEAKER_001,600 megawatt hours of dispatchable storage is a material addition to the Western system. For public power utilities with Pacific Core exposure or resource adequacy planning exposure to the broader Western market, this adds real capacity available during peak hours. Utah's Operation Gigawatt is starting to produce operating projects, not just announcements.
SPEAKER_01Shifting to the battery storage opposition story. Reporting from OPB and the Washington State Standard documents organized neighborhood opposition to large-scale battery storage projects across Western Washington. Residents are citing concerns about toxic fires. Clean energy advocates and developers argue that blocking these projects would slow the clean energy transition.
SPEAKER_00The sight here is operational, not theoretical. Western Washington permitting timelines are getting longer as local processes absorb fire safety opposition. For public power utilities that have storage in their resource adequacy plans or clean energy compliance pathways, this is a schedule risk worth building into project timelines now rather than discovering it mid-permitting.
SPEAKER_01On the markets front, the Western Energy Markets governing body reappointed Anita Decker, former Bonneville Power Administration Chief Operating Officer, to a third term. Andrew Campbell was named chair and Deborah Smith Vice Chair. The governing body oversees the Western Energy Imbalance Market and EE DAM.
SPEAKER_00Decker's continuity matters because Markets Plus versus EDAM is still an active strategic decision for the Bonneville Power Administration and other Western public power participants. Having someone with BPA operating experience on the governing body is directly relevant to how that body weighs the interests of federal and public power participants as EDAM expands.
SPEAKER_01On pricing, Front Month Henry Hub Natural Gas Futures were trading at $3.29 per million BTU on June 25th, up from $3.19. NIMAX WTI Front Month Crude Futures were trading at $69.80 per barrel, down from $71.06.
SPEAKER_00Western spot prices for June 24 delivery. SUMUS Natural Gas at $1.35 per million BTU. Mid-Columbia Power at $35.50 per megawatt hour. On the capital side, the 10-year treasury yield was 4.50% on June 23rd, down one basis point. Comex Copper settled at $6.08 per pound on June 24th, up from $5.94.
SPEAKER_01One to watch. The expiration of Colorado River operating rules at the end of 2026 is the timeline that frames everything around Lake Powell. The Bureau of Reclamation's June study doesn't just project a reservoir elevation problem, it sets the condition under which the next operating agreement has to be negotiated. If Powell approaches minimum power pool as that negotiation is live, the leverage and urgency inside those talks shifts considerably.
SPEAKER_00WAPAWA customers should already be stress testing their Glen Canyon allocations against a zero-generation scenario. The 24-month study gives you the projected window. Emergency releases from Flaming Gorge are already underway. The operating rules negotiation and the physical reservoir trajectory are now on converging timelines, and the gap between them is less than 12 months.
SPEAKER_01The federal hydro system has navigated low water years before, but the combination of 7% June inflow, expiring operating rules, and a specific spring 2027 projection for power pool loss is a different kind of planning signal.
SPEAKER_00Today's brief is dense with cost allocation questions. Who pays for data center load? Who benefits from fast track interconnection? Who absorbs the risk when a major federal hydro resource approaches its operational floor? Those aren't separate policy debates. They're all versions of the same question about how the Western grid shares costs and risks as the system changes.
SPEAKER_01For resource planners and general managers, the Oregon Rate Class and the Lake Powell timeline are the two developments that have the most direct near term implications. One tells you where state cost allocation policy is heading. The other tells you how much time you may have before a major federal resource changes shape. That's your NWPPA morning brief for Thursday, June 25th, 2026. Sources for every story are linked in the show notes. We'll be back tomorrow morning. Keep the lights on.