FOSSIL FUELS: Massachusetts activists want utilities and regulators to reconsider the use of peaker plants to support grid reliability, arguing there are cleaner alternatives that don’t risk environmental and public health. (Energy News Network)

ALSO: To get a New York City-area pipeline across the finish line, two utilities want energy regulators to ignore the EPA’s recommendation that they stop considering new gas infrastructure until they revise related policies. (Utility Dive)

MINES: Pennsylvania will receive $104 million in federal infrastructure funds to help plug abandoned oil and gas wells to reduce methane emissions and pollution. (news release)

GRID: A Vermont utility’s residential energy storage program needs to be redesigned to allow participants to remain eligible for certain federal tax credits, advocates and regulators say. (Utility Dive)

EQUITY: Vermont lawmakers heard expert testimony last week as they develop an environmental justice policy, and are now working on shaping the bill’s language. (VT Digger)

SOLAR:
• State regulators approve construction of a 200 MW solar farm on a former coal mining site in rural northwestern Maryland, which is set to start later this year. (news release)
• A New York siting board will hold two public hearings this week to decide whether to approve a 200 MW solar array, which would be among the largest in the state, in the Finger Lakes region. (Auburn Citizen)

EFFICIENCY:
• A new report suggests Baltimore could save millions of dollars every year through efficient environmental actions, such as converting the city’s vehicles to electric and planting wildflowers instead of grass alongside highways. (CBS Baltimore)
• In Portland, Maine, city officials and real estate developers debate the long-term effect of the city’s Green New Deal, which focused on efficiency standards and affordability in new residential construction. (Portland Press Herald)

REAL ESTATE: A Philadelphia-area township updates ordinances to promote more sustainable development, such as electric vehicle charging stations, walkability projects and natural stormwater management. (Delaware County Daily Times)

POLICY: New York City’s new Mayor Eric Adams appoints several new policymakers to his climate leadership team to help figure out the details of his climate and environmental mitigation plan. (news release, Daily News)

HYDROPOWER: Yonkers, New York, becomes the latest municipality to join Westchester Power’s hydroelectric portfolio, automatically enrolling residents into the program. (Rockland/Westchester Journal News)

NUCLEAR: Residents of Massachusetts’ South Shore area attend a hearing and oppose potential plans to dump radioactive wastewater from a decommissioning nuclear power plant into the Cape Cod Bay. (NBC Boston)

COMMENTARY:
• New Hampshire’s consumer advocate says the decades-old Electric Industry Restructuring Act should no longer serve as the basis of the state’s utility-related policymaking. (InDepthNH)
• A New Hampshire newspaper columnist argues that to mitigate climate and housing affordability issues, Concord needs to address or incentivize “missing middle” housing. (Concord Monitor)

Bridget is a freelance reporter and newsletter writer based in the Washington, D.C., area. She compiles the Northeast Energy News digest. Bridget primarily writes about energy, conservation and the environment. Originally from Philadelphia, she graduated from Emerson College in 2015 with a degree in journalism and a minor in environmental studies. When she isn’t working on a story, she’s normally on a northern Maine lake or traveling abroad to practice her Spanish language skills.