UTILITIES: After Tropical Storm Isaias left 1.4 million New Jersey customers without power, state regulators consider hastening the installation of smart meters and other technologies to aid service restorations in future storms. (NJ Spotlight)

ALSO:
• State regulators begin an investigation into New Jersey utilities’ storm response. (NJ.com)
• Municipal leaders in Connecticut mull legal action against Eversource over its slow response as service is expected to return to the final 800 customers tonight, or nine days after the storm. (Hartford Courant) 

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PIPELINES: Kayakers stage a protest at a Pennsylvania lake where 8,000 gallons of drilling mud leaked into it from the Mariner East pipeline construction site as a state legislator calls for its permits to be withdrawn. (StateImpact Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh Business Times)

CLIMATE:
• Activists urge New England utility customers to begin a bill paying strike on September 1 to get the regional power grid to take climate change more seriously. (NHPR)
• A banner urging climate action was hung from the iconic Citgo sign near Boston’s Fenway Park leading to eight arrests. (Boston Globe)

SOLAR:
• Rhode Island regulators approve the first two projects under a new state program to encourage solar installations on parking lot canopies. (Providence Business News)
• A New York school district enters its second phase of solar installations, adding 1.9 MW over several locations. (Solar Power World)

RENEWABLE ENERGY: Economic development officials in a northern New York County nominate a closed paper mill as a renewable energy site for inclusion in a state solicitation because it includes a hydroelectric plant and has power grid access. (NNY360)

OFFSHORE WIND: Connecticut officials give a road salt distributor until the end of the year to vacate a port storage area that is needed to convert a state pier into an offshore wind staging area. (The Day)

TRANSMISSION: Environmentalists express concerns about a proposed power line to import Canadian hydropower to New York City via a cable buried in the Hudson River. (City Limits)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: New York City residents will field test an electric vehicle charging technology using smart meters to monitor their charging habits and distinguish it from other electricity needs of a household. (Smart Cities World)

COMMENTARY: The Sierra Club praises New Jersey regulators for opening an investigation into utility responses to Tropical Storm Isaias but urges a more thorough look at burying electric lines. (news release) 

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Bill Opalka

Bill is a freelance journalist based outside Albany, New York. As a former New England correspondent for RTO Insider, he has written about energy for newspapers, magazines and other publications for more than 20 years. He has an extensive career in trade publications and newspapers, mostly focused on the utility sector, covering such issues as restructuring, renewable energy and consumer affairs. Bill covers Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire and also compiles the Northeast Energy News daily email digest.