TRANSPORTATION: Observers question whether the Transportation and Climate Initiative can survive now that Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont says he won’t push for the plan, blaming currently high gas prices; he conceded the plan could be revived in 2023 once we “see where we are.” (Providence Journal, Hartford Courant, Boston Herald)

ALSO:
• New Hampshire transportation officials are keen to use federal infrastructure funds to extend commuter rail from Boston to Manchester. (WMUR)
• Maryland and Baltimore officials will invest $50 million into dedicated bus lanes, pedestrian and bicycle safety projects, and other transit improvements along the city’s 10-mile-long East-West Corridor. (CBS Baltimore)
• Boston Mayor Michelle Wu asks her city council to approve the use of federal funds to make bus rides free on three busy routes in a predominantly Black area. (Commonwealth Magazine)

FINANCE: Managers of New Jersey’s public worker pension fund plan to make a $600 million climate-related investment, but a new memo shows there’s no appetite to divest from fossil fuel companies. (NJ Spotlight)

OIL & GAS:
• Pennsylvania lawmakers and experts consider how to remediate the defunct Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery roughly a year and a half after a large explosion ended its operations. (CBS Philadelphia)
• A Connecticut group representing independent oil dealers asks Gov. Ned Lamont to stop offering incentives for residential oil-to-gas home heating conversions, citing supply chain issues and severe weather. (New Haven Register)
• A National Grid official tells a Rhode Island town council that the utility may purchase homes adjacent to an LNG facility due to noise concerns. (Newport Daily News)

UTILITIES: In a new settlement with the Connecticut utility regulator, a Texas energy supplier will pay a $500,000 fine and leave the state’s market for six years after violating electric supplier marketing laws. (CT Insider)

CLIMATE:
• Some New England ski resorts acclimate to the climate crisis, which is bringing less and less natural snow to their mountains, using artificial snow guns and generating renewable energy. (CBS Boston)
• Worcester, Massachusetts, makes progress on its climate goals but faces a challenge convincing private property owners to make improvements or allow clean energy installations on their buildings. (Telegram & Gazette)

EFFICIENCY: Eversource tells contractors to stop taking new energy efficiency applications after New Hampshire’s utility regulator rejected an energy efficiency plan and rolled back related funding; advocates say the decision “dismantles all of the progress of the past three years” (New Hampshire Bulletin)

SOLAR:
• The site of a former circuit board recycling facility in Sanford, Maine, is poised to become a solar farm that a planning official calls a “major environmental coup for the city.” (Portsmouth Herald)
• In Maryland, three energy developers are building nine community solar projects primed to generate a cumulative 24 MW. (news release)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Delaware announces $1.4 million in grants for public electric car charging station projects. (news release)

CLEAN ENERGY:
• A town in Maine’s Kennebec County decides to extend a development moratorium that includes new solar and wind project applications to give officials more time to codify related ordinances. (Morning Sentinel)
• An environmental nonprofit’s new report finds that Massachusetts’ renewable energy goals can be achieved if state officials and the public can overcome their hesitations. (State House News Service)

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.