UTILITIES: A jury determines three of the five Connecticut utility officials charged with theft over extravagant excursions to a golf resort and the Kentucky Derby are guilty; none were found guilty of related conspiracy charges. (Associated Press)

ALSO: A New York assemblymember introduces a bill to create a legislative commission to evaluate turning the Long Island Power Authority into a publicly owned utility. (WSHU)

REGULATION: From 2013-2020, only 16% of climate and energy legislation became law in Connecticut despite the vast majority of related testimony favoring the bills; Brown University researchers chalk this up to lobbyists’ outsized influence. (Energy News Network)

GAS:
• Pennsylvania may soon be able to tap into hundreds of millions of dollars in federal infrastructure funds to plug its vast network of polluting, abandoned oil and gas wells. (Bay Journal)
• Pennsylvania’s final draft rules for new methane reduction regulations are published and should be in effect by mid-2022. (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

TRANSPORTATION: To ensure every Bostonian has an electric vehicle charger within a ten-minute walk of their home, the city’s mayor wants to install 78 new public electric vehicle chargers and expand a municipal EV car share program. (Boston Globe)

GRID: Nearly 300,000 New Yorkers were without power at some point over the weekend as high winds ripped across the state; estimates as of 7:11am on Monday morning indicate around 30,000 are still reporting outages. (WROC, PowerOutages.US)

EFFICIENCY:
• One Massachusetts resident was owed thousands of dollars in heat pump installation rebates from the state for over a year — and he’s not alone. (CBS Boston)
• New Hampshire’s electric and gas utilities, clean energy and environmental advocates, and a community action agency band together to request the state’s utility regulator reconsider its energy efficiency funding decision. (New Hampshire Bulletin)
• Under a new law, more sustainable and energy efficient materials or methods need to be incorporated into the construction of many of Philadelphia’s new municipal buildings. (WHYY)
• A new waterfront walkway in New London, Connecticut, will be illuminated by solar- and wind-powered lights and two batteries. (The Day)

NUCLEAR: Federal officials call upon experts to help shape a more than $500 million Pittsburgh-area nuclear waste remediation project slated to start in 2024; the main contractor promises to use local residents to fill jobs on site. (Trib Live, Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

SOLAR:
• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Google have developed a physics-based simulation software that the organizations say will help make faster efficiency improvements to photovoltaic cells. (PV Magazine)
• Lengthy community solar project delays in Maine are making it harder for developers and utilities to give consumers reliable information and build trust. (Portland Press Herald)

CLIMATE: Warming waters are shifting lobsters’ habitat northward along the East Coast, leaving Maine’s lobster catchers with existential questions about the future of their industry. (Boston Globe)

COMMENTARY:
• A waste management expert wants Boston’s new mayor to end the city’s long-standing reliance on waste-to-energy facilities to handle garbage. (Boston Globe)
• A former Massachusetts transportation secretary argues that all of the costs of parking need to be tacked onto parking fees to reduce car usage and subsequent transportation emissions. (Commonwealth Magazine)

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.