PIPELINES: A Pennsylvania appeals court rules that state regulators do not have to release calculations of a potential blast zone for the Mariner East pipeline, citing confidential security rules. (StateImpact Pennsylvania)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Vermont program to help low-income residents buy fuel-efficient vehicles is off to a slow start after it was delayed for months by the pandemic. (Energy News Network)
FRACKING:
• As fracking becomes an election issue in Pennsylvania, the industry is burdened by high debts and unpopular outside of drilling areas. (Vox)
• A Pennsylvania town denies a zoning permit extension for a fracking driller that wants to extract natural gas from underneath a U.S. Steel plant outside Pittsburgh. (StateImpact Pennsylvania)
UTILITIES:
• Connecticut Attorney General William Tong asks regulators to order utility reimbursements to customers who lost food and medicine during an extended power outage after Tropical Storm Isaias. (E&E News, subscription)
• A report shows electricity usage in New Hampshire increased during the spring pandemic shutdown as residential demand more than offset lower usage at industrial and commercial sites. (Concord Monitor)
OFFSHORE WIND: The new CEO of Orsted’s U.S. operations says he expects the company to employ 1,000 by the end of the decade. (Greentech Media)
BIOMASS: A Vermont town drops plans for a biomass plant in part due to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic. (Brattleboro Reformer)
HYDROPOWER: An environmental group seeks an order from Maine officials to shut down a hydropower dam over fish kills. (Ellsworth American)
SOLAR: The first dual-use solar farm in Massachusetts opens with solar panels placed high enough for crops to be grown underneath and between the rows. (news release)
POLITICS: Stark contrasts in climate policy exist between incumbent Gov. Chris Sununu and challenger Mark Feltes in New Hampshire. (NHPR)
COMMENTARY: Environmental attorneys say it is “hard to overstate how transformative” New York’s 2019 climate law will be as some of its first benchmarks in creating its plan come due. (Bloomberg)