OIL: In the ongoing court battle between Massachusetts’ attorney general and Exxon about misleading the public about the reality of climate change, the oil giant claims the suit violates its first amendment rights. (The Guardian)

TRANSPORTATION:
• Boston’s public transit might soon see its ridership numbers rebound if gasoline prices continue to rise while more workers come back into the office, the head of a transit advocacy group predicts. (NBC Boston)
• Connecticut lawmakers cite inflation and energy prices as they debate the consumer impact of possibly expanding truck emissions policies or electrifying the state’s vehicle fleet. (New Haven Register)
• Connecticut’s transit agency receives over $11 million in federal grants to purchase 22 battery-electric buses, but efforts to overhaul bus routes in New Haven have made little progress despite an agreed-upon plan. (New Haven Independent)

UTILITIES:
• Connecticut’s consumer advocate calls on regulators to investigate the state’s two investor-owned electric utilities for allegedly suing consumers for not paying their bills despite pandemic protections. (New Haven Register)
• Clean energy advocates in Vermont suggest that the plan by the state’s largest employer to form its own electric utility may not fall under the state utility regulator’s jurisdiction; meanwhile, the company agrees to comply with state environmental standards. (VTDigger; RTO Insider, subscription)
• A utility contractor opens a northern Maine office and finds a lot more work than expected repairing transmission lines for local utilities, in part because infrastructure is aging in the region. (Bangor Daily News)

GRID: A remote Maine island community decides not to pursue a microgrid conversion after years of planning, and instead will probably just replace its undersea transmission cable to account for high cost and reliability concerns. (Maine Monitor)

CLIMATE:
• Despite long pandemic-related delays, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra will soon perform a commissioned work highlighting climate change and ocean warming. (Bangor Daily News)
• Erratic temperature swings and new invasive species are two symptoms of the climate crisis impacting Massachusetts’ maple syrup industry. (Berkshire Eagle)
• The climate crisis will likely lead to Maine experiencing increased potholes and rock salt use, the latter of which comes with a string of additional environmental concerns. (Portland Press Herald)
• A New Jersey nonprofit seeks to assume operation of the New Jersey School of Conservation, a long-running program with national prominence that closed in 2020 because of budget issues at its host university. (NJ Spotlight)

SOLAR:
• Numerous public comments filed by climate advocacy and business groups support New York’s solar incentives plan but question who will pay for it. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• A Maine automobile dealership will install a 1.4 MW solar array at one of its central Maine locations. (Bangor Daily News)

GAS: A Pennsylvania lawmaker aims to introduce a new bill that would enable the state’s attorney general to investigate gasoline price gouging, a power not currently granted to the office. (CBS Pittsburgh)

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.