FINANCE: Federal regulators order a trading firm and its two founders to pay nearly $230 million in fines for allegedly manipulating PJM Interconnection’s financial transmission rights market. (Utility Dive)
INFRASTRUCTURE: The passage of the federal infrastructure bill means billions of dollars are expected to pour into New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Vermont and states across the Northeast to fund transportation, energy, and environment projects. (NJ Spotlight, Morning Call, Fox 61, Seven Days)
FOSSIL FUELS: An oil-and-gas drilling company headquartered in Pittsburgh has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, reporting $25.4 million in liabilities that outpace its $4.2 million in assets. (Pittsburgh Business Times)
TRANSPORTATION:
• Massachusetts officials pour cold water on Boston Mayor-elect Michelle Wu’s desire to make the city’s public transit completely free. (Boston Herald)
• Amtrak’s CEO details his plan to use federal infrastructure funds to pay for station upgrades, service expansions, and improvements along the Northeast Corridor. (NBC News)
• New York City transit officials say 88% more cyclists used a Brooklyn Bridge bike lane this past October than the year before now that it’s been fortified against vehicles and converted to strictly cyclists. (Brooklyn Eagle)
• Nashua Community College in New Hampshire is training the next generation of auto mechanics to make electric vehicle repairs while still teaching combustion engine principles. (Concord Monitor)
CLIMATE:
• Having secured his second term by the skin of his teeth, industry observers say New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy will likely try to “cement his legacy on climate action” even as New Jersey Democrats potentially fear pushing new legislation. (NJ Spotlight)
• One West Coast family’s journey to Vermont to escape wildfires exemplifies a climate migration trend for which some experts say Vermont’s Upper Valley should prepare. (Valley News)
UTILITIES:
• Dozens of people were evacuated from a Connecticut Department of Corrections facility late Monday due to an underground electrical fire. (NBC Connecticut)
• National Grid’s proposed New York rate hike, coupled with an expected increase in home heating bills, is too high for consumers to bear, a public utility advocacy group asserts. (Times Union)
• Long Island Power Authority and PSEG continue to negotiate a grid management contract, despite the deadline to do so passing last week. (Newsday)
• A Vermont newspaper explains under what conditions state residents can receive money to help pay their energy bills this winter. (Burlington Free Press)
SOLAR:
• Developers installed 2 MW of solar panels on the roof of a rusting Pittsburgh-area steel mill, with additional panels on carports and parking garage canopies. (Solar Power World)
• In Vermont, an electric co-op and an energy developer bring online two brownfield community solar projects cumulatively generating 4.5 MW. (news release)