FINANCE: Harvard University divests of its direct investments in fossil fuel companies following years of criticism from both the on-campus and broader environmental community. (Boston Globe)

SOLAR:
• Brunswick, Maine, approves new biodiversity preservation measures months after a decision to allow solar development on rare grassland at Bowdoin College. (Portland Press Herald)
• The Archdiocese of New York installs solar panels on the roof of a shuttered Catholic school in a New York City suburb. (Examiner News)

UTILITIES:
• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is asked to intervene in NYSEG’s planned auction of a Finger Lakes island, which local officials and advocates believe should be preserved for recreation and conservation. (Finger Lakes 1)
• In Washington, D.C., public officials and residents say the local gas utility is known for poor-to-nonexistent customer response times and blundering customer requests. (Washington Post)
• Maine utility regulators seek power providers to handle default electricity service for the state’s two investor-owned utilities. (Associated Press)
• Four Maryland utilities seek wholesale electric power to meet their respective standard offer services. (news release)

TRANSPORTATION: A watchdog organization’s new report finds New York’s estimate of how many vehicles the LaGuardia AirTrain will remove from roads is wrong, suggesting the project will be little more than an airport worker shuttle from a parking lot. (Streetsblog NYC)

CLIMATE:
• Amid climate resiliency concerns, Maine’s investor-owned utilities rely on outdated research and don’t have on-staff climate experts like some other utilities do. (Maine Monitor)
• New York’s U.S. senators want to use federal funds to upgrade and maintain the state’s 126 observation stations for weather forecasting, made more difficult with climate change. (NBC New York)

GRID: Massachusetts’ Hull Municipal Light Plant raises its fixed monthly connection fee to pay for diesel generators as aging local power lines repeatedly fail. (Patriot Ledger)

EFFICIENCY:
• Fitchburg, Massachusetts, receives more than $150,000 in state energy efficiency grants for projects at its fire department headquarters and schools. (news release)
• New York utility regulators approve several municipalities’ requests to buy streetlights from National Grid to control and implement energy efficiency measures. (Times Union)

RENEWABLE ENERGY:
• U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm visits the site of a planned solar array atop a former landfill in New Hampshire and a tidal energy company in Maine to discuss renewable energy and infrastructure. (New Hampshire Public Radio, WABI)
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture awards nearly $7.5 million to eight rural renewable energy projects in Maine — including projects at a microbrewery and a chocolate company — and around $82,000 for six Massachusetts projects. (Mainebiz, Worcester Business Journal)

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.