ACTIVISM: A climate justice activist and supporter of the Green New Deal who became the unlikely state senator of a deep red district in rural Maine says face-to-face conversations with voters helped overcome political division. (The Nation)
OIL & GAS:
• The cleanup begins for a closed 150-year-old refinery site in Philadelphia that will take a decade and, at this scale, has no precedent. (Reuters)
• New Jersey’s top environmental official recuses himself from review of a liquified natural gas export terminal as he represented the developer as a private attorney before his current position. (NJ Spotlight)
OFFSHORE WIND:
• An organization of shoreline residents in New Jersey says a wind farm off Atlantic City should be moved to 35 miles offshore instead of the planned 15. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• The developer of the project applies to state environmental officials to begin testing of the ocean floor of how it could support undersea cables. (Press of Atlantic City)
• A broad cross-section of stakeholders support the South Fork offshore wind project off Long Island at a federal hearing. (RTO Insider, subscription required)
EFFICIENCY:
• An efficiency trade organization says if Washington, D.C. was a state, it would have led the nation in green building construction last year. (WTOP)
• It’s not yet clear whether a proposal by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to allow building owners to buy renewable energy credits in lieu of efficiency improvements will clear the state legislature. (E&E News, subscription)
TRANSMISSION: Tourism business owners are wary of the Clean Energy Connect power line traversing through western Maine as the first poles for the project are erected. (CentralMaine.com)
POLITICS: A freshman Democratic U.S. representative from New York heads an energy subcommittee and wants to incorporate environmental justice into the committee’s agenda. (E&E News, subscription required)
UTILITIES: Opponents of a New Hampshire bill intended to streamline community choice programs for municipalities say it would instead complicate the process. (NHPR)
WASTE-TO-ENERGY:
• Residents and elected officials organize in opposition to a proposed medical waste facility in Rhode Island that would produce renewable fuels. (WJAR)
• The owner of a waste-to-energy plant in Maine sees an opportunity to collaborate with a nearby and now-shuttered facility that uses the same process reopens later this year. (Bangor Daily News)
COMMENTARY:
• A community solar advocate says Central Maine Power’s imposition of high interconnection fees, then an apparent reversal, still leaves several unanswered questions that warrant investigation. (Bangor Daily News)
• A Maryland county official says state authorization of community choice aggregation would be a meaningful step to allow local governments to address the climate crisis. (Maryland Matters)