CLIMATE: After five months of negotiations, Massachusetts legislators release a final version of a climate law that creates a roadmap for net-zero emissions by 2050. (CommonWealth Magazine)

ALSO:
• A Massachusetts city becomes the first in the nation to post climate warnings on gas pumps. (Grist)
• A coalition of more than 150 organizations ask New York to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies from the state budget. (WIVB)
• Small cities in Pennsylvania enroll in a state program to prepare for climate impacts. (StateImpact Pennsylvania)

SOLAR: Policies to develop large amounts of solar in Maine create a land rush with little guidance or regulations on how such projects should be built. (Portland Press Herald)

EFFICIENCY:
• New Hampshire regulators delay for eight weeks a settlement by utilities and other stakeholders to implement a new three-year energy efficiency program. (InDepthNH)
• A New York program aims to bring older buildings into compliance with state efficiency rules, an undertaking that advocates say will cost upwards of $20 billion. (New York Times)

TRANSMISSION:
• An administrative law judge recommends Pennsylvania deny a permit for the Transource power line that crosses from the eastern part of the state into Maryland. (Pennlive)
• Environmental groups ask a federal appeals court to reverse a lower court ruling that allows construction of a power line from Canada through Maine to proceed. (Portland Press Herald)

PIPELINES: A massive grassroots effort to stop a New York natural gas pipeline set the stage for future defeats of fracked gas infrastructure projects across the state. (Grist)

OFFSHORE WIND:
• New Hampshire legislators are crafting a bill that would set up a process in which the state would issue a request for proposals to develop up to 600 MW of offshore wind by mid-2022. (NHPR)
• Officials say a 200-acre terminal in New Jersey for offshore wind staging will help the state meet its clean energy goals while also assisting industry development up and down the East Coast. (WHYY)

CLEAN ENERGY: Pennsylvania’s clean energy goals will flatline this year as utilities reach goals set in 2004 with advocates now seeking increases in state requirements. (StateImpact Pennsylvania)

POWER PLANTS: A natural gas power plant in eastern Connecticut continues to receive required state permits as environmentalists pressure the state to cancel the project. (Hartford Courant)

TRANSPORTATION: Massachusetts releases another $4 million in Volkswagen settlement money to develop electric vehicle infrastructure across the state. (Berkshire Eagle)

OIL & GAS: A New York program using drones and other technologies identifies more than 2,000 orphan wells that could be releasing methane into the atmosphere. (Olean Times Herald)

COMMENTARY: The mayor of a Connecticut city where a state pier is located says a plan to develop the site for a wind energy staging area is being done with no concern for the impact on the host city or a plan to share revenues. (The Day)

Bill is a freelance journalist based outside Albany, New York. As a former New England correspondent for RTO Insider, he has written about energy for newspapers, magazines and other publications for more than 20 years. He has an extensive career in trade publications and newspapers, mostly focused on the utility sector, covering such issues as restructuring, renewable energy and consumer affairs. Bill covers Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire and also compiles the Northeast Energy News daily email digest.