UTILITIES: Opponents of replacing Maine’s two investor-owned utilities with a consumer-owned power authority file a referendum seeking to require public approval of any new debts over $1 billion, as the public utility would have to borrow billions to buy out infrastructure. (Bangor Daily News)

ALSO: Few of PSE&G’s substations flooded when remnants of Hurricane Ida hit New Jersey last week, a success the utility says stems from its work to raise, rebuild, or eliminate over two dozen substations in recent years. (NJ Spotlight)

TRANSPORTATION:
• Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont attempts to rekindle legislative interest in joining the Transportation and Climate Initiative following a new state report showing transportation, business and residential emissions rose in 2018. (CT Post)
• New York City will receive $250,000 from Con Edison to purchase and install over a dozen fast-charging stations for the city’s municipal vehicles, which the mayor has mandated must all be electric by 2040. (amNY)

WASTE-TO-ENERGY: A plan to bring a biofuel pellet plant to New York’s Catskills region aggravates residents concerned with impacts to nearby waterways, changes to the landscape and high trucking volumes. (Times Union)

SOLAR:
• A downstate New York town planning board unanimously rejects a proposal to site a nearly 6 MW solar array on a Catholic cemetery due to forest clear-cutting concerns. (Examiner News)
• NYSEG’s plans to auction off a parcel of land near Ithaca, New York, frustrate local conservationists and residents who wanted the space to be developed as a solar array and public recreation area. (Ithaca.com)

CLIMATE:
• Lawmakers who devised Massachusetts’ landmark climate bill fear the state won’t meet its ambitious home heating decarbonization target and discuss more stringent measures that could help meet the goal. (Boston Globe)
• Pennsylvania is now the second state to offer a climate leadership training program, with 150 people signing up for the first series. (WESA)

OIL & GAS:
• A fracking sand truck overturned during a Sunday rainstorm on its way to a well pad near Allentown, Pennsylvania. (NorthcentralPA.com)
• Eversource is inspecting gas supply lines throughout Maynard, Massachusetts, after officials determined a house explosion was caused by a leaking underground gas line in the basement. (NBC Boston)

EFFICIENCY: Vermont Efficiency expects the $1 million it just made available for electric efficiency projects will quickly be depleted given the high level of interest the agency has already seen. (Rutland Herald)

HYDROELECTRIC: A Maine town accepts a reassessment of the value of local hydroelectric turbines, which changed dramatically from their last appraisal. (Livermore Falls Advertiser)

GRID: More than 100 Eversource crews traveled from New Hampshire to Louisiana to help restore power in areas hit hard by Hurricane Ida. (WMUR)

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Bridget Reed Morawski

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.