CLIMATE: A bill permitting Maine utility regulators to weigh long-term climate goals in their decisions heads to the governor, although it no longer includes earlier provisions to allow consideration of equity and environmental justice. (Energy News Network)

UTILITIES:
• Maine’s House advances legislation asking voters whether the state should take over the state’s investor-owned utilities and form a public power authority. (Portland Press-Herald)
• Maine’s state senate advances a bill seeking to bar foreign companies from using their wallets to influence state voter referendums, a direct result of a Canadian company’s spending in support of a contentious transmission line. (Portland Press-Herald)
• Some Marylanders behind on their gas and electric utility bills will receive relief via $83 million in bill credits funded by state pandemic aid. (Washington Post)

NATURAL GAS: A natural gas-fired steam plant owner in Cambridge, Massachusetts, wants to develop underutilized land owned by the state’s transportation agency to convert the facility to run on electric boilers. (Boston Globe) 

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Although Connecticut’s direct-to-customer electric vehicle bill didn’t pass this legislative session, its supporters say to keep an eye out for similar legislation next year. (CTPost)

NUCLEAR: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will continue monitoring concrete degradation in the walls of the Seabrook nuclear plant in New Hampshire and find the facility operated safely in 2020. (SeacoastOnline)

SOLAR:
• New Jersey’s solar sector slid further down rankings published by the industry’s national trade association, and renewable energy advocates say it reflects pending changes to the state solar incentive program. (NJ Spotlight)
• A central Maine town planning board approves its second solar farm: a $3.7 million, 9,288-panel array that will require clearcutting over 19 acres of trees and removing an “unallowed ATV trail.” (Lewiston Sun Journal)

WASTE-TO-ENERGY: A northern Vermont facility strips unusable food products of their packaging to convert waste into a fuel source and keep more trash out of landfills. (NBC 5)

COMMENTARY:
• Two former managers of Maine public utilities say the proposed formation of a statewide public power authority is a “welcome opportunity,” calling it a cheaper, more reliable way to power the state. (Bangor Daily News)
• A solar farm developer and former Central Maine Power board member contends the utility takeover proposal would make it harder to get away from fossil fuels. (Bangor Daily News)

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.