EFFICIENCY: Maine’s marijuana industry will now be eligible for energy efficiency grants after a 5-2 vote by a state agency reversing an earlier ban. (Portland Press Herald)

UTILITIES:
• Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signs a bill holding utilities to tougher standards on power outages, on the same day a storm knocks out electricity for thousands of customers in the region. (Hartford Courant)
• Lawmakers reject assertions that Connecticut’s new law will increase utility bills. (Middletown Press)

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NATURAL GAS:
• Massachusetts regulators approve a settlement of $56 million over a series of natural gas explosions that killed one person and injured 20 others in 2018. (Boston Globe)
• In a whistleblower claim, a geologist who worked on the Mariner East pipeline says he and others were prevented from inspecting sinkholes during construction. (StateImpact Pennsylvania)

POLITICS:
• In a vice presidential debate, Kamala Harris emphatically states that Joe Biden does not support a ban on fracking, a position many see as an appeal for votes in Pennsylvania, which President Trump narrowly won in 2016. (Morning Call)
• Many coal miners in Pennsylvania still back President Trump despite his failure to make good on promises to revive the industry. (The Independent)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• “It is really a public health issue”: A new study recommends New Jersey push to electrify medium- and heavy-duty vehicles to improve air quality. (NJ Spotlight)
• Two new all-electric boats will carry visitors on tours of Niagara Falls. (WBFO)

SOLAR:
• A Massachusetts town approves a nearly 1 MW solar array to be installed atop cranberry bogs, believed to be the first project of its kind in the country. (Wicked Local)
• A New York nature sanctuary pushes back on a zoning change that would allow a solar farm to be built next to its property. (Westchester & Fairfield County Business Journals)

WIND: The Department of Commerce awards Maine a $2 million grant to help develop floating offshore wind. (news release)

TRANSMISSION: Five Indigenous nations in Canada submit a brief to the Department of Energy opposing the Clean Energy Connect transmission line in Maine. (news release)

BIOENERGY: A New Hampshire pharmaceutical company unveils a new wastewater plant that will recapture methane to be used for heating. (Keene Sentinel)

COMMENTARY: Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette says the Trump administration is “committed to using all available means” to tap Pennsylvania’s natural gas. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) 

Ken is the director of the Energy News Network at Fresh Energy and is a founding editor of both Midwest Energy News and Southeast Energy News. Prior to joining Fresh Energy, he was the managing editor for online news at Minnesota Public Radio. He started his journalism career in 2002 as a copy editor for the Duluth News Tribune before spending five years at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a copy editor, online producer, features editor and night city editor. A Nebraska native, Ken has a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master's degree from the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.