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)