TRANSMISSION: Maine’s top court rules a ballot referendum aimed to stop a transmission line to import Canadian hydropower is unconstitutional. (Maine Public)
UTILITIES:
• New York regulators fine two utilities a record $10.75 million for inadequate responses to winter storms in 2018. (E&E News, subscription required)
• Slow responses to restore power after Tropical Storm Isaias revives talk of revoking utility franchises, but the process is long and complicated. (City & State)
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SOLAR:
• A solar developer launches a marketing campaign in Maine for its three solar farms by offering subscribers a 15% credit on their electric bills. (Portland Press Herald)
• A Long Island town considers a 12-month moratorium on new solar construction, including one project that has already performed extensive work. (Riverhead News-Review)
EMISSIONS: A Pennsylvania state environmental board will hold a key vote next month whether to join a regional emissions compact while legislative opponents plan more hearings. (Morning Call)
OIL & GAS: Shell seeks to dismiss a lawsuit that would require it to take precautions to protect a Rhode Island fuel terminal from sea level rise. (Providence Journal)
TRANSPORTATION:
• New Jersey has received applications for 1,800 electric vehicle rebates in the two months since it opened its program. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• A New Hampshire city uses $1.5 million of Volkswagen settlement money to buy 14 propane-powered school buses as state officials say $9 million in the fund remains unclaimed. (NHPR)
• A federal grant to a Delaware city will provide $2.5 million to construct a bus canopy and install solar panels to power the six vehicles that will be parked there. (Dover Post)
BIOMASS: Council members in a Massachusetts city object to a provision in a massive climate bill that passed the state House that is favorable to a proposed 35 MW biomass plant. (Masslive.com)
OFFSHORE WIND: The Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm and a technology incubator pick three startups to monitor marine life as part of a Massachusetts-supported effort to promote clean energy. (reNEWS)
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CLIMATE: A new report says New York farms can negate their own carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions by improved agricultural practices. (Cornell Chronicle)
COMMENTARY:
• An energy attorney in New Jersey says an offer by the state’s utilities to give up $300 million in nuclear subsidies is a “one-sided proposition” to assert market power and extract windfall profits from ratepayers. (NJ Spotlight)
• The operator of a Maryland coal plant files to formally retire it next June as the Sierra Club says the state is unprepared to deal with the economic fallout of such closures. (news release)