CLIMATE: Massachusetts climate and justice advocates endorse a bill that would impose a fee on carbon emissions from transportation and heating that would fund local climate projects. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: A Maryland House committee votes down a bill that would have imposed a fee on greenhouse gas emitters. (Maryland Matters)
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PIPELINES: A natural gas pipeline outside Pittsburgh is back in service two and a half years after it exploded during a mudslide and after extensive repairs and negotiations with state environmental regulators. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
OFFSHORE WIND:
• New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy proposes to spend $200 million to expand a port to build an offshore wind hub. (NJ Spotlight)
• Three vessels are scheduled to arrive next week in Maine to perform an undersea survey for a cable connection to land for the state’s planned floating offshore wind turbine. (Portland Press Herald)
EFFICIENCY:
• Advocates say a utility surcharge under consideration to revamp funding for Massachusetts energy efficiency programs would disproportionately impact low-income residents and benefit consumers who are more affluent. (Gloucester Daily Times)
• Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont proposes legislation to require building owners and landlords to perform energy efficiency audits of their homes and apartments. (Hartford Courant)
POWER PLANTS: NRG will sell a Connecticut natural gas power plant after it fails to win a bid for a repowering of the facility in the recent New England grid capacity auction. (CT Examiner)
SOLAR:
• Connecticut siting officials grant final approval to a 485-acre solar farm in the northern part of the state, making it the largest project of its kind in the Northeast. (Hartford Courant)
• The New Jersey Assembly passes a bill to allow residential solar installations before the issuance of a construction permit or interconnection agreement during the COVID-19 pandemic. (news release)
UTILITIES: Massachusetts extends a ban on utility shutoffs due to the pandemic until July 1. (The Daily News)
COMMENTARY:
• An energy planer in Vermont says reliance on Canadian hydropower for clean energy exposes a “racist blind spot” due to the damage done to the Quebec environment and its Indigenous peoples. (VT Digger)
• Regional planners in southern Maine say a two-year-old effort to promote sustainability and coastal resilience shows the benefits of collaboration in promoting renewable energy and climate preparedness. (Portland Press Herald)