MICROGRIDS: A Massachusetts program is helping communities develop microgrids to improve resiliency and cut carbon emissions. (Energy News Network)

PIPELINES: An appeals court gives federal regulators until October to comply with its order restoring a 30-day deadline to respond to challenges to pipeline permits and other orders. (E&E News, subscription required)

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OIL & GAS: Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signs a bill to provide nearly $667 million in tax breaks to the petrochemical industry. (Bloomberg, subscription required) 

WASTE-TO-ENERGY: An official with the waste-to energy plant in Maine that agreed to replace a closed competitor may not be turning a profit from its handling of 115 additional towns due to increased costs. (Bangor Daily News)

NUCLEAR: Pennsylvania’s consumer advocate says the $60 million FirstEnergy allegedly used to bribe Ohio lawmakers last year likely did not come from his state’s ratepayers. ( TribLIVE)

COAL: A coalition of public and private sector organizations works to maintain municipal services in a New York town that lost its biggest taxpayer when a coal power plant closed. (Yale Climate Connections)

TRANSPORTATION: Fare increases, service cuts and a statewide gas tax are floated as ideas to plug a gaping budget hole in New York city’s subway system that has been devastated by COVID-19. (E&E News, subscription required)

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CLEAN ENERGY: The acting head of New York’s effort to procure clean energy says reducing the carbon footprint of offshore wind projects is a key component. (reNEWS) 

COMMENTARY:
• The CEO of a sustainability nonprofit hopes Massachusetts leads the way out of the global pandemic by working toward a more just society that benefits the climate and our most vulnerable citizens. (WBUR)
• A Maine businessman says a bill to create a public authority to run the state’s electric companies is a chance to return utility operations to local control and end foreign ownership. (Bangor Daily News)
• A law school director says turning the notorious Rikers Island jail in New York City into a sustainable energy center is a way to advance racial justice. (Gizmodo)
• Massachusetts elected representatives say the state fails to act on its environmental justice commitments as required by law and an executive order. (CommonWealth Magazine)

Bill is a freelance journalist based outside Albany, New York. As a former New England correspondent for RTO Insider, he has written about energy for newspapers, magazines and other publications for more than 20 years. He has an extensive career in trade publications and newspapers, mostly focused on the utility sector, covering such issues as restructuring, renewable energy and consumer affairs. Bill covers Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire and also compiles the Northeast Energy News daily email digest.