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)