EFFICIENCY: The New Hampshire House unanimously passes a bill to set a system benefits charge at last year’s rate in an attempt to bypass an unpopular order from the utility regulator and salvage an efficiency program. (InDepthNH)

ALSO:
• Some Rhode Island legislators want to ask voters to approve a $300 million bond to support renewable energy and efficiency improvements in public schools, among other programs. (Providence Journal)
• A New York City-area village receives $10,000 in grants from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for a residential efficiency program and a community solar program. (Patch.com)

SOLAR:
• A solar developer wanting to build a 180 MW project in upstate New York disagrees with a state siting board that its project isn’t compatible with local wetlands. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• Some farmers in Maine’s thoroughly agrarian Aroostook County worry large-scale solar projects would reduce the amount of fertile farmland available for growing potatoes, the region’s prized crop. (Bangor Daily News)

OIL & GAS:
• New York plans to spend over $1 million to continue remediation of a contaminated former Long Island petroleum storage terminal. (LI Herald)
• Pennsylvania shale gas well permits rose to relatively regular levels in December 2021 after plummeting the month before. (S&P Global)
• A new renewable natural gas facility begins operations at a landfill near Scranton, Pennsylvania. (Pennsylvania Business Report)

HYDROGEN: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul proposes the creation of a network of green hydrogen facilities throughout the state. (Auburn Citizen)

CLIMATE:
• Dartmouth researchers publish a paper defining and examining the consequences of ‘snow droughts,’ or how less overall snowfall in a given area impacts its ecosystems. (New Hampshire Public Radio)
• New York City’s new Mayor Eric Adams inherits a slate of climate mitigation and adaptation projects and challenges, including sea level rise relief projects and the reconstruction of homes destroyed by a recent hurricane. (E&E News)

TRANSPORTATION: New York releases a report showing the state’s emissions have fallen from 1990 levels despite a continuing need to reduce transportation emissions; at the same time, a news outlet’s analysis suggests New York City’s total emissions have remained steady since around 2014. (RTO Insider, subscription; The City)

UTILITY BILLS: Maine’s utility regulator releases a report showing electricity prices will continue to increase across the state’s utilities as natural gas prices and the pace of grid investments rise. (Bangor Daily News)

BIOFUEL:
• A Philadelphia-area borough installs a hydrothermal carbonization system as its wastewater treatment facility, which it claims “has the power to offset the carbon use of every driver residing in town.” (news release)
• A biogas developer plans to begin construction on its fourth northeastern dairy digester in March and start operations by the fall to annually generate an anticipated 4.5 million kWh of power. (The Digest)

COMMENTARY: A Connecticut editorial board applauds recent federal action deterring the completion of the Killingly gas plant, noting the need for “a future with reduced emissions.” (CT Post)

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Bridget Reed Morawski

Bridget is a freelance reporter and newsletter writer based in the Washington, D.C., area. She compiles the Northeast Energy News digest. Bridget primarily writes about energy, conservation and the environment. Originally from Philadelphia, she graduated from Emerson College in 2015 with a degree in journalism and a minor in environmental studies. When she isn’t working on a story, she’s normally on a northern Maine lake or traveling abroad to practice her Spanish language skills.