NUCLEAR: Three New Jersey nuclear facilities are granted $300 million in annual state subsidies for another three years, to the disappointment of ratepayer advocates and other critics of the facilities’ owners. (WHYY)
TRANSPORTATION:
• New York lawmakers pass a bill mandating only electric models of new passenger or heavy-duty vehicles are sold in the state by 2035 and 2045 respectively, sending it to the governor’s desk. (Times Union)
• Republican legislators are against plans to more than double New York’s gas tax to fund green energy projects and otherwise benefit environmental justice communities and low-income families, with one legislator calling the bill “myopic.” (NNY360)
OFFSHORE WIND: Rhode Island regulators are giving the power companies behind the proposed South Fork Wind Farm another month to make a deal with the local fishing industry before the regulators make a key decision for the project. (Providence Journal)
CLIMATE CHANGE: A coastal Maryland county is suing more than two dozen fossil fuel companies to recover damages to mitigate what officials called “decades of deception” over the effects of climate change. (Maryland Matters)
NATURAL GAS: The owners of a controversial Massachusetts compressor station say it will soon be back online following another unplanned gas release in early April — but that more gas may be vented when it reopens. (Patriot Ledger)
JOBS: Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania need to protect the 10,000 mechanics who may lose their jobs when public buses and trains are electrified, according to a union president. (Utility Dive)
EMISSIONS: Pennsylvania Republicans launch their second attempt in a week to block Gov. Tom Wolf from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, looking to pass a bill mandating legislative approval before the state joins any similar program. (WHYY)
SOLAR:
• A lease-option agreement is now in place for New York’s first build-ready solar project: a 20 MW array that will be sited on former iron ore mining land. (renews.biz)
• A solar developer has finished installing a 1,148-kW solar canopy in Washington, D.C., which it says is the largest-such installation in the district to date. (news release)
COMMENTARIES:
• A Maine lawmaker argues the state’s economy and environment are now “inextricably tied” and, as the climate crisis threatens both, legislators should continue to protect green jobs and power. (Portland Press-Herald)
• A current and a former New Hampshire legislator want the state to stop paying foreign or out-of-state companies for power and instead look at ways to spend the same money on in-state projects. (Concord Monitor)