CLIMATE: President Joe Biden approves emergency declarations in New York and New Jersey following region-wide flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida, noting “these extreme storms and the climate crisis are here.” (NBC New York)
ALSO:
• New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy surveys catastrophic storm damage in southern Gloucester County and calls on the state to adopt a new “playbook” for handling the climate crisis and the immense infrastructure challenge it poses. (Politico)
• Although heavy rainfall flooded Philadelphia neighborhoods, highways and suburban towns, Pennsylvania officials are unsure whether the damage will qualify for federal disaster funding. (6ABC, Philadelphia Inquirer)
GRID:
• A tornado tore through Annapolis, Maryland, on Thursday, downing power lines and trees across the city. (CBS Baltimore)
• Clean-up continues after a tornado touched down in Philadelphia’s suburban Montgomery County, but thousands are still without power. (CBS Philadelphia)
• Over two dozen employees of Vermont utility Green Mountain Power travel to New York City to help with power restoration. (NBC5)
• According to a NJ.com tracker, relatively few outages remain as of this morning across the service territories of PSE&G, JCP&L, Atlantic City Electric and Orange and Rockland Utilities. (NJ.com)
• Maine regulators call for a public hearing to question a permit issued for Central Maine Power’s contentious transmission line. (Maine Public Radio)
TRANSPORTATION: The Federal Railroad Administration suspends its review of a proposed high-speed train between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., signaling at least a delay in the project. (Washington Post)
FOSSIL FUELS:
• Officials in Rahway, New Jersey, say an evacuated home in a heavily flooded neighborhood exploded likely due to a gas leak. (NJ.com)
• A Maynard, Massachusetts house exploded yesterday afternoon, killing a man, after reports of a “gas-like smell.” (NBC Boston)
• A “massive” sinkhole and subsequent landslide left train tracks and a refined products pipeline hanging over the resulting pit. (New Haven Register)
• Rhode Island energy regulators denied a request from two environmental groups to establish a moratorium on new gas connections on Aquidneck Island, but said a ban could help the state’s climate goals. (Providence Journal)
FINANCE: The mayor of Burlington, Vermont, hopes a $20 million Net Zero Energy Revenue Bond proposal will help the city fund projects to reach its decarbonization goals. (NBC 5)
SOLAR: After neighbors protested a planned solar development in a Vermont town, the firm behind the project appears to be trying to move to another location in town. (Bennington Banner)
EFFICIENCY:
• An Ithaca, New York, company focused on energy efficiency software receives federal funding for a project with New York’s energy development authority and Honeywell. (Central New York Business Journal)
• A Long Island, New York town looks to implement net metering to reduce “imported” energy dependence and improve energy efficiency. (Suffolk Times)