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)

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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.