OIL & GAS: Activists say the Biden administration shouldn’t renew a soon-to-expire permit allowing the rail transport of liquefied natural gas from northeast Pennsylvania and through densely populated cities to a facility primed to be New Jersey’s first LNG export terminal. (NJ Spotlight)
ALSO: Boston Mayor Michelle Wu signs her first ordinance in her new role, banning the use of city funds for fossil fuel investments and setting a divestment deadline of 2025 for existing assets. (Boston Globe)
COAL: A new federal wastewater policy is leading to the retirement of two of Pennsylvania’s largest coal-fired power plants. (Associated Press)
GRID:
• Maine environmental officials heard vigorous testimony yesterday both in support of and against Central Maine Power’s hotly contested transmission corridor expansion project. (Bangor Daily News)
• Federal regulators are soliciting more comments on a proposal led by Pennsylvania-based utility PPL Corp. to profit from transmission upgrades necessary for connecting new power plants to the grid. (Utility Dive)
• ISO New England wants to amend its minimum offer price rule and is considering whether to change the electric market framework as a whole to help states meet their climate goals while maintaining reliability. (E&E News)
• A New Hampshire news outlet answers basic questions about the state’s energy policies and goals. (New Hampshire Public Radio)
BATTERIES: In Weymouth, Massachusetts, the zoning appeals board rejects a special permit request to build a lithium-ion battery energy storage system. (Patriot Ledger)
COURTS:
• The trial of five former Connecticut public utility executives continues, with the prosecution and defense drawing different conclusions from the same evidence about allegedly imprudent executive retreats. (The Day)
• New York’s new constitutional guarantee to a healthful environment and the existing climate law may open the door for citizens to more easily sue over environmental injustices, but it will take time for the courts to decide exactly what the amendment means. (Inside Climate)
SOLAR:
• Officials in an upstate New York county sign a land development agreement with a renewable energy company looking to construct a 300,000-square-foot solar panel manufacturing plant. (NNY360)
• Amazon will offtake power from a proposed 50 MW solar farm in Delaware’s New Castle County. (Delaware Business Times)
• New Jersey utility regulators authorize a developer to build a 10 MW solar array atop an old landfill in a seaside town. (Asbury Park Press)
TRANSPORTATION:
• Maryland’s Baltimore County seeks public comment on the published final draft of its five-year transportation plan. (CBS Baltimore)
• Vermont is set to receive nearly $10 million in federal funds to build a pedestrian and bicyclist bridge over a busy highway intersection in South Burlington. (VT Digger)