PIPELINES: Officials from two Pennsylvania counties question the “life-sustaining” exemption that allows the Mariner East pipeline to resume some construction during the coronavirus pandemic. (Daily Times)

ALSO: The U.S. Supreme Court directs New Jersey to respond to an appeal filed by PennEast pipeline developers after the state ceased the project over a proposed seizure of public lands. (Bloomberg, subscription required)

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GRID:
• Grid operators struggle to provide accurate daily and hourly power usage forecasts during COVID-19 as demand plummets and moves to different hours of the day. (E&E News, subscription required)
• Federal regulators want a lawsuit filed over its order on pricing in the PJM capacity markets tossed as it claims it is premature. (E&E News, subscription required)

OIL & GAS:
• Range Resources pays a $200,000 fine to settle a case in which it exceeded permitted air emissions at two well pads in southwestern Pennsylvania. (StateImpact Pennsylvania)
• Some legacy oil drilling continues in a western New York community as residents seek answers to why a home was leveled by a gas explosion late last year. (Olean Times Herald)

RENEWABLE ENERGY: A new report says one of the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic is state renewable energy targets will likely be delayed as power demand falls. (E&E News, subscription required)

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EFFICIENCY:
• Thirteen states, including six in the Northeast, sue the Trump administration over its rollback of appliance efficiency standards. (The Hill)
• A 98-unit affordable housing building constructed to the Passive House standard will begin accepting residents next month in Massachusetts. (MIT Technology Review)
• An efficiency upgrade first started in 2008 will be expanded at a Massachusetts public housing complex. (Environment + Energy Leader)

COMMENTARY: A legal analyst says recent federal regulatory actions discourage clean energy adoption in the East, but states should not abandon the benefits of energy markets. (The Hill) 

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Bill Opalka

Bill is a freelance journalist based outside Albany, New York. As a former New England correspondent for RTO Insider, he has written about energy for newspapers, magazines and other publications for more than 20 years. He has an extensive career in trade publications and newspapers, mostly focused on the utility sector, covering such issues as restructuring, renewable energy and consumer affairs. Bill covers Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire and also compiles the Northeast Energy News daily email digest.