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)