UTILITIES: The current chair and former CEO of Central Maine Power, David Flanagan, announces his pancreatic cancer diagnosis and ongoing treatment; he returned to the utility in early 2020 to help mitigate customer trust issues after a poorly rolled-out billing system. (Portland Press Herald)

ALSO: Central Maine Power has found a new president and CEO: Joseph Purington, a Maine native and current president of New Hampshire operations for Eversource Energy. David Flanagan will move to a less-demanding senior advisory role. (Bangor Daily News)

OIL & GAS:
• In the thick of the summer tourism season, South Portland closes its popular Willard Beach as crews work to clean a motor oil spill that possibly came  from a nearby service station. (Portland Press Herald)
• Pennsylvania wells produced 7.8% more natural gas in the second quarter year-over-year, the most productive month since 2019’s third quarter; prices were up 52% over the same period. (Pittsburgh Business Times)
• A Pennsylvania fiscal board report notes the state’s natural gas production levels fall within 1,000 billion cubic feet of Texas’. (Farm and Dairy)
• Maine’s utility regulator will host a public hearing tonight in Bangor for residents to comment on a proposed Bangor Natural Gas rate hike. (Bangor Daily News)

PIPELINES: Federal pipeline safety officials claim in a warning letter that Shell committed two “probable violations” at a Falcon pipeline construction site in Pennsylvania’s Beaver County. (The Allegheny Front)

POLITICS:
• A group of Maine lawmakers file what will be the fifth referendum targeting Central Maine Power as they seek to bar corporations owned or influenced by foreign governments from spending money on state referendums. (Bangor Daily News)
• U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders urges Vermont’s climate council to not delay a critical report so the state legislature can use it to take quick action. (VTDigger)

WIND:
• A group of Nantucket, Massachusetts, residents formally files a federal lawsuit seeking to end the offshore Vineyard Wind project over endangered whale concerns, although one member acknowledges they’re also worried about aesthetics. (Associated Press)
• A European steel construction company will manufacture offshore wind turbine transition pieces at New York’s Port of Albany. (news release)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Massachusetts’ two largest investor-owned utilities file grand plans to install electric vehicle charging systems and set commercial charging rates, as required by recent state action. (North of Boston Media Group)
• New York City’s Upper West Side gets its first curbside electric charging station, but combustion engine vehicles keep blocking the spot. (I Love The Upper West Side)

GRID:
• Activists worry the Champlain Hudson Express transmission line project, which will run cables along the Hudson River riverbed, will disturb fish habitats and harm Indigeneous communities. (Observer Dispatch)
• Local activists in a Rhode Island coastal town applaud newly buried utility lines that previously marred marine views. (What’s Up Newp)

NUCLEAR: Four new transformers that will replace old equipment at Exelon’s Nine Mile Point Unit 2 nuclear facility have arrived at New York’s Port of Oswego. (NNY360)

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.