CLIMATE: As Rhode Island regulators consider the sale of the state’s largest electric distribution utility, intervenors say the buyer should be required to show how it will meet requirements under the state’s ambitious new climate law. (Energy News Network)

ALSO: Rainfall in New Jersey has increased 10% since 1999 — a trend likely to continue and worsen if greenhouse gas emissions aren’t checked, according to a pair of studies commissioned by the state government. (NJ Spotlight)

TRANSPORTATION:
• Rhode Island has left the Transportation and Climate Initiative after Connecticut and Massachusetts dropped their support. (WJAR)
• Although some Connecticut municipalities have added at least one electric vehicle to their fleets, most haven’t despite the state’s adoption goal. (Hartford Courant)
• Two major thoroughfares in Boston will soon have new bike and bus lanes installed in what are currently car lanes. (Boston Herald)

GRID:
• Central Maine Power agrees to halt construction on its controversial transmission line corridor expansion while a Maine court considers its constitutional challenge of a referendum in which voters decided to end the project. (Maine Public)
• Maine environmental officials will consider whether to retract one of CMP’s critical permits for the corridor today. (WMTW)

OIL & GAS:
• Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is reportedly planning to sign an ordinance divesting the city from investments in companies with at least 15% of revenue tied to fossil fuels. (Boston Globe)
• Two years after a climate protest at a Harvard-Yale football game that made international headlines, Harvard has announced its fossil fuel divestiture but advocates say Yale’s plans aren’t good enough. (New Haven Register)
• Federal regulators have lowered the return on equity that Exelon can receive for keeping online two natural gas generation units. (S&P Global Platts)

EQUITY: Federal transportation officials open a civil rights investigation into New York’s approval of National Grid’s North Brooklyn pipeline; the U.S. EPA opened a separate investigation last month. (The City)

EFFICIENCY: Some New Hampshire construction and weatherization business owners say jobs are now threatened at their companies following the state regulator’s order defunding energy efficiency work. (Valley News)

UTILITIES:
• Residents of a northern Maine town connected to a local consumer-owned utility will have some of the cheapest power bills in the state now that much of the state is set to see large power bill spikes. (Houlton Pioneer Times)
• New York’s utility regulator bans four energy service companies from operating in the state over false or misleading statements in their business applications. (WBFO)
• A solar developer’s first virtual power plant and energy storage offering will be available to Eversource and National Grid ratepayers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. (PV Magazine)

CLEAN ENERGY: Officials in Newtown, Connecticut, want to use renewable resources to get 95% of the town’s energy by next year. (Newtown Bee)

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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.