SOLAR: An energy developer reverses course after public outcry over its plan to demolish a historic drive-in movie theater in Pennsylvania and install a solar farm, saying it will no longer pursue the project. (Morning Call)
ALSO:
• A clean energy investment company and a solar installer announce a partnership to build a 6.7 MW array in Maine that will sell power to residents. (PV Magazine)
• Nautilus Solar Energy opens a 2 MW solar array outside Baltimore, with half of its power going to low- and moderate-income customers. (WBAL)
NATURAL GAS: A leaking gas pipe appears to be responsible for high carbon monoxide levels that sent 53 people at a Catskills-area youth summer camp to nearby hospitals. (Times Union)
PIPELINES:
• Pennsylvania’s utility regulator approves a $1 million fine against Energy Transfer LP over a 2018 natural gas pipeline explosion that destroyed a home. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• The Portland Pipe Line Corp. ends its legal fight against a South Portland, Maine, law that barred the loading of crude oil into tankers in the city’s harbor. (Portland Press Herald)
• Two pipeline inspectors say Shell fired them after reporting a potential leak hazard on a volatile liquid pipeline that fed into the company’s petrochemical plant outside Pittsburgh. (E&E News)
UTILITIES:
• New York state reaches an $86 million settlement with four utilities over their failures to prepare for and respond to 2020’s Tropical Storm Isaias. (CBSN New York)
• Hanover, New Hampshire, becomes the third municipality in the state to vote to launch a community power program. (NHPR)
• New York’s Public Service Commission approves a 100 MW energy storage project in Astoria, Queens, which is part of Con Edison’s required deployment of more storage in the city. (news release)
TRANSPORTATION:
• A Pennsylvania commission is weighing ways to fund road and bridge repairs without a gasoline tax, though the alternatives could end up being more expensive for taxpayers. (CBSN Pittsburgh)
• Massachusetts lawmakers approve a $350 million transportation bill, adding $150 million to the original proposal for electric vehicle spending and bus lanes. (CommonWealth Magazine)
• New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio escalates a push to institute congestion pricing in lower Manhattan to hopefully boost public transit usage. (Gothamist)
WIND:
• Vineyard Wind signs a labor agreement with a Massachusetts construction union to ensure area residents and union members are hired to build the offshore wind project. (news release)
• New Jersey hires global construction firm AECOM Tishman to manage the building of an offshore wind manufacturing facility in the state. (news release)
BIOFUEL: Governors of both Connecticut and Rhode Island signed mandates this week that will require greater use of biofuel-based heating oil over the next decade. (Biofuels Digest)
POLITICS: Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York will introduce a “Green New Deal for Public Schools” today that proposes allocating $446 billion to efficiently retrofit schools. (Washington Post)
HYDROPOWER: The New York Power Authority awards a $275 million contract for mechanical and electrical upgrades to its Niagara River hydroelectric plant as part of a 15-year modernization project. (news release)