CLIMATE: A new study of 32 million births links air pollution and rising temperatures to premature, underweight and stillborn babies, with Black women impacted at a much higher rate. (New York Times)

ALSO:
• Despite admitting “an impulse to safeguard” the oil industry, a Texas court rules against ExxonMobil in its effort to obtain documents from California cities suing the company for climate damages. (InsideClimate News)
• The world’s largest mutual fund manager discloses that it backed shareholder climate resolutions at companies including UPS and trucking company J.B. Hunt. (Reuters)
• Climate advocates have been lobbying Congress for a carbon tax as well as economic relief for coal communities. (Bloomberg)

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CLEAN ENERGY: House Democrats unveil a $1.5 billion infrastructure proposal that includes $70 billion for clean energy projects. (The Hill)

WIND:
• A Dominion Energy official acknowledges critics’ frustration with the pace of its offshore wind work but says the utility is making steady progress and learning from its pilot project. (Energy News Network)
• New York’s top energy official says the state will proceed with a solicitation of 2.5 GW of offshore wind proposals this year, but that a lack of federal leasing areas could be an obstacle. (Recharge)
• At a visit in Iowa, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette responded to questions about President Trump’s prior criticism of wind energy: “While wind energy is very inexpensive, it’s also intermittent.” (KCCI)

SOLAR:
• One solar advocate says a request before federal regulators to take away states’ control over net metering is “pretty close to saying solar is illegal.” (InsideClimate News)
• Officials in a Connecticut town say a proposed 120 MW solar project announced this week will help put an end to trespassing and illegal parties at the gravel pit site where it will be located. (Hartford Courant)

TRANSMISSION: National clean energy groups launch a campaign to build support for investments in the transmission system they say would save consumers $47 billion a year. (Utility Dive)

UTILITIES: A California county judge orders PG&E to pay the statutory maximum penalty of $3.5 million for causing 2018’s Camp Fire which killed 84 people. (New York Times)

OIL & GAS:
• Chesapeake Energy, an oil and gas giant in Oklahoma for many years, is in talks with its creditors that could lead to bankruptcy court. (Washington Post)
• New Mexico and a major Permian Basin operator announce a pilot project aimed at reducing flaring in existing oilfield operations is successful, but activists are calling for the project to end. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)

TRANSPORTATION: A coalition that promotes “transportation fairness” is mostly composed of oil and gas trade associations that opposes policies that could speed the transition to electrification. (DeSmog)

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JUSTICE: Robert Bullard, often called the father of environmental justice, says right now “there is an awakening unlike any that I’ve seen on this earth in over 70 years.” (InsideClimate News) 

COMMENTARY:
• A writer says building a solar array at Rikers Island in New York could help atone for a history of racism and abuse. (The New Republic)
• Advocates say reforming net metering should be left to the states. (Utility Dive)