FINANCE:  Boston provides a strong environment for climate tech companies to incubate and grow, but venture capital isn’t flowing as easily to the sector in part because investments often take a long time to come to fruition. (Boston Magazine)

ALSO: As it reaches a decade of operation, New York’s green bank announces it has so far made over $2 billion investments in clean energy and sustainable infrastructure projects. (news release)

CLEAN ENERGY:
• New York’s latest state budget takes away industrial development agencies’ ability to offer tax breaks to solar and wind developers, a provision one county’s agency says will make future projects unsustainable. (Olean Times Herald)
• The world’s largest vertical farming operation — which would’ve used only renewable energy and been sited near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania — will no longer be built, according to the company. (Bay Journal)

OFFSHORE WIND: The predominantly Black longshoremen’s union in New Bedford, Massachusetts, ends its six-day protest of a hiring decision at Vineyard Wind after making a deal with the project’s developer.  (E&E News, subscription)

OIL & GAS:
• A Stanford University research team uses sensors in New York City apartments to test how indoor air pollution from gas stoves travels within a home. (New York Times)
• Rhode Island utility regulators want to keep and expand the Portsmouth LNG facility for the time being, but vote to recommend that its permit be reviewed every five years as the region decarbonizes. (PBN)

NUCLEAR: Federal energy officials grant $46 million to eight companies designing and developing nuclear fusion facilities, including Commonwealth Fusion Systems in Massachusetts, and Princeton Stellarators in New Jersey. (news release)

CLIMATE:
• Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley region saw almost no rainfall whatsoever last month, culminating in the driest May in almost 60 years. (Morning Call)
• Wildfires across southeastern Canada have led to reduced air quality in New Jersey, New Hampshire and parts of Pennsylvania. (NJ Advance Media, Concord Monitor)
• Wilmington, Delaware, will conduct heat mapping this summer to identify which neighborhoods suffer the most from the urban heat island effect to direct cooling strategies to impacted residents. (Delaware Online)

REGULATION:
• Maryland’s newest utility commissioner is a former Montgomery County delegate who frequently worked on environment and energy legislation. (news release)
• An S&P Global entity downgrades its outlook for Maryland utility regulation to a “below average” listing, citing the governor’s agenda, “increasing uncertainty and the potential for a more restrictive regulatory climate.” (Maryland Matters)

AFFORDABILITY:
• Central Maine Power asks state utility regulators to approve a settlement agreement with consumer advocates that would have the utility spread out its latest rate increase over the next three years. (Bangor Daily News)
• Maine regulators authorize Versant Power’s two-step distribution rate hike, which will result in residential utility bills rising about $5 per month starting in July and an additional $5 per month in January. (Maine Public Radio)

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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.