TRANSPORTATION: Connecticut can’t achieve its climate targets unless residents start driving less, but local zoning policies prohibiting dense residential development impede the state’s work. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: The county executive of Onondaga County, New York, wants federal funds to study whether a light rail system or bus rapid transit program makes sense for the area. (Central Current)
OIL & GAS:
• Shell agrees to pay $10 million in penalties for air pollution violations at a Pittsburgh-area facility that began operating in November, but local environmentalists point out the fine is less than one-tenth of 1% of the company’s profits. (Inside Climate News, Pittsburgh Business Times)
• Pennsylvania Democrats want to restore the ability of a state board to raise bond prices on drillers to regulate abandoned oil and gas wells, a power the legislature took from them last year. (Spotlight PA)
• Two CSX trains collide in Baltimore’s industrial Curtis Bay neighborhood and cause a diesel fuel spill in the rail yard, but the amount spilled has yet to be released. (Baltimore Brew)
SOLAR:
• Maryland’s governor signs a bill making the state’s community solar program permanent. (WMDT)
• A Swiss investment fund acquires a controlling interest in solar and energy storage developer Encore Renewable Energy, based in Burlington, Vermont. (news release)
• Olean, New York’s city council unanimously votes for a one-year moratorium on accepting permits for large-scale solar projects as it works to codify new policies for such developments. (Olean Times Herald)
• A Massachusetts town weighs the pros and cons of owning a school rooftop solar array or signing a power purchase agreement. (Daily Times Chronicle)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: NJ Transit may have a tough time installing the infrastructure needed to transition to a zero-emissions bus fleet because of ongoing agency funding issues. (NorthJersey.com)
OFFSHORE WIND: The developers of a proposed offshore wind turbine assembly facility in New York City’s Staten Island borough release a request for construction proposals. (SI Live)
GRID: Maine lawmakers grapple with a bill that seeks to define what type of utilities can own battery storage systems. (Energy Storage News)
CLIMATE:
• A new report finds that by 2050, Philadelphia’s Delaware River may rise a foot higher, and that the city will see temperatures six degrees Fahrenheit hotter. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• As sea urchin fisheries continue to shrink in Maine because of climate change and invasive species, some Mainers consider solutions to rebuild both the population and the industry. (News Center Maine)
• An endangered butterfly species in New Hampshire has suffered under climate change and land development, but state and federal officials have restored a 26-acre field to create a refuge. (NHPR)
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