GRID: New England’s grid operator says power supply and demand should be sufficient through 2027 and that the Everett LNG terminal is not necessary — an announcement that led to incredulity at a federal energy meeting in Portland, Maine, given the operator’s previously dire warnings. (CommonWealth Magazine)
ALSO:
• Consolidated Edison will bring online next week New York City’s largest-to-date battery, a 7.5 MW storage system. (Bloomberg News)
• New York’s grid operator announces seven new high-voltage cables will be run between Long Island, the Bronx and Westchester County to help transmit at least 3 GW of offshore wind power to the rest of the state. (Newsday)
OIL & GAS:
• A Pennsylvania family sues Chevron and EQT Corporation, claiming the companies’ fracking activities have contaminated their well water and have harmed their health. (CBS Pittsburgh)
• Pennsylvania utility regulators say around $279 million in fracking impact fees collected in 2022 will be distributed to local governments, a roughly $45 million increase over 2021 that officials attributed to high natural gas prices and newly drilled wells. (Penn Live Patriot-News)
SOLAR:
• In Maine, a pending bill that would require solar developers to financially support land conservation efforts if they build on high-value farmland brings together unlikely allies. (Bangor Daily News)
• A developer decides to relocate a planned 4.2 MW solar farm originally slated for Utica, New York, after finding the site’s soft soil would be too costly to build on. (Observer-Dispatch)
OFFSHORE WIND: Redesigned for the offshore wind industry, the renovation of the State Pier in New London, Connecticut, is expected to wrap up by the end of 2023. (Hartford Courant)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A lithium-ion battery fire at a New York City e-bike repair shop kills four residents living above the facility; the city’s fire department admits to not checking for reconditioned batteries during a recent inspection, which were locally banned three months ago. (Associated Press, The City)
BUILDINGS: A Maine couple and a contractor arrange a $250 discount for residents of their town who join a bulk purchase of heat pumps— serving as a potential model for small-town climate action. (Bangor Daily News)
CRYPTOCURRENCY: Environmental advocates want New York to reject a cryptocurrency company’s air permit renewal application for its natural gas fired-power plant in North Tonawanda. (Buffalo News)
UTILITIES: The city council of Rochester, New York, approves funding to study whether it should form a municipal utility instead of relying on an investor-owned utility, Rochester Gas & Electric. (WXXI)
HYDROGEN: Carnegie Mellon University receives a $3 million federal grant to advance steel industry decarbonization tech by examining whether hydrogen can be used to extract oxygen from iron ore in lieu of carbon. (Trib Live)
HYDROELECTRIC: Officials in Plainfield, Vermont, say they want the state’s utility commission to impose stricter inspections and more regulations over the Marshfield Dam, noting that non-power-generating dams in the state are more frequently inspected. (WCAX)
CLIMATE:
• Around 5 million Marylanders are living in drought-stricken areas as the state experiences its fifth-driest year since the late 1800s. (Baltimore Sun)
• More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could help poison ivy thrive in Connecticut. (NBC Connecticut)
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