CLIMATE: A state report finds that Maine’s 2019 greenhouse gas emissions were 25% lower than 1990 levels, exceeding the state’s goal of reducing emissions by 10%. (Associated Press)

EQUITY:
• In Rhode Island, urban heat islands are more pronounced in city neighborhoods with more low-income folks and people or color; in some cases researchers have recorded 10-degree temperature differences between areas with trees and without. (Providence Journal)
• National Hurricane Center predictive sea level rise data show that hundreds of thousands of people could be threatened by storm surge from a Hurricane Sandy-level disaster in the coming decades. (NPR)

BUILDINGS:
• Maryland’s largest county mulls a building code update to require all-electric construction and renovations, with exemptions for businesses like crematoriums and commercial kitchens. (Maryland Matters)
• Rhode Island opens up a public comment period for a high-efficiency heat pump incentive plan that the governor says is “critical in our fight against climate change.” (WPRI)
• Boston’s mayor appoints the city’s first green infrastructure director: a state conservation and recreation planner with a background in landscape architecture and engineering. (news release)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Pennsylvania’s registered electric vehicle count has tripled since early 2019, leading state transportation officials to file a plan to build at least 5,000 new chargers across 2,000 sites in the next six years. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

CLEAN ENERGY: A pending Massachusetts bill would make it easier for the state to work with other states to sign clean energy contracts, with the House energy committee chair noting potential to work with Connecticut for nuclear power and Maine for onshore wind. (Commonwealth Magazine)

TRANSIT:
• Almost 20 states or jurisdictions agree to jointly aim for 100% electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicle sales by midcentury, including New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. (Transport Dive, news release)
• Community and environmental advocates push back on plans to widen the New Jersey Turnpike, citing air pollution and climate concerns. (New Jersey Monitor)
• Three dozen Rhode Island organizations release a series of policy recommendations they hope current state gubernatorial candidates will follow, including electrifying the transit system. (Boston Globe)

SOLAR: Officials in a New York town, worried a state board will overturn a local solar siting law, want to sit down with the developer aiming to build a major solar farm to negotiate conditions. (Lockport Union-Sun & Journal)

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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.