SOLAR: A neighbor dispute over equipment noise from a Connecticut solar farm threatens to become an albatross for the industry in a community where there are already calls to limit development. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: Disagreement between environmentalists over whether to allow solar farms to be built on forest and farmland in Amherst, Massachusetts, are echoed across the country. (NPR)
OIL & GAS:
• Some Pennsylvania environmentalists question the governor’s commitment to climate issues, citing what they say was a bait-and-switch he pulled while governor-elect by announcing a fracking contamination settlement for Dimock a day before the state ended a drilling ban in that town. (Inside Climate News)
• Maryland’s attorney general intends to sue two companies over their role in a 7,000-gallon diesel fuel spill back in 2021, citing negligence and a failure to inspect strange working conditions. (Frederick News Post)
• New York City officials cut the ribbon on a new facility they say uses a first-of-its-kind process to mix wastewater with collected food scraps to create methane biogas. (news release)
OFFSHORE WIND:
• Three New Jersey groups sue offshore wind developer Ørsted and the state environmental agency over a certification that the Ocean Wind 1 project would comply with state coastal management laws. (Asbury Park Press)
• The board of Cape May County, New Jersey, hires two law firms to help it push back against potential regulatory approvals for a proposed offshore wind project. (OCNJ Daily)
UTILITIES: Maine’s investor-owned power companies have already spent $18.4 million on three ballot committees aimed at fighting a ballot initiative that would form a state-level public power utility. (Portland Press Herald/Floodlight)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A distressed Pennsylvania city wants federal funds to install dozens of electric vehicle chargers as it tries to entice drivers and rejuvenate its downtown. (CNN)
• An e-bike rental company and a food delivery app create a new rest stop and e-bike charging station for food delivery workers in a New York City neighborhood. (Gothamist)
TRANSPORTATION: Environmental and historic preservation groups sue to stop a Maryland highway widening project they say won’t increase transit access or speed up commutes, but will harm vulnerable sites. (Washington Post)
GRID:
• PJM Interconnection officials and outside stakeholders tell federal officials that the grid operator’s capacity market functions as it should but nonetheless will need to adapt to extreme weather and an evolving power supply mix. (Utility Dive)
• All New England states plus New Jersey and New York file a joint request with federal energy officials to form an interregional power transmission planning initiative to find symbiotic opportunities. (Berkshire Eagle)
AFFORDABILITY: New Hampshire’s new community power program reports very few residential customers are opting out of the initiative. (Concord Monitor)
WORKFORCE: A new joint report from two Rhode Island agencies finds clean energy jobs in the state are rebounding but still haven’t returned to pre-pandemic highs. (Rhode Island Current)
BUILDINGS: A new middle school in South Portland, Maine, uses geothermal energy to heat and cool the facility and solar panels for electricity and shading. (News Center Maine)
CLIMATE: Federal agriculture officials grant $650,000 to the University of Maine to study the ecosystem and economic implications of climate change on the state’s wild blueberry crop. (news release)
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