UTILITIES: New Hampshire’s governor supports a bill letting utilities buy power from generators instead of through regional wholesale markets, a change advocates say may help renewables compete in the state. (Energy News Network)
GRID:
• Some residents of Prince George’s County, Maryland, fear the potential health consequences of a planned lithium-ion battery storage facility in their community if it ignites. (Inside Climate News)
• The trial deciding the vested construction rights of the New England Clean Energy Connect power line project momentarily focuses on early discussions between the developer and opponents around climate benefits. (Maine Public Radio)
EQUITY: A Boston College professor describes the ways environmental racism affects Boston’s communities of color, including the heat island effect and heightened rates of asthma. (GBH)
MINING: A Maine legislative committee discusses seven separate bills aiming to alter the state’s mining regulations — a relevant prospect in light of the huge lithium deposit recently discovered in Newry. (Portland Press Herald)
SOLAR: Maine’s public advocate cautions that community solar programs could cost state ratepayers $220 million per year within two years. (Bangor Daily News)
BUILDINGS:
• Environmentalists reject a proposal by the mayor of Washington, D.C., to postpone the city’s strengthened building efficiency standard by three years to boost the city’s post-pandemic economy. (DCist)
• A year after the continent’s largest certified passive house project — a New York City affordable housing complex — opened its doors, some environmentalists and architects say there’s no reason such projects shouldn’t be more common — especially for low-income properties. (City Limits)
CLEAN ENERGY: Maryland lawmakers send two bills to the governor’s desk: one making permanent a state community solar program and earmarking 40% of its power for low-to-moderate-income customers, and another that sets a target of deploying 3 GW of new energy storage capacity by 2033. (Renewable Energy World)
CLIMATE:
• The head of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service points to climate change as one of the reasons the state is marking its spring wildfire season up to a month earlier than usual. (WHYY)
• A Narragansett, Rhode Island, community fights back against a new property owner’s repeated attempts to gain zoning variances to build on wetlands that are projected to be two feet under water in the next 20 years. (Providence Journal)
NUCLEAR: The company decommissioning the Indian Point nuclear plant says it will postpone any releases of spent fuel wastewater into the Hudson River until later this year, in part to educate stakeholders on the process. (Daily Freeman)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A new analysis finds that not a single Northeastern city or municipality cracks the top ten metropolitan areas for “electric vehicle friendliness” in a ranking considering factors like the number of rentals with electric vehicle chargers. (Utility Dive)
• New Hampshire’s first electric-vehicle-only dealership opens in a coastal town. (Portsmouth Herald)
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