SOLAR: New York approves siting permits for three solar projects in Cortland and Jefferson counties totaling 309 MW. (Central New York Business Journal)

ALSO: Rhode Island wants to cut costs for lower-income residents by leasing and installing solar equipment on their homes. (Energy News Network)

CLIMATE:
• A Massachusetts General Hospital anesthesiologist alters his process to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses needed during surgery. (WBUR)
• Rhode Island’s latest greenhouse gas emissions inventory shows the state’s emissions appear to be on the decline. (ecoRI)
• Maine, already at the southern edge of scallops’ natural range, sees threats to its harvest of the shellfish amid warming waters. (News Center Maine)
• Maryland’s Baltimore County plans to form a resilience authority to identify how they will pay for long-term climate recovery or mitigation projects. (WYPR)
• The University of Maine in Bangor invests roughly $72 million into a fund devoid of large fossil fuel companies. (Pensions & Investments)
• Although climate change is bringing more warm days for New Hampshire’s maple syrup industry earlier in the year, new technology enables workers to take advantage of the changed timing. (Concord Monitor)

OFFSHORE WIND:
• An uptick in beached whales leads conservationists and anti-wind activists to call for a pause on offshore wind development, though federal officials have never linked a humpback whale death to wind development. (Associated Press, NJ Spotlight)
• A new Massachusetts Institute of Technology study quantifies the public health benefits of displacing fossil fuel power generation with wind power, finding that many of the benefits don’t go toward disadvantaged communities. (E&E News, subscription)
• A Massachusetts legislative committee discusses penalizing Commonwealth Wind and Mayflower Wind if they default on their power purchase contracts — but doesn’t want them excluded from future procurements. (CommonWealth Magazine)

OIL & GAS:
• A natural gas cryogenic plant near Pittsburgh restarts some operations weeks after an explosion and fire on Christmas morning. (Observer-Reporter)
• An 822 MW oil-fired peaker plant in Yarmouth, Maine, was called into service over the regional Christmas peak demand. (Portland Press Herald)

AFFORDABILITY:
• In New Hampshire, House Republicans say streamlining big energy project approvals and site evaluations should bring down high costs. (WMUR)
• New York regulators mull a $672 million utility debt write-off package for residents and small businesses that don’t qualify for low-income relief. (Syracuse.com)
• More than two dozen New York state senators call on Con Edison to pause late utility payment fees this winter, given the company has recently seen huge profits. (News 12)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Revel, an electric mobility company, will install 60 new electric vehicle charging stations in the Queens borough of New York City. (news release)

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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.