OIL & GAS: New York City fossil fuel workers fear losing good-paying union jobs and benefits as the city electrifies buildings and phases out natural gas. (The City)
ALSO:
• Massachusetts mothers push utilities to transition to clean heat sources by making heat pumps affordable and investing in large-scale geothermal systems. (Yale Climate Connections)
• A Massachusetts court throws out a state permit granted for the controversial Weymouth natural gas compressor station. (Patriot Ledger)
POLITICS: New Hampshire legislators reject a bill that would have pushed state agencies to electrify their fleets while advancing two other bills related to offshore wind and community solar. (NHPR)
SOLAR: Residents of an eastern Massachusetts town fight a cranberry grower’s sale of land for solar arrays, citing the 300 acres of solar farms already in the community. (Boston Globe)
WIND:
• Eversource says it may sell its stake in an offshore wind partnership with Orsted after companies bid a record $4.4 billion in a February lease auction. (Hartford Courant)
• General Electric has been quietly talking to New York officials about building an offshore wind manufacturing hub with potential government subsidies. (Times Union)
• North America’s Building Trades Unions and Orsted sign an agreement to hire union workers to build the company’s U.S. offshore wind farms. (North American Wind Power)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Massachusetts electric vehicle rebates were not a deciding factor for recipients to buy the vehicles, a state-commissioned study finds. (StreetsBlog)
UTILITIES:
• National Grid’s plan to wean New York off natural gas would still produce carbon emissions as it relies on biomethane and green hydrogen, environmental experts say. (Gothamist)
• A New York state Senate panel receives documents from Central Hudson as it investigates the utility’s questionable billing practices. (Daily Freeman, subscription)
• A Hudson Valley town board asks New York regulators to block Columbia Utilities from breaking up a community choice aggregation program they say provides affordable electricity. (Daily Freeman, subscription)
EFFICIENCY: A western New York grocery chain installs LED lighting, switches to a fleet of natural gas trailers, and partners with a clean energy company to begin running some stores on solar energy. (Buffalo News)
COMMENTARY:
• A former Maine legislator pushes a state court to allow the Central Maine Power corridor to proceed, questioning why some clean energy advocates opposed the hydropower transmission project. (Central Maine)
• An environmental advocate pushes Pennsylvanians to stop calling for increased gas production and instead push for a “Marshall Climate Plan” to help countries curb fossil fuel reliance. (Patriot-Ledger)
• New York’s proposed ban on new natural gas installations will hurt affordability and jeopardize fossil fuel workers’ jobs, the president of a construction trade group writes. (Post-Standard)
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