GRID: New York City’s plan to alter zoning regulations in favor of climate-minded projects forward frustrates Staten Island officials, who fear more battery energy storage systems could be built in residential areas. (SI Live)
ALSO:
• A startup in Hartford, Connecticut, uses artificial intelligence to predict which utility poles are most in need of replacement to help expedite the cumbersome inspection process. (Hartford Business Journal)
• New Hampshire’s energy department tells ISO New England that it’s disappointed in the grid operator’s proposed 2024-2025 budget, its 21.5% increase in revenue requirement and costs related to clean energy adoption and environmental justice. (New Hampshire Bulletin)
HURRICANE LEE: One person is known to have died in Maine during Hurricane Lee, which made landfall in Nova Scotia and temporarily knocked out power for tens of thousands of Northeast US and Canadian households. (CBS News, CNN)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• As Maryland’s gas-powered car phase out plan takes effect, a Baltimore newspaper examines how far the state has to go to meet its goal. (Baltimore Sun)
• A New Jersey county’s paratransit system is the first transit agency in the state to utilize electric vehicles. (NJ Advance Media)
CLEAN ENERGY: Observers say a new long-term utility power procurement plan in New Hampshire will help boost the development of clean energy projects. (New Hampshire Bulletin)
OIL & GAS: Environmentalists say a Pennsylvania fracker is using old data and not enough wildlife protections to support its argument that it should take 1.5 million gallons of water from a small, biodiverse creek. (Inside Climate News)
FLOODS:
• New England’s dams weren’t built to withstand the more-intense storms the region now sees, leading some officials to worry of an increased risk of the structures failing. (Associated Press)
• A family that fled California wildfires and hurricane-prone Florida relocated to Vermont — only to again witness symptoms of climate change amid this summer’s major flooding. (Christian Science Monitor)
• In Boston, a female-led climate adaptation startup gains traction for its “wave speed bump” system that mitigates storm surge. (Boston Globe)
BIOMASS:
• As residents consider raising their boilers to evade floodwaters, officials in Montpelier, Vermont, question if transitioning more properties to the city’s biomass heating system would boost flood resiliency. (WCAX)
• Bioenergy companies in Boston and Buffalo, New York, are among the recipients of a federal fund to bolster greenhouse gas emission-reducing biomass feedstocks for fuel and other products. (news release)
BUILDINGS: A Washington, D.C., councilmember proposes a bill to establish the city’s first mixed-income public housing complex, which would be entirely composed of net-zero buildings. (DCist)
PROTESTS: Tens of thousands of protesters descend on New York City to call attention to climate change and an end to fossil fuel use ahead of the United Nations’ General Assembly meeting. (Sierra Magazine)
SOLAR:
• The planning board of Damariscotta, Maine, gives the developers of an 18-acre solar farm another year to break ground. (Lincoln County News)
• Maryland’s Anne Arundel County celebrates 1.3 MW of solar carports and rooftop arrays coming online. (news release)
CLIMATE: After three summers of drought conditions, Maine apple orchards cheer a successful harvest after a summer of intense rainfall. (Portland Press Herald)
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