ALSO:

• Maine Governor Janet Mills’ administration proposes a bill to let construction occur in coastal sand dunes, a measure that would ease development of Sears Island into a floating offshore wind hub despite conservationists’ concerns. (Portland Press Herald)
• Maine’s offshore wind industry has transitioned from enjoying widespread bipartisan backing a decade ago to becoming a contentious political issue with mixed support. (Bangor Daily News)
• Federal ocean energy regulators kick off the environmental impact statement process for the 157-turbine Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind farm off the New Jersey and New York coasts. (news release)
• New Jersey officials express optimism and excitement over the state’s offshore wind future at a recent energy conference at Rowan University, touting a recent solicitation round for revitalizing efforts. (NJ Biz)

SOLAR:

• Federal energy regulators essentially punt the Bear Ridge Solar project, a proposed 100 MW solar farm in New York’s Niagara County, from the state’s interconnection queue by rejecting an exemption waiver for two grid interconnection tariff requirements. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• Developers begin tree clearing for a 15 MW solar field at a Deptford, New Jersey, site that seems undeveloped but actually requires environmental remediation from decades of use as a pig farm and unauthorized landfill. (42 Freeway)
• Voters in Bow, New Hampshire, vote to authorize development of the state’s largest solar development, an array distributed across multiple municipal buildings. (Concord Monitor)
• Researchers studying blueberry production under a 4 MW solar farm in Rockport, Maine, find that the array’s configuration “makes farming difficult and constricts blueberry production” but hope results will guide further investigations. (Maine Monitor)
• Developers of a 2.47 MW community solar project in Maryland say installation should only take nine weeks and use less acreage because of its uncommon mounting system. (PV Magazine)
• Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna University uses grazing sheep for vegetation management at the college’s solar array. (Yale Climate Connections)

GRID: 

• PJM Interconnection warns it could lose over 33 GW of power before 2030 because of capacity market price drops and another 19.6 GW over regulatory retirement deadlines, a concern it says could raise consumer prices. (E&E News, subscription)
• New York’s grid operator explains at an operating committee meeting that this past winter was one of its mildest ever, in terms of temperatures, gas prices and power demand. (RTO Insider, subscription)

FOSSIL FUELS: A fatal Pittsburgh-area home explosion reopens emotional wounds for a nearby town where six people died in a separate gas-related explosion last year. (Trib Live)

TRANSIT: As Philadelphia’s transit agency considers significant regional rail cuts that threaten the independence of disadvantaged seniors along the city’s northwest Chestnut Hill line. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

WORKFORCE: Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island labor leaders hold a joint conference to push for better wages and working standards within offshore wind projects. (CT Examiner)

COMMENTARY: A New Jersey editorial board questions whether the state’s governor is getting in his own way of driving electric vehicle adoption. (Star Ledger)

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ALSO: Federal regulators approve an interconnection agreement for the 810 MW Empire Wind offshore project between New York’s grid operator and utility Con Edison. (news release)

CLEAN ENERGY: Maryland legislators advance legislation to stop local jurisdictions from banning or limiting certain renewable energy resources, including incineration facilities, but some municipalities say it supersedes their zoning authority. (Frederick News-Post)

FOSSIL FUELS: A development group finishes dismantling a former oil refinery in south Philadelphia, once the East Coast’s largest such facility, and begins construction on an industrial space and life sciences lab. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

CLIMATE: 

• A meeting of the Maine Climate Council discusses how the state is already seeing numerous side effects of the climate crisis, like experiencing its warmest four years since the last climate report was issued. (Bangor Daily News)
• Although New York City saw triple the amount of last winter’s snow total, it was only about 25% of the area’s typical accumulation. (CBS New York) 

SOLAR: 

• A clean energy nonprofit’s new report finds Pennsylvania schools have tripled their solar resources in the past decade to around 39 MW. (news release)
• A Pennsylvania appeals court will hear a legal case over the denial of a conditional use permit for a proposed 858-acre solar farm in Pennsylvania’s North Annville Township. (LebTown)

UTILITIES:

• A Maryland environmental group releases a study detailing the extent of lobbying efforts of the state’s investor-owned utilities toward state policymakers. (Maryland Matters)
• Concord and several other New Hampshire towns vote to adopt community power programs, despite some concern around existing net metering customers. (Concord Monitor)

CLEAN VEHICLES: 

• After being rejected in 2022, Princeton, New Jersey, school officials again apply for a state grant to help buy two battery-electric school buses. (Princeton Packet)
• New Jersey lawmakers advance legislation that would implement a $250 fee on zero-emission vehicles and five years of incremental gas tax hikes. (NJ Advance Media)
• Maine regulators begin using a 2021 law to fine those who sell diesel pick-up trucks modified to evade emissions control systems, with an Auburn dealership facing a possible $4,000 penalty. (Bangor Daily News)

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South Fork offshore wind farm comes online is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

FOSSIL FUELS: 

• Maine legislators hold back a bill to halt expansion of natural gas infrastructure in favor of studies that contemplate the role of gas in the state’s energy future. (Energy News Network)
• Testing suggests fracking waste runoff from a Pennsylvania landfill is contaminating the soil in a community where plants are dying and unexplained illnesses are occuring. (Public Source)
• A Massachusetts startup aims to replace the hydraulic aspect of fracking with electric shocks that open up new pathways for fuels to flow. (Boston Globe)
• The Pennsylvania Game Commission has seen a financial windfall from oil and gas leases over the past two years, but falling natural gas prices mean less revenue for the agency. (Go Erie)
• Early evidence suggests an unregistered gas well was the cause of a fatal house explosion near Pittsburgh this week. (CBS News)

OFFSHORE WIND: Barnstable, Massachusetts, officials says it’s “inexcusable” that they don’t have a seat on the state’s clean energy siting and infrastructure panel despite its offshore wind projects. (Cape Cod Times)

FINANCE: Climate activists say Maine’s public workers retirement system isn’t doing enough to divest from fossil fuel investments despite a state law mandating divestitment by 2026. (Portland Press Herald)

SOLAR: 

• One of the Pennsylvania lawmakers sponsoring a bill to support solar projects at state schools highlights the benefits of the legislation during a school tour. (Altoona Mirror)
• New York City considers a local bill that would require public buildings to install 100 MW of solar panels by the end of 2025. (Utility Dive)
• The State University of New York Niagara is seeking a developer for an up-to-6 MW solar farm. (Niagara Gazette)

GEOTHERMAL:

• A New York developer will install a geothermal HVAC system at an affordable public housing complex in southeast Washington, D.C., the city’s first large-scale community geothermal heat pump system. (Commercial Observer)
• New York City almost doubles the amount of staff it has on hand to enforce its building emissions law after advocates’ criticism. (City Limits)

WORKFORCE: A new report from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center finds the state’s clean energy workforce has grown to 48,176 jobs, an 80% increase over 2010. (news release)

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Pennsylvania unveils climate action plan is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

FOSSIL FUELS: 

• Pennsylvania’s governor promotes the plugging of the 200th abandoned oil well since he took office, but there’s a long road ahead to plug the estimated 350,000 undocumented ones remaining across the state. (Butler Eagle)
• New York’s assembly advances a bill to ban drilling and fracking natural gas and oil with carbon dioxide, a process some fracking firms are had considered in the state. (Finger Lakes 1)

SOLAR: In New York, Niagara County’s environmental coordinator says the county’s solar panel recycling law is improving end-of-life panel management, but not all solar projects are complying. (Union-Sun & Journal)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• Some top Maine legislators want to strip power from a citizen board on vehicle emission standards and give it to themselves, but the NRDC says that would hurt clean car progress. (Portland Press Herald)
• A lack of public charging options continues to hinder electric vehicle adoption in New Jersey. (Asbury Park Press)
• An electric vehicle charging consultancy opens its new headquarters in Hanover, Maryland. (news release)

GRID: New Jersey lawmakers mull the potential impact of two bills, which would codify a gubernatorial order to have all electricity sales involve clean energy by 2035 and spend $300 million on grid upgrades. (RTO Insider, subscription)

POLICY: 

• Several Maryland bills supporting the governor’s climate action plan are stuck in legislative committees, including solar installation incentives and a new fee on coal and natural gas transported by rail through the state. (WBAL)
• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology plans to launch a new climate change initiative aimed at connecting climate research to policymakers, but some students and observers worry the university will eventually turn to funding from fossil fuel firms. (Inside Climate News)
• North Yarmouth, Maine, begins forming its own climate action plan, following the steps of several neighboring towns in recent years. (The Forecaster)

STORMS: Massachusetts plans to appeal federal emergency management officials’ decision to not issue a major disaster declaration over the severe flooding that swept through the state in September. (Associated Press)

CLIMATE: The president of the New York Farm Bureau says his farmers support climate action but worry the push for electrification comes before electric farm equipment can handle the long hours required. (Spectrum News 1)

TRANSIT: Two Somerville, Massachusetts, council members plan to introduce a resolution to remove “unnecessary” parking spaces from new developments to help meet climate goals. (Boston Herald)

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Pennsylvania “all in” on hydrogen hubs, governor declares is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

ALSO: A New York appellate court decides a lawsuit may proceed that was brought by environmentalists against the state’s utility commission over its decision allowing a cryptominer to buy a North Tonawanda gas-fired power plan. (Buffalo News)

GRID: Connecticut regulators approve the first round of pilot projects in a new program aimed at testing innovative hardware and software to decarbonize the electric grid. (Energy News Network)

BUILDINGS:

• Rome, New York, celebrates the completion of the state’s first carbon-neutral public housing complex following a $40 million renovation of an existing facility. (Utica Observer Dispatch)
• A New York City public housing pilot project currently underway shows promise in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and making apartments more comfortable through window-mounted heat pumps. (Associated Press)
• A Rhode Island program to subsidize the replacement of residences’ propane- and heating oil-based systems with electric heat pumps has so far provided little funding to low-income households. (ecoRI)

NUCLEAR: Amazon Web Services buys a Pennsylvania nuclear-powered data center campus for $650 million from Talen Energy, with plans to boost the campus’s capacity to 960 MW. (news release)

FUEL CELLS: The developer of a 20 MW fuel cell project in New Britain, Connecticut, says the $80 million project could be online and pushing power to the grid by early May. (CT Insider)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• Blink Charging will site both its new global corporate headquarters and a planned 30,000-square-foot, energy-efficient production plant in Bowie, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C., to “support the company’s global vision.” (news release)
• Beta Technologies installs electric plane and car chargers at the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport as it reportedly gets closer to rolling out small electric planes. (Concord Monitor)

INCINERATION: Maryland environmentalists want the state to end significant subsidies to its trash incineration plants but worry there isn’t enough political will or interest to make the change. (Inside Climate News)

CLIMATE: Maine and New Hampshire saw significant flooding over the weekend as a strong storm swept through the region, marking the states’ fourth flooding event since December. (Washington Post)

SOLAR: 

• In New York, a Hudson River town considers allowing a power developer to clear-cut 13 acres of trees to build a 5 MW solar array. (Rockland County Business Journal)
• A Maryland developer buys an 18.5 MW portfolio of Vermont solar projects contracted to deliver power to several utilities in the state. (news release)

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New Hampshire town questions future after coal plant is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.