Advocates vow to fight pipeline approvals in NY and NJ

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Northeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

FOSSIL FUELS

• New York and New Jersey issue the state-level approvals needed for a previously rejected natural gas pipeline to move forward, leaving environmental advocates feeling ​“betrayed,” but still determined to fight the project. (Inside Climate News)

• The pipeline approvals reflect a political shift, as the traditionally blue Northeast softens its stance in the face of federal pressure and soaring energy prices, analysts say. (E&E News)

• The lawyer in charge of defending Exxon Mobil against lawsuits in Maine, Maryland, and other states vows he will defeat the ​“absolutely relentless” litigation from opponents who want to hold oil and gas companies responsible for the impacts of climate change. (E&E News)

EMISSIONS

• A Democratic state legislator in Massachusetts plans to use Gov. Maura Healey’s energy affordability bill as a vehicle to weaken the state’s climate goals and further cut state energy efficiency funding. (CommonWealth Beacon)

• New Jersey’s state legislature weighs whether to push forward with efforts to codify lame-duck Gov. Phil Murphy’s goal of reaching 100% clean energy by 2035. (E&E News)

• Philadelphia city councilors consider a measure that would stop the city from sending its trash to be burned in a waste-to-energy facility in a nearby community that is also home to an oil refinery, a power plant, and a sewage treatment plant that burns sewage sludge. (WHYY)

DATA CENTERS

• An upstate New York town is scheduled to decide whether to enact a moratorium on large developments, effectively derailing a controversial plan for a data center on the site of a former coal-burning power plant. (Inside Climate News)

WIND

• In Massachusetts, a blade breaks off a wind turbine and lands 300 feet away in a neighboring cranberry bog. (CBS Boston)

GRID

• Grid operator ISO New England is confident it can maintain reliability this winter even in worst-case scenarios. (RTO Insider)

TRANSIT

• A Maine company wins a $3 million contract to build three solar-powered ferries to provide service on the Merrimack River in northeastern Massachusetts as soon as 2027. (WHAV)

ELECTRIFICATION

• The city council of Providence, Rhode Island, finalizes a ban on gas-powered leaf blowers that will phase in from 2028 to 2033. (Providence Journal)

COMMENTARY

• Pennsylvania lawmakers should take steps to make it easier for schools to install rooftop solar panels, which would save districts money, improve air quality, and help familiarize students with clean energy technology, say a state legislator and an environmental advocate. (Reading Eagle)

NEW FROM CANARY

• This startup wants to build pumped hydro storage in the ocean — Julian Spector

• Xcel doubles down on plan to swap coal for clean power in Minnesota — Brian Martucci

• Virginia scored the election’s biggest climate win — Kathryn Krawczyk

• Inside the data-center energy race with Google and Microsoft — Maria Gallucci

• One North Carolina company’s plan for keeping rooftop solar going — Elizabeth Ouzts