Are Pennsylvania frackers paying their fair share in taxes?

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

NATURAL GAS

• A Pennsylvania state senator argues that the state’s fracking companies aren’t paying their fair share in taxes and pushes to restructure the system to bring in more revenue from natural gas operations. (ABC27)

• Progress is underway to deliver clean drinking water to some residents of a Pennsylvania town in which fracking operations contaminated wells. (Times-Tribune)

UTILITIES

• A hacking group sponsored by China broke into the systems of a small municipal utility in Massachusetts, and remained undetected for months as it looked for data related to energy grid operations. (PCMag)

OFFSHORE WIND

• Federal challenges to offshore wind and shifting tides in state leadership’s commitment to wind are likely to delay New York’s ability to meet its renewable energy targets. (E&E News)

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

• As the federal government withdraws from previous commitments to environmental justice, local groups in Baltimore pick up the slack, including the fight to make a waste-to-energy incinerator that is responsible for 36% of the city’s emissions ineligible for renewable energy subsidies. (Prism)

TRANSMISSION

• Maine lawmakers consider whether to approve a transmission line intended to bring wind power from the northern part of the state onto the New England grid even though the route, cost, and developer are still unknown. (Portland Press Herald)

• At the same time, Maine’s legislature weighs a bill scaling back on a requirement that lawmakers authorize transmission line projects, a step both business and environmental groups say can deter development, add cost, and hinder progress on climate goals. (Maine Morning Star)

ELECTRIFICATION

• A ban on homeowners using gas-powered leaf blowers on their own property goes into effect in Cambridge, Massachusetts; next year, the ban will also apply to professional landscapers, who worry the shift will be costly and the equipment less effective. (Boston Globe)

• Connecticut moves ahead with a pilot program to increase EV charging access by retrofitting 50 utility poles to host charging stations. (CT Insider)

AFFORDABILITY

• As a key legislative deadline approaches, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott champions a bill that would roll back recent changes in energy policy, claiming the move is necessary to save residents money. (NBC5)

COMMENTARY

• New York legislators should not pass a bill making the mandated transition to electric school buses optional, as continued use of diesel buses harms children’s health and contributes to climate change, environmental advocates say. (City Limits)