Boston votes to join gas ban pilot project

FOSSIL FUELS: Boston’s city council votes to enroll in a statewide pilot project to test banning fossil fuel hookups in most new construction. (GBH)

ALSO:
• Worcester, Massachusetts, climate advocates say they’re working to bring a proposal to their city council to participate in the fossil fuel ban pilot. (Worcester Telegram & Gazette)
• A tentative deal has been reached to prevent a national rail strike, according to federal officials, potentially resolving concerns that a labor stoppage would cause fuel shortages in the Northeast. (CBS News, Reuters)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Beating their deadline, federal officials grant hundreds of millions of dollars in electric vehicle charging station infrastructure funds to states like Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania and approve their charging network plans. (RTO Insider, subscription; Maine Public Radio; Granite Geek; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

EQUITY: More frequent floods inundating a historically Black neighborhood in Maryland’s Baltimore County lead residents to call for local climate action and stormwater investments. (Baltimore Sun)

CLIMATE:
• In New York, advocates commence a pricey ad campaign to convince voters to approve a $4.2 billion green bond that would support climate and environmental projects. (NY Daily News)
• Some Northeast cranberry farmers are questioning the future of their work as drought parches their bogs. (Grist)
• The Vermont Climate Council gathers stakeholders to hold a hearing on whether biomass helps or hurts the state’s climate goals. (WCAX)
• Vice President Kamala Harris visits Buffalo, New York, to tout climate crisis mitigation projects that will stem from the Inflation Reduction Act. (Buffalo News)

AFFORDABILITY: With clean energy subsidies costing New Jersey ratepayers over $1 billion annually, some question how those subsidies can continue amid energy affordability concerns. (NJ Spotlight)

PIPELINES: Maryland regulators grant Chesapeake Utilities a license to run a gas pipeline under the Pocomoke River. (Salisbury Daily Times)

STORAGE: A developer announces plans for three new battery storage systems in New York City that collectively will amount to 12 MW. (Energy Storage News)

SOLAR: The Maryland Energy Administration will grant $1 million for solar projects for low-income households next year that have previously received an energy audit and efficiency upgrades. (news release)