Connecticut cost-cutting bill could stymie renewables

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CLEAN ENERGY

• Connecticut lawmakers advance a bill intended to lower power bills, but environmental advocates say the legislation could stymie the state’s transition toward renewable energy. (Canary Media)

• A western Massachusetts group shares its concerns that a new statewide solar siting agency could allow too much development on forested and rural land in that part of the state. (Greenfield Recorder)

CLIMATE

• At the Philadelphia Navy Yard, a smart microgrid, the state’s largest community solar development, and driverless electric shuttle buses are all part of a concerted effort to focus on sustainable development at the campus. (Philadelphia)

• A Rhode Island judge allows the state’s lawsuit asking fossil fuel companies to pay for climate damages to continue, overruling Chevron’s claim that the state acted improperly in bringing the case. (Rhode Island Current)

• Maryland’s legislative session ends in a feeling of ​“disappointment” for climate advocates as measures promoting utility-scale solar and battery storage are counterbalanced by provisions that ease the way for new natural gas plants and exempt hospitals from building decarbonization rules. (Inside Climate News)

POWER PLANTS

• Former coal-fired power plants in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other states are becoming in-demand properties as the facilities’ existing power lines make them prime spots for natural gas power generation, battery storage sites, or offshore wind connections. (Associated Press)

PUBLIC HEALTH

• Refineries, vehicle traffic, and power plants make New Jersey air some of the most polluted in the country, but in six counties residents can’t even know exactly what they’re breathing in, because no air quality monitoring at all is conducted. (NJ.com)

CLIMATE TECH

• The president of the University of Massachusetts declares his intention to make the system a leader in climate tech research and development in partnership with the state’s efforts to advance the industry. (Inside Climate News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Vermont’s ski mountains face growing demand for electric vehicle charging infrastructure as EV adoption grows in the state and those around it. (VT Digger)

• A New Jersey city announces the deployment of three new municipal electric vehicles: a garbage truck and two shuttle buses. (NJ.com)

UTILITIES

• The CEO of utility company FirstEnergy expresses concerns about the high power bills about to hit some of its customers as a result of PJM’s last capacity auction and indicates his company is open to trying to delay some of the price hikes. (Utility Dive)

• New Jersey’s four electric utilities indicate they are willing to get back into the business of generating power, as the state legislature considers strategies for dealing with increasing energy prices. (E&E News)

NUCLEAR

• Residents of 16 Massachusetts towns will vote in coming weeks on a nonbinding ballot question that urges the state to stop the release of wastewater vapor at a shuttered nuclear power plant in Plymouth, though the company doing the decommissioning says the process is completely safe. (Cape Cod Times)

NATURAL GAS

• A new renewable natural gas production facility in suburban Philadelphia will convert landfill emissions into enough natural gas to power 63,000 homes, the developer says. (LevittownNow.com)