Heat pump adoption drives rural workforce boom in Maine

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WORKFORCE

• Maine’s high rate of heat pump adoption in recent years has driven growth in energy efficiency jobs and training programs, particularly in rural areas. (Maine Monitor)

FEDERAL ACTION

• None of the 21 Republican U.S. House members who spoke up in defense of clean energy tax credits — including representatives from New York and Pennsylvania — voted against President Trump’s bill decimating these incentives. (Inside Climate News)

• An equity-focused clean energy transition program at the University of Massachusetts loses $6 million in federal grant money, leaving researchers searching for new ways to fund their work. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

OFFSHORE WIND

• Environmental advocates are worried that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul may be more willing to concede to the development of a new natural gas pipeline following the resumption of work on Empire Wind, even though her office says she struck no deal with the Trump administration. (City Limits)

STATE LEGISLATION

• A Maine legislative committee is still considering several clean energy bills, including ones that would reform or eliminate net-energy billing, one that would require the state to reach 100% renewable power by 2040, and one creating a Cabinet-level state energy department. (Maine Morning Star)

• Democratic New York lawmakers quash a bill that would have required a cost-benefit analysis of renewable energy laws, delayed the enforcement of some emissions-cutting mandates, and suspended or modified those rules if they impacted electric rates. (Times Union)

• The New Hampshire state Senate passes a bill laying the groundwork for small modular nuclear development in the state, raising the limit on low- to moderate-income community solar, and enabling multi-year power purchase agreements. (WMUR)

• The New Jersey state Senate advances legislation shifting increased electricity prices to data centers, creating an automatic approval process for residential solar, and incentivizing large-scale storage projects. (New Jersey Monitor)

HYDRO

• Canadian energy producer Hydro-Quebec continues to sell very little power into the New England grid since first turning off the supply in March, a move the company says has to do with market prices but which industry watchers say raises concerns about how much northeastern states can rely on the flow of energy from their northern neighbor. (Boston Globe)

NATURAL GAS

• The cost of repairing aging, leaky pipes is a major driver of high gas bills in New York, say consumer and environmental advocates pushing legislation to speed the transition from gas to electric heat. (Poughkeepsie Journal)

DATA CENTERS

• Communities in northeast Pennsylvania scramble to make sure their zoning rules are keeping up with proposals for new data centers driven by easy access to the natural gas resources in the area. (The Times-Tribune)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Advocates in New Jersey urge the state government not to delay adoption of rules requiring increasing sales of zero-emission trucks, noting the health consequences diesel fumes can have on the neighborhoods most burdened with truck traffic. (NJ Spotlight News)

NEW FROM CANARY

• A geothermal project in northern California is among a growing contingent of clean energy projects looking to hire local employees, and workforce and education officials are ramping up programs to train them, Aly Brown reports.

• As global EV adoption continues to soar, battery-powered cars are on track to make up a quarter of global vehicle sales this year, Dan McCarthy reports.