Judge: Trump can’t retaliate for congestion pricing defiance

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

TRANSPORTATION

• A federal judge bars the U.S. government from following through on its threats to withhold highway funding from New York in retaliation for the state’s choice to continue Manhattan’s congestion pricing program despite federal orders to shut it down. (Gothamist)

• Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology create a sodium-air fuel cell that can carry more than three times as much energy per unit of weight as conventional lithium-ion batteries, a development that could help electrify airplanes and ships. (news release)

BATTERIES

• EV battery recycling company Li-Cycle files for bankruptcy, putting up for sale an operation that includes a massive unfinished recycling center in western New York and five satellite battery shredding facilities. (Canary Media)

• A Staten Island lawmaker pushes to require a 1,000-foot buffer zone around proposed battery storage systems and the collection of community input before projects can move forward. (SILive)

FEDERAL ACTION

• Even as President Trump touts the importance of coal, cuts to federal mine safety programs in Pennsylvania and Washington could compromise research into black lung and other safety initiatives, advocates say. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

NUCLEAR

• New Jersey attempts to position itself as a leader in nuclear generation, as it updates its clean energy plan to encourage new nuclear and gathers feedback from residents and experts about the role the technology should play in the state’s future. (Inside Climate News)

SOLAR

• A new Maryland law that gives the state authority to approve solar developments over the objections of local residents and governments could wreak havoc on the state’s farmlands, opponents say. (WBOC)

NATURAL GAS

• Maryland advocates say regulators should impose penalties on utility Washington Gas Light Co. following a March ruling that the company provided customers with deceptive information claiming natural gas is more environmentally friendly than electricity. (Inside Climate News)

• A New York county passes a resolution urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to deny permits for the expansion of a natural gas pipeline through the state. (Rockland County Business Journal)

OFFSHORE WIND

• The second-largest crane ship in the world, standing 473 feet high, arrives in Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay en route to the site of the Empire Wind project, where it will be used to install the monopile foundations for the wind farm’s 54 turbines. (Providence Journal)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Startup Talusag partners with farming cooperative Landus to produce green ammonia on a modular scale, hoping to create a model that could cut carbon and costs from fertilizer production nationwide, Jeff St. John reports.