MA town tears down last wind turbine after legal saga

WIND: A Massachusetts town tears down its last wind turbine following years of lawsuits from residents who claimed the turbines were a nuisance and that their health suffered from their operation. (Cape Cod Times)

ALSO:
• Rhode Island regulators allow two coastal towns to intervene in Mayflower Wind’s approval process regarding the impact of construction on the local economy. (ecoRI)
• A Rhode Island public comment session for the proposed Revolution Wind farm sees no opposition to the operation. (Providence Business News)
• At an event with union leaders, Mayflower Wind promises to train and hire union workers to build and run operations at their planned Cape Cod-area wind farm. (Cape Cod Times)

AFFORDABILITY:
• In New York’s Erie County, some county legislators want to end home heating fuel taxes, but the county would lose millions in tax revenue and create a major funding gap for next year’s budget. (Buffalo News)
• New Hampshire’s utility commission considers whether changing energy procurement regulations for investor-owned utilities to more closely reflect electric co-op practices could help reduce costs and customer bills. (New Hampshire Bulletin)
• Maine will receive $8 million this year from a federal funding package to help low-income households pay their heating bills. (Leader/​Sentry)

SOLAR: New York agricultural officials highlight a Hudson Valley farm’s use of federal rural energy funds to install a rooftop solar array at its market. (news release)

EFFICIENCY: Maryland announces it has surpassed its goal of reducing state facility energy use and touts plans to further increase its energy efficiency. (news release)

GRID: A Maryland utility plans to build a new high-voltage transmission substation to service a data center campus under development. (Daily Energy Insider)

INCINERATION: New Hampshire’s new solid waste management plan details how the state should meet its mandate to decrease the amount of waste sent to incinerators and landfills by 45% by 2050.

COMMENTARY: Maryland regulators shouldn’t upgrade state gas utilities’ distribution systems to spare customers from the associated bill hikes when the future of that infrastructure is in limbo, a consumer advocacy group writes. (Maryland Matters)