New Jersey considers fees for non-existent nuclear

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

NUCLEAR

• Environmental activists, business groups, and consumer advocates unite against a proposal that would add $22 to $55 a month to New Jersey residents’ utility bills to pay for the construction of a new nuclear plant for years before it would begin operation. (New Jersey Monitor)

GEOTHERMAL

• In Massachusetts, the nation’s first utility-owned, neighborhood-scale geothermal network receives a $8.6 million grant to help it double in size. (Inside Climate News)

CLIMATE

• New York finalizes regulations requiring the state’s largest polluters to report their greenhouse gas emissions, but also appeals a legal ruling that found the state is not doing enough to meet its climate goals. (New York Focus)

LITIGATION

• Massachusetts consumers sue power supply company CleanChoice Energy, claiming they were overcharged for electricity and misled into believing their energy came from renewable sources. (E&E News)

DATA CENTERS

• A proposal to build a 150-megawatt data center in a Baltimore suburb meets resistance from residents and state officials who worry the project could make electricity more expensive and less reliable, while burdening an already disadvantaged community. (Baltimore Sun)

AFFORDABILITY

• Pennsylvania utility regulators deny Columbia Gas the rate increase it proposed, slashing a requested fee hike by more than half. (WHTM)

• A new report claims Maryland utility BGE’s plans for replacing aging natural gas pipes could drive up consumers’ costs with ​“wasteful spending.” (WBAL)

FEDERAL ACTION

• The U.S. House advances a bill that would block laws like New York’s all-electric building mandate that ban specific heating sources like natural gas in new construction. (Spectrum News)

• U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says New England and California are to blame for their own high electricity rates because of policies that drove fossil fuel power plants to close, and also says the states’ use of imported oil makes them national security risks. (E&E News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Massachusetts startup SparkCharge partners with Zipcar to launch a mobile, off-grid fast-charging hub that allows the car-sharing company to quickly charge up its fleet EVs and return them to service. (news release)

SOLAR

• Developers propose building a floating solar array in a water-filled New Jersey quarry. (Bernardsville News)

WOOD

• Several Vermont libraries are lending moisture monitors that let residents measure the water content of their firewood to help them choose dryer pieces that burn more efficiently and with lower emissions. (Valley News)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Georgia hashes out plan to let data centers build their own clean energy — Jeff St. John

• Chart: Hungary is leading the world in solar adoption — Dan McCarthy

• The grid storage industry set a wild goal for 2025 — and then crushed it — Julian Spector

• In a geothermal milestone, Zanskar claims major discovery in Nevada — Alexander C. Kaufman