New Jersey extends controversial nuclear subsidies

NUCLEAR: Three New Jersey nuclear facilities are granted $300 million in annual state subsidies for another three years, to the disappointment of ratepayer advocates and other critics of the facilities’ owners. (WHYY)

TRANSPORTATION:
• New York lawmakers pass a bill mandating only electric models of new passenger or heavy-duty vehicles are sold in the state by 2035 and 2045 respectively, sending it to the governor’s desk. (Times Union)
• Republican legislators are against plans to more than double New York’s gas tax to fund green energy projects and otherwise benefit environmental justice communities and low-income families, with one legislator calling the bill ​“myopic.” (NNY360)

OFFSHORE WIND: Rhode Island regulators are giving the power companies behind the proposed South Fork Wind Farm another month to make a deal with the local fishing industry before the regulators make a key decision for the project. (Providence Journal)

CLIMATE CHANGE: A coastal Maryland county is suing more than two dozen fossil fuel companies to recover damages to mitigate what officials called ​“decades of deception” over the effects of climate change. (Maryland Matters)

NATURAL GAS: The owners of a controversial Massachusetts compressor station say it will soon be back online following another unplanned gas release in early April — but that more gas may be vented when it reopens. (Patriot Ledger)

JOBS: Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania need to protect the 10,000 mechanics who may lose their jobs when public buses and trains are electrified, according to a union president. (Utility Dive)

EMISSIONS: Pennsylvania Republicans launch their second attempt in a week to block Gov. Tom Wolf from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, looking to pass a bill mandating legislative approval before the state joins any similar program. (WHYY)

SOLAR:
• A lease-option agreement is now in place for New York’s first build-ready solar project: a 20 MW array that will be sited on former iron ore mining land. (renews.biz)
• A solar developer has finished installing a 1,148-kW solar canopy in Washington, D.C., which it says is the largest-such installation in the district to date. (news release)

COMMENTARIES:
• A Maine lawmaker argues the state’s economy and environment are now ​“inextricably tied” and, as the climate crisis threatens both, legislators should continue to protect green jobs and power. (Portland Press-Herald)
• A current and a former New Hampshire legislator want the state to stop paying foreign or out-of-state companies for power and instead look at ways to spend the same money on in-state projects. (Concord Monitor)