New Jersey won’t give Ørsted back $300M without a fight

OFFSHORE WIND: New Jersey says it has no plans to give back $300 million to Ørsted without a fight after the developer canceled two offshore wind farms under development for which those funds were escrowed. (NJ Advance Media)

ALSO:

• New York skips over Staten Island’s Arthur Kill Terminal again for offshore wind funds, but developers say they’re confident needed upgrades will happen anyway. (SI Live)
• The U.S. House of Representatives blocks a Maine lawmaker’s attempt to use federal funds to stop offshore wind development in a Gulf of Maine lobstering area. (Portland Press Herald)
• A $24 million federal grant to reconstruct and extend a New Bedford, Massachusetts, wharf will help both mitigate the impact of sea level rise and support the offshore wind industry. (Standard-Times)

FOSSIL FUELS:

• The Conservation Law Foundation files a motion as part of a larger lawsuit to force Shell Oil to detail its climate mitigation and environmental compliance practices at a waterfront oil storage facility in Providence, Rhode Island. (Boston Globe)
• Living near fracking fields for decades has worsened the health outcomes of some older Pennsylvanians. (Grist)

SOLAR:

• A bevy of policy requirements and financial considerations makes it difficult for solar farm developers in Massachusetts to cultivate a pollinator garden under their panels and receive state certification. (WBUR)
• Over 200 residents attend a contentious public hearing on a solar developer’s second attempt to site a project in Johnston, Rhode Island, as experts debate the project’s potential impact on property values. (Boston Globe)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• Maryland advocates want the final version of the state’s updated climate plan to end the classification of biomass and trash incineration as renewable energy and firm up electrification targets. (Baltimore Sun)
• A new course offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology trains students to mediate clean energy project conflicts, assisting communities and developers with real cases. (Cipher News/​Associated Press)

BUILDINGS:

• A New York judge dismisses a lawsuit brought by two New York City condo associations trying to overturn a state building emissions law that will require them to upgrade their equipment. (The City)
• Massachusetts lawmakers tell utilities operating a state appliance efficiency program to better serve customers after widespread complaints of payment disruption and poor communication. (WCVB)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• New York City and Citi Bike agree to double the number of e-bikes within the city’s on-demand bike rental program and electrify some stations, but the program won’t expand to underserved neighborhoods. (Streetsblog NY)
• Revel ends its on-demand electric moped rental business to focus entirely on its rentable electric vehicles and public fast chargers. (Gothamist)

GRID: Proposed interconnection rules by New York’s grid operator give pause to stakeholders who say the new policies to shorten the decision-making time frame would be hard for developers to follow. (RTO Insider, subscription)

GEOTHERMAL: A New York state senator touts new regulations he championed allowing geothermal boreholes deeper than 500 feet, a policy that will benefit a mixed-use development in his district. (RTO Insider, subscription; Patch)

UTILITIES: Maine voters will decide tomorrow whether to end the operation of the state’s investor-owned electric utilities and instead form a statewide public power authority. (Washington Post)