New York community leaders want offshore wind job promises kept

WIND: Community activists in New York are supportive of offshore wind facilities but want to hold developers accountable for promises to create local jobs. (Inside Climate News)

ALSO:

• Anti-wind groups are planning a protest in Ocean City, New Jersey, this weekend, as the area’s tourist season ramps up. (Press of Atlantic City)
• A Massachusetts community college is awarded a series of grants to develop training programs for offshore wind workers. (South Coast Today)
• A testing facility in Massachusetts has been upgraded to accommodate longer blades used in larger, modern turbines. (news release)

INDUSTRY: A Massachusetts startup is working to scale up a process that uses electricity to make steel and extract other metals from ore, aiming to reduce energy use and pollution from current processes. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

GRID: At a panel discussion this month, an executive from NYISO said the grid operator needs ​“a more proactive posture” to integrating renewable energy. (Utility Dive)

POLLUTION: A Government Accountability Office report finds natural gas peaker plants, which are more likely to be located near poor and minority communities, emit more pollution than conventional power plants. (E&E News, subscription)

OIL & GAS: The Department of Energy is closing a 1-million-barrel Northeast gasoline reserve established in 2014 in response to Superstorm Sandy. (Reuters)

BIOFUELS:

• A Maine company is the first in the state to offer ​“renewable propane” for home heating, which is made from nonpetroleum feedstocks but costs significantly more. (Portland Press-Herald)
• National Grid is seeking a rate increase to support efforts to use biogas from food and sewage waste in the natural gas system. (The City)

CLIMATE: Maine Gov. Janet Mills signs an executive order creating a new commission to help the state prepare for the impacts of climate change. (Portland Press-Herald)

SOLAR: A Pennsylvania company has been awarded a $1 million USDA grant to help fund a 1.4 MW solar array to help power its fleet of electric delivery vehicles. (Central Penn Business Journal)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• An annual event held by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey this week aims to educate government leaders and fleet operators about electric vehicles. (ROI-NJ)
• The Connecticut Department of Transportation is conducting a survey on electric vehicle and charger use. (Fox 61)