New York power line seeks eminent domain on residential properties

GRID: The developers of the Champlain Hudson Power Express transmission line are involved in at least a dozen legal cases over their plan to apply eminent domain on properties in the project’s path. (Times Union)

ALSO: Shutting down a Springdale, Pennsylvania, coal power plant will require up to $17 million in transmission line upgrades to carry in power from elsewhere. (Trib Live)

POLICY:

• The Vermont State Youth Council issues its first slate of climate recommendations for state policymakers, which include mandatory climate education, protecting half the state’s forests or biodiverse working lands and reducing carbon emissions by 90% by 2040. (Burlington Free Press)
• New York’s latest climate impact assessment suggests climate mitigation strategies including energy infrastructure resilience improvements and power demand-side management programs. (S&P Global)
• Maine lawmakers consider legislation to ban food scraps out of landfills and incineration facilities to reduce emissions. (Sun Journal)

UTILITIES: New York lawmakers consider a bill to let the Long Island Power Authority function as a fully public utility and directly distribute power, cutting out a separate utility contracted to perform that service. (WSHU)

FOSSIL FUELS:

• New York legislators discuss amending the state’s fracking ban to include gas extraction using carbon dioxide, a method claimed by a Texas energy company to be environmentally friendly. (Gothamist)
• Millions of gallons of accumulated oil leaks from an ExxonMobil’s refinery in New York City are still being cleaned up decades later, and one woman has taken on the task of documenting the impact on local wildlife. (Atlas Obscura)
• Philadelphia-area environmentalists say that, despite a federal pause on liquefied natural gas export project permits, they will continue keeping a watchful eye on a planned LNG terminal in Chester. (Daily Times)
• TRANSIT: New York’s governor plans to use a little-known public fund to reduce planned Manhattan traffic congestion tolls for Queens and Bronx residents, a plan facing criticism because that fund is supposed to support public transit initiatives. (Gothamist)

CLIMATE: Researchers create a new carbon accounting system that maps where in New York the most impactful actions could be taken for the greatest carbon reduction. (WXXI)

BUILDINGS: Four Rhode Island housing projects intended to be both net-zero and affordable will receive state funds to support their development. (WUN)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: In Portsmouth, Rhode Island, a man and his teenage son convert a 1977 Volkswagen Bus into an electric vehicle for the child’s first car. (WPRI)