New York regulators approve rate increase for controversial pipeline

PIPELINES: New York utility regulators approved a rate increase on nearly 2 million National Grid customers in order to fund what some call the North Brooklyn Pipeline, which local activists and politicians have condemned. (Vice)

ALSO:
• New York regulators also approved a separate natural gas rate hike sought by National Grid, but not at the full amount requested. (Newsday)
• PennEast Pipeline officials say that despite legal and regulatory challenges, the company anticipates the first phase of the project will wrap up in 2022. (Reuters)
• Predicting that a derided pipeline upgrade project will still receive federal authorization, West Milford, New Jersey, officials approve the plan but add financial stipulations they say puts them in a better position. (New Jersey Herald)
• New York officials criticize a pipeline upgrade proposal under federal review that they say isn’t in line with the state’s environmental goals. (Times Union)

CLIMATE: A Massachusetts climate researcher says the Northeast has seen more significant temperature increases than anywhere else in the continental U.S. (MassLive)

NATURAL GAS:
• New Jersey utility Public Service Enterprise Group plans to sell its 13 fossil-fuel plants but seems set to receive less than half of the assets’ book value; the company will also sell some solar projects. (NJ Spotlight)
• Residents of a small central Pennsylvania borough express concern over a proposed gas plant’s proximity to where they live, but the site is zoned for industrial use. (The Express)

TRANSPORTATION:
• Philadelphia’s transit agency wants to redesign bus routes to promote equity, increase ridership and achieve further emissions reductions. (Inside Climate News)
• In New Jersey, politicians and environmental activists call on the federal government to make ​“ambitious investments” in clean transportation options. (Morristown Daily Record)

UTILITIES: Central Maine Power’s parent company, Avangrid, faces criticism over its reliability and service record in Maine during a hearing in New Mexico over a proposed merger with a local utility. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

WIND: Rhode Island’s house speaker appoints over a dozen members to a special commission assigned with studying and potentially reconfiguring a state agency with authority over offshore wind development. (Providence Journal)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: An East Hartford, Connecticut, planning commission permits Tesla to open a vehicle servicing center—but the electric automaker cannot sell vehicles or parts. (CleanTechnica)

GRID:
• Storms across the Northeast lead to power outages in Massachusetts, Maryland, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. (Boston Globe, WDVM, WBRE/WYOU)
• Eversource plans to spend roughly $1.5 million on vegetation management in East Haddam, Connecticut, to improve power reliability. (New Haven Register)
• In Maine, Versant Power installs equipment to track outages and connects multiple transmission lines to try to alleviate persistent reliability problems with no clear cause in the Bangor area. (Bangor Daily News)