New Yorkers help map disadvantaged communities for climate funding

CLIMATE: New York officials ask state residents to help determine whether their neighborhoods should be considered disadvantaged communities under the state’s climate law. (The City)

ALSO:
• States in the Chesapeake Bay area will receive $238 million from the U.S. EPA for bay improvements, including climate mitigation and environmental justice projects. (Salisbury Daily Times)
• Maryland reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 32% from 2006 to 2020, bounding past its goal of a 25% cut by that year. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• Some upstate New York farmers work to commercially grow chickpeas, a climate-friendly crop. (Civil Eats)
• A Massachusetts university will soon list the climate footprint of menu items in its cafeterias to help students easily make eco-friendly meal choices. (MassLive)

SOLAR:
• New York’s power siting board will host a public meeting this week as it determines whether a 200 MW solar farm can be built in a Finger Lakes-area town. (Auburn Citizen)
• Some Chesapeake Bay communities host grazing sheep for solar array site vegetation management, but there may not be enough sheep for every array out there. (Bay Journal)
• A developer wraps up construction of a 2.5 MW community solar farm at a church in Montgomery County, Maryland. (news release)

CLEAN ENERGY: Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker seems to be using earmarks in a massive economic development bill to push through a $750 million clean energy fund he first proposed months ago. (Boston Globe)

AFFORDABILITY: Home heating oil prices in southern Maine skyrocket to almost $6.00 per gallon, which some distributors fear will be too expensive for residents to afford. (Lewiston Sun Journal)

TRANSPORTATION: Amtrak service was delayed for hours yesterday between Philadelphia and New York when a car crashed into the power line servicing the trains; NJ Transit also saw interrupted service. (amNY)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• In Massachusetts, the governor’s office wants to financially incentivize residents to purchase electric bicycles. (StreetsBlog Mass)
• In Brooklyn, New York, a supermarket selling electric scooters and bicycles is destroyed in a blaze that fire officials say was the result of an exploding lithium-ion battery. (NY Daily News)

GAS: A long-running Boston-area café permanently closes after an oil delivery company spilled dozens of gallons of heating oil into their basement, destroying thousands of dollars worth of equipment. (WCVB)