Report backing Empire Wind stoppage remains under wraps

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OFFSHORE WIND

• Almost nobody — not Equinor executives, not U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, and not even key Interior Department staffers — has seen the report that apparently underpins the Trump administration’s decision last month to order the developers of the Empire Wind project to stop work. (Canary Media)

• An anti-wind group on Cape Cod asks the U.S. EPA to investigate whether transmission cables and substations supporting offshore wind projects off Massachusetts pose a danger to the area’s drinking water. (Cape Cod Times)

NATURAL GAS

• As President Trump pushes for the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Pennsylvania into New York, northeastern governors weigh the impact the project could have on their states’ energy prices and climate goals. (Boston Globe)

NUCLEAR

• Members of the public and a watchdog nonprofit question Nuclear Regulatory Commission engineers about whether New Hampshire’s Seabrook Station power plant will be made less safe by the Trump administration’s plans to cut regulatory staffing and loosen regulations on nuclear power. (InDepthNH)

• Before Massachusetts can embrace small modular nuclear reactors, as proposed in Gov. Maura Healey’s recent energy affordability bill, it will need to repeal a 1982 law that requires voter approval of any new nuclear project. (State House News Service)

CLIMATE

• A judge dismisses a Pennsylvania county’s lawsuit against oil and gas companies, seeking to hold them financially responsible for climate change impacts, saying the claims cannot be addressed by state laws. (E&E News)

• Maine lawmakers postpone action on a ​“climate superfund” bill that would require fossil fuel companies to pay damages related to climate change as similar bills in New York and Vermont come under attack from the federal government. (Maine Morning Star)

CLEAN ENERGY

• The New York Public Service Commission launches a review of the state’s renewable energy development efforts as federal hostility to clean energy and economic factors make it increasingly unlikely that the state will reach its goal of 70% renewable power by 2030. (E&E News)

STORAGE

• Lockheed Martin lays off 64 employees from a Massachusetts lab that was focused on developing ​“cutting-edge” large-scale batteries in conjunction with the U.S. Army. (Boston Globe)

AFFORDABILITY

• As New Jersey prepares for electric bills to jump 20% in June, Republicans and Democrats face off over whether the problem is too much investment in clean energy or mismanagement by regional grid operator PJM. (Inside Climate News)

• As Rhode Island faces soaring electricity bills, the state legislature forms a special commission to study the cost-effectiveness of the state’s clean energy incentive programs. (Providence Business News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• More than 75% of New York City’s municipal fleet — around 21,500 vehicles — is now electric or hybrid, or runs on renewable biofuels, as the city works toward compliance with a local law requiring all municipal vehicles to be electric by 2038. (Gothamist)

COAL

• A Pennsylvania company buys Maryland’s largest active underground coal mine after its previous owners filed for bankruptcy, but mine safety advocates are concerned about the operation’s history of violations. (Capital News Service)

EFFICIENCY

• New York state regulators authorize utilities and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to invest $5 billion in weatherization, energy efficiency, heat pump adoption, and workforce development over the next five years. (S&P Global)

TRANSMISSION

• Skeptical landowners and locals gather to learn about a proposed 105-mile transmission line intended to run through southeastern Pennsylvania. (Herald-Standard)

NEW FROM CANARY

• In Decatur, Illinois, clean energy installation training programs and a rise in EV manufacturing are creating jobs and changing lives after years of factory closures, Kari Lydersen reports.

• House Republicans’ budget plans would gut the Inflation Reduction Act while derailing nuclear and geothermal power development, which have explicit Trump administration support, Dan McCarthy reports.