Trump goes 0 for 5

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Northeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

OFFSHORE WIND

• All five of the offshore wind projects the Trump administration ordered to stop work are back underway following a ruling that Sunrise Wind off the New York coast can resume construction. (Canary Media)

TRANSIT

• A year after congestion pricing went into effect in parts of Manhattan, air quality has improved, traffic fatalities are down, and public transit ridership is up, but the Trump administration continues its efforts to stop the program. (Inside Climate News)

NATURAL GAS

• New York state lawmakers introduce a bill that would require utilities to provide annual plans for which pipes they intend to replace, allowing regulators to determine whether it might be better to retire the pipes and switch to electric alternatives. (New York Focus)

AFFORDABILITY

• A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Connecticut releases his plan to lower high energy costs in the state by withdrawing from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, stopping spending on EV chargers, and ending subsidies for heat pump installations. (CT Mirror)
• New England’s high electricity prices are the result of costly infrastructure upgrades and reliance on natural gas and oil for power generation, not, as Trump claims, the region’s pursuit of renewable energy development. (CNN)

CLIMATE

• Rhode Island state lawmakers look for ways to meet the state’s emissions targets while also addressing rising energy costs. (ecoRI)

LITIGATION

• A group of blue-state attorneys general expands their lawsuit against the Trump administration to include a complaint that the Interior Department is skipping environmental reviews in the name of helping solve a non-existent energy emergency. (E&E News)

GRID

• New Hampshire plans to hire a consultant to research the feasibility of the state withdrawing from the regional power grid. (New Hampshire Bulletin)
• Though load on the New England grid is forecast to double by 2050, political and market forces could make it difficult to develop new generation facilities in the region. (RTO Insider)
• New York’s grid had to depend on oil-fired power plants during Winter Storm Fern as frigid temperatures drove high demand for natural gas, causing prices to spike. (RTO Insider)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center announces the first 39 participants in its vehicle-to-grid pilot program, which will test the use of school bus and EV batteries as an energy resource. (news release)

HYDRO

• A consortium of 21 municipal electric utilities in Massachusetts extends a contract with two area hydropower producers for 14 years at a price it says is roughly half what new clean energy would cost. (MassLive.com)

BIOFUELS

• A Brooklyn high school has converted its heating system to one that burns vegetable oil. (News 12)

NEW FROM CANARY

• California has abundant solar power. Here’s how factories can use it. — Maria Gallucci
• Colorado co-ops to Trump: Let us close our aging coal plant — Jeff St. John
• Sunrise Wind can proceed, ending Trump’s offshore wind ban — for now — Dan McCarthy
• How Iowa has turned against wind — Dan Gearino, Anika Jane Beamer