“Zombie” power plant plan rises again in Massachusetts

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BIOMASS

• Recent court rulings revive a plan many thought dead to build a controversial wood-burning power plant in a Massachusetts city known for its high asthma rates. (Canary Media)

OFFSHORE WIND

• Maryland regulators issue the final approval needed for US Wind to begin construction on a 114-turbine offshore wind farm, though local opposition remains strong and the possibility the Trump administration could intervene still looms. (Maritime Executive)

• No new offshore wind projects are likely to proceed in the U.S. under current economic and political conditions, says an investment analyst: ​“We don’t see anything else going ahead.” (Heatmap)

FOSSIL FUELS

• President Trump’s orders keeping fossil fuel-fired power plants in Michigan and Pennsylvania open represent an unusual use of federal powers and could cost consumers millions of dollars. (New York Times)

LEGISLATION

• 13 Republican House members from Pennsylvania, New York, and other states urge the Senate to preserve clean energy tax credit provisions in the president’s budget, even though all 13 voted for the bill — or would have had they not slept late that day. (Politico)

• A proposal to boost electricity generation and regulate clean energy garners bipartisan support in the Pennsylvania legislature, but action on the measure is unlikely before courts decide the future of the state’s contested participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. (Spotlight PA)

CLIMATE

• A coalition of environmental groups asks Pennsylvania regulators to reject Philadelphia’s gas utility’s rate hike request and require the company to do more to address the climate crisis; the utility responds with requests for the organizations’ internal documents, a move the climate groups say violates their First Amendment rights. (WHYY)

• Since delaying action on New York’s planned cap-and-invest system in January to engage in more ​“robust stakeholder engagement,” Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration has done little to reach out to climate and environmental justice advocates. (New York Focus)

• Cuts to federally funded scientific research could imperil Maine’s ability to understand — and thus to combat — the impacts of climate change in the state. (Portland Press Herald)

BUILDINGS

• A slate of private investors and high profile customers will allow a Massachusetts company that produces an innovative, low-carbon cement to keep growing despite losing $87 million in federal funding. (Boston Globe)

GRID

• Maryland could face regular rolling blackouts if more is not done to boost energy production in the state, a utility executive says. (Baltimore Sun)

GEOTHERMAL

• Maine will form a state commission to explore the potential of using geothermal networks to heat and cool groups of buildings. (Maine Public)

AFFORDABILITY

• New Hampshire’s Community Power Coalition, which serves nearly 200,000 customers in dozens of cities and towns, has higher rates than the utilities for the first time since the organization began, following $8.4 million in losses last year. (NHPR)

• States’ efforts to rein in energy costs following a winter of high utility bills could have unintended long-term costs and consequences for customers, say New England regulators. (RTO Insider)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The oil spill in Baltimore Harbor reaches 5,000 gallons — more than double original estimates — but the Coast Guard reports most of the oil has been recovered. (Baltimore Sun)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• Chicago-area startup Sun Metalon aims to reduce steel industry emissions with an oven-sized box that cleans and melts down waste metal into recyclable pucks, Kari Lydersen reports.

• A North Carolina food bank is on track to save $143,000 annually thanks to its rooftop solar array, but the federal incentives that made it possible will be gutted under Republicans’ proposed budget bill, Elizabeth Ouzts reports.

• A handful of Senate Republicans indicate they’ll look to extend the 60-day phaseout of clean energy tax credits proposed in the House’s ​“Big, Beautiful Bill,” Kathryn Krawczyk reports.