CLIMATE: Baltimore announces plans to reach complete carbon neutrality by 2045 and sets stepping-stone emissions reduction goals for 2025 and 2030. (CBS Baltimore)

ALSO:
• In his first State of the State speech, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee touts millions of dollars of climate change investments in his proposed budget — and teases new projects to be announced today. (Boston Globe)
• New York’s Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian legislative caucus wants to create a statewide program to ensure students study in unpolluted, climate-resilient schools and have green job opportunities. (RTO Insider, subscription)

TRANSPORTATION:
• While roughly $424 million of Maine’s roughly $3.2 billion transportation plan is slated for multimodal projects like public transit, less than 1% is earmarked for active transportation programs like bicycle lanes. (Portland Press Herald)
• Several Connecticut environmental justice communities can soon replace 43 diesel-fueled school buses with electric models via a nearly $10 million funding boost stemming from the state’s Volkswagen emissions-cheating settlement. (Energy News Network)

UTILITIES:
• The campaign to take over Maine’s incumbent investor-owned utilities and replace them with a consumer-owned authority may need to wait another year before taking its proposal to voters. (Portland Press Herald)
• Central Maine Power’s parent company has already spent $3 million on a new political committee fighting the pro-takeover campaign that wants voters to directly approve the buyout-related debt. (Bangor Daily News)

FOSSIL FUELS:
• Some Massachusetts legislators in favor of allowing cities and towns to block fossil fuel infrastructure in new buildings push the governor to follow through on related promises. (Boston Globe)
• Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office reports that shale gas well impact fees should shoot up in 2022 to their highest collection level in the past three years, reversing a record-low 2021 collection. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

EFFICIENCY: New Hampshire lawmakers continue trying to bypass the state utility regulator’s unpopular efficiency program defunding decision, with legislation aimed at restoring program funds to 2020 levels clearing a state Senate committee. (WMUR 9)

GRID:
• The ongoing legal battle between Central Maine Power and NextEra over the future of the Maine grid’s dominant renewable energy source may foreshadow the future of hydroelectric and nuclear power in the state. (E&E News)
• Citing the current wave of COVID-19 infections, PJM Interconnection postpones returning to in-person meetings for certain committees and employees. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• Connecticut’s utility regulator kicks off an electric storage incentive program that will provide up to $7,500 for residential, commercial or industrial projects. (news release)

SOLAR: Delaware Electric Cooperative intends to draw power from seven new solar projects to be built in Kent and Sussex counties over the next three years. (news release)

 

Bridget is a freelance reporter and newsletter writer based in the Washington, D.C., area. She compiles the Northeast Energy News digest. Bridget primarily writes about energy, conservation and the environment. Originally from Philadelphia, she graduated from Emerson College in 2015 with a degree in journalism and a minor in environmental studies. When she isn’t working on a story, she’s normally on a northern Maine lake or traveling abroad to practice her Spanish language skills.