Maryland wind project already had economic problems

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.

WIND

• The planned US Wind Maryland Offshore Wind Project was already economically tenuous before the Trump administration filed a request to withdraw federal permits for the project. (Canary Media)

• US Wind, Maryland’s Democratic governor, and other stakeholders push back against the attempt to undo federal permits for the Maryland project. (Inside Climate News)

• The Interior Department cites a failure to reach an agreement on mitigating electromagnetic impacts in its first explanation for why it halted work on Revolution Wind. (E&E News)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Pennsylvania environmental regulators signal they will approve permits for a large new natural gas power plant even though the facility is projected to produce more emissions than the coal-fired plant that used to operate on the site. (TribLive)

CLIMATE

• California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York lead state-level efforts to fight against Trump administration attacks on the endangerment finding, a determination that greenhouse gases are a hazard to public health, which underpins much federal climate regulation. (CT Mirror)

• At the same time, Rhode Island’s Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse launches a probe into what groups and companies might have influenced the federal government’s plans to repeal the endangerment finding. (E&E News)

• The U.S. Justice Department asks a judge for a summary judgment declaring a Vermont law that would require fossil fuel companies to pay for climate impacts ​“unconstitutional and unenforceable.” (VTDigger)

SOLAR

• Maine regulators approve four solar developments totalling 257 megawatts and a four-megawatt hydro facility as part of an effort to build renewable energy on PFAS-contaminated land. (News Center Maine)

• Cutting down trees to build solar developments reduces net greenhouse gas emissions, but can lower property values for neighboring homes, a new study from the University of Massachusetts Amherst finds. (ecoRI)

• Four new community solar projects totalling 27 megawatts in capacity come online in New York with the support of state incentive programs. (news release)

NUCLEAR

• County and town leaders in upstate New York say the idea of restarting the shuttered Indian Point nuclear power plant would be ​“anathema” to area residents, after the company dismantling the facility floated the idea of bringing the facility back online. (E&E News)

HYDRO

• Hydropower production in New England dropped by roughly half from June to August, as drought conditions continue in the region. (Maine Public)

STORAGE

• The New York City Council plans a hearing to discuss public concerns about the proliferation of battery storage developments, as dozens of projects are in the works throughout the city. (Gothamist)

• Concord, Massachusetts, plans to install a bidirectional EV charger that will allow the town to use the power stored in the batteries of its electric school buses during times of peak demand. (Concord Bridge)

TRANSIT

• Rhode Island awards the state’s public transit authority $510,000 for emissions reduction programs including on-demand services, a vanpool program, and a campaign to promote public transit to visitors. (Rhode Island Current)

TRANSMISSION

• Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signals his willingness to postpone a vote on a controversial transmission line, allowing the utility behind the plan to come up with a more publicly palatable alternative. (CT Mirror)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• California just passed a suite of bills to tackle rising energy costs — Jeff St. John

• Trump admin tries to sink Maryland’s first offshore wind project — Clare Fieseler

• Majority of Americans want a big power grid and more cheap, clean energy — Kathiann M. Kowalski

• The solar industry threw a party in Vegas and it actually wasn’t sad — Julian Spector

• As data centers go up, North Carolina weighs how to handle energy demand — Elizabeth Ouzts