CLIMATE: Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker says he will sign a sweeping climate bill passed by the legislature earlier this month. (WBUR)

ALSO:
• Episcopal bishops in Massachusetts issue a Declaration of Climate Emergency as they say “churches have not yet responded with adequate seriousness” to the crisis. (Episcopal News Service)
• A new poll finds that 73% of Pennsylvanians worry that their children and grandchildren will be negatively impacted by climate change, with 65% saying they’d pay more on their utility bills for clean energy. (Beaver County Times)

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EFFICIENCY: A Vermont city delays requiring weatherization of rental properties citing concerns that it would create a bottleneck for an agency helping property owners to comply. (Energy News Network)

EQUITY: A new report finds that Black and Latino Pennsylvanians are more likely to deal with unaffordable energy bills and subsequently fall behind on payment than are white households. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

OFFSHORE WIND:
• New Jersey regulators approve $13 million to begin construction of an offshore wind hub while also approving a unit of the state’s largest utility buying a 25% stake in the first project planned along its coast. (NJ Spotlight)
• The Speaker of the Massachusetts House promises to make the state a regional hub for the offshore wind industry while also pledging money to support job training and a bond issue to support infrastructure. (CommonWealth Magazine)

OIL & GAS:
• The state Supreme Court in Pennsylvania rules the state’s attorney general cannot use consumer protection law on behalf of landowners who claim they got a raw deal from gas drillers when they signed leases for the property. (Pennlive)
• Pennsylvania Democratic state senators win the right to intervene in a federal lawsuit their Republican colleagues filed to challenge a ban on fracking imposed by the regional Delaware River Basin Commission. (Courier Times)
• A New Jersey town council rejects a resolution opposing a proposed gas compressor station, citing factual flaws in its text. (NorthJersey.com)

SOLAR:
• Community solar legislation is introduced in Pennsylvania as supporters say 200 shovel-ready projects are ready to break ground if the law is enacted. (Solar Power World)
• In Warren, Massachusetts, construction has begun on a 10 MW community solar project, which will include an unspecified amount of energy storage per the state’s solar program. (pv magazine)

TRANSPORTATION: The Transportation Climate Initiative has been endorsed by three New England governors, but its fate in the legislatures of Connecticut and Rhode Island is uncertain. (Eagle-Tribune)

COMMENTARY:
• A Democratic Maine state representative says electricity from Quebec to Massachusetts routed through a Maine transmission line is “greenwashed power” that does nothing to reduce carbon emissions. (CentralMaine.com)
• An environmental organization says converting a power plant along New York’s Hudson river to natural gas only entrenches fracked gas at the same time the state bans the practice. (Times Herald-Record)

Bill is a freelance journalist based outside Albany, New York. As a former New England correspondent for RTO Insider, he has written about energy for newspapers, magazines and other publications for more than 20 years. He has an extensive career in trade publications and newspapers, mostly focused on the utility sector, covering such issues as restructuring, renewable energy and consumer affairs. Bill covers Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire and also compiles the Northeast Energy News daily email digest.