Report links coke plant to health risks

INDUSTRY: A new report links coal-powered steel plants, including one outside Pittsburgh, to increased asthma symptoms, cancer rates, and other health effects. (Inside Climate News)

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NUCLEAR:

• The shuttered Pilgrim nuclear plant in Massachusetts remains a local flashpoint as a decommissioning company considers discharging its radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay. (WBUR)
• Shuttered nuclear reactors in Michigan, Iowa and Pennsylvania are the country’s most obvious candidates for restarting, a nuclear expert says, adding that others in the U.S. would be long shots. (Utility Dive)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Maine isn’t keeping pace with its electric vehicle goals, which could force it to make up the difference by reducing emissions in other sectors in order to hit legally mandated state climate targets. (Portland Press Herald)
• An electric plane startup builds out its Vermont factory as it answers a big question: “how do you become an aerospace manufacturing company?” (Seven Days)
• New York City gets four electric school buses outfitted with rooftop solar panels that are used as a grid resource at a solar- and battery-equipped bus depot. (Axios)

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GRID: Power plant owners tell federal regulators they support PJM Interconnection’s plans to delay its capacity auctions while it creates new capacity market rules but fear the pause will hurt investor confidence. (Utility Dive)

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EFFICIENCY:

• Harvard University researchers retrofitted a 1940s home with a ground-source heat pump, solar panels and other efficient technologies to show how older homes can achieve carbon neutrality. (Utility Dive)
• A Maine nonprofit looks to build efficient affordable housing, deploy community solar, and install electric vehicle chargers in the town of Norway. (MaineBiz)
• A startup that received backing from a Rochester, New York-area incubator created microchips that provide more energy efficient performance, and aims to scale up its business. (Rochester Beacon)
• Vermont Sen. Peter Welch and other state officials celebrate the weatherization of a home made possible by a local program backed by the Inflation Reduction Act. (news release)

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SOLAR: Sunrun launches a virtual power plant program with a downstate New York utility that ties together more than 300 solar-plus-storage installations. (PV Magazine)

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POLITICS:

• Vice President Kamala Harris walks a fine line in Pennsylvania, where a majority of voters support fracking. (NBC News)
• Maine looks to crack down on illegal “straw donations” to political campaigns, like those made by groups and competitors opposing two transmission projects in the state. (Bangor Daily News)

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OFFSHORE WIND: GE Vernova says its offshore wind business just finished its strongest quarter in years, but the failure of a Vineyard Wind turbine blade and the company’s need to replace other components posed huge challenges. (RTO Insider, subscription; E&E News, subscription)

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EMISSIONS: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul defends her pause of New York City’s congestion pricing plan even as funding for the city’s public transit system falls into further danger. (Times Union)

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