Stories
A federal appeals court has thwarted part of a plan to improve the reliability of New England’s electric grid during the winter that would pay electricity generators extra for keeping fuel on-site. As climate change causes more unreliable weather and conflict in Ukraine pinches energy markets, ISO-New England, the organization in charge of keeping the region’s lights…
Read More
Valerie Woodhouse is a co-owner of Honeyfield Farm in Norwich, Vt. She was in the second week of launching the organic vegetable farm when the pandemic began. It was a tough time. “That I can safely say was, you know, my lowest point in my own mental health care,” she said. “Just because, you know,…
Read More
A rare plant thought to be extinct in Vermont has been discovered in the state. Scientists with the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife have confirmed the existence of a population of small whorled pogonia on Winooski Valley Park District conservation land, the department announced Wednesday. The plant is a globally rare orchid, and is…
Read More
As spring winds down, so concludes the migration of two species of fish that travel from the ocean to spawn in freshwater. While once abundant in rivers and streams, alewives and blueback herring have seen their migration routes fractured by dams over centuries of development. Conservationists are working to remove some of these barriers to…
Read More
A controversial rule that makes it harder for renewable energy projects to participate in one of New England’s lucrative electricity markets will remain in place for another two years. Late Friday night, federal energy regulators approved a plan from the regional grid operator, ISO New England, to keep the so-called minimum offer price rule — or…
Read More
Psychiatrists and pediatricians from New England say that children they see in their practice show increased anxiety around climate change. At a webinar Thursday, hosted by the National Alliance of Mental Illness of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Health Care Workers for Climate Action, Elizabeth Pinsky, a child, and adolescent psychiatrist and pediatrician at…
Read More
There’s a rule in the New England energy system that nobody likes. And not just because it uses a lot of complex math. This rule ends up making it harder for renewable energy projects to participate in an important regional electricity market. The New England states want it gone. U.S. Senators Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie…
Read More
Last year, President Joe Biden announced plans to start leasing areas of the Gulf of Maine to offshore wind energy developers by 2024. On Thursday, May 18, the federal Bureau Of Ocean Energy Management convened a task force of officials from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and tribal governments to consider the next phase in the…
Read More
Maine is home to the largest moose population in the lower 48 states. But in one of the moosiest corners of the state, nearly 90% of the calves tracked by biologists last winter didn’t survive their first year. And the culprit? A tiny critter that is thriving in parts of Maine as the climate warms.…
Read More
New England’s energy demand dropped to its lowest point ever earlier this month thanks to good weather and the continued adoption of rooftop solar on homes and businesses. Officials at regional grid operator ISO New England said energy demand fell to its lowest point ever – 7,580 megawatts – on Sunday, May 1st. It’s the…
Read More