A former Washington State Department of Transportation economist is suing the state over allegations he was forced out of his job because his superiors did not like his forecasts showing that gasoline prices would jump under the state’s cap-and-invest program. John Stang reported on that this past week, as well as on a recently passed legislation that would direct the Washington Department of Ecology to manage a program to help school districts convert their diesel fleets.

Across the country we go to New Jersey, where legislators are considering a bill that would levy a $250/year fee on EV registration; that would be the highest in the U.S., Hugh Morley reported. They are also considering bills that would require utilities to modernize their infrastructure and codify Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order for 100% clean energy by 2035.

In New York, John Cropley covered the Thermal Energy Networks Summit in Albany, where stakeholders discussed networked heating systems and how the PSC is trying to spur their development. John also wrote about a new NREL report on interregional renewable energy zones and the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation’s National Zero-Emission Freight Corridor Strategy, published yesterday.

Here’s some more of what happened this past week:

• Can US Maintain Record Solar, Clean Power Growth?

• NECA Renewables Conference Highlights Transmission Challenges

• SEC Scales Back GHG Reporting, Climate-risk Disclosure Rules

• Targeted Electrification ‘Promising but No Silver Bullet’ for Gas Cost Dilemma

See you next week!