By Lauren McCauley | Editor
“We jokingly call [Maine] a Goldilocks of floating wind because the water depths aren’t that deep, the wind resource is really good…[and] the waves aren’t that bad.” - Anthony Viselli, chief engineer at the Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine.
Anthony Viselli, chief engineer at the Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine, explains the workings of a floating turbine. (Photo by Nathaniel Eisen/Inside Climate News)
ENERGY
By Nathaniel Eisen, Inside Climate News
Picture a buoyant triangular steel or concrete platform roughly the dimensions of a baseball field. Now place a wind turbine taller than the London Eye on top, connect mooring lines to the seabed and power cables to the grid, and you’ve got a floating wind turbine.
This fantastical-sounding technology is real. At demonstration and small-scale projects in Europe, Asia and a single U.S. site in Maine, floating turbines are producing power.
JUSTICE
By Eesha Pendharkar
The petition, brought by several firearm shop owners and supported by the national gun lobby, asked the high court to review a lower court’s decision, arguing that Maine’s 72-hour waiting period for firearm purchases was in violation of Mainers’ Second Amendment rights.
IMMIGRATION
By Christopher Shea
Three New England Democrats made an unannounced visit Friday to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regional headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts to follow up on reports of detainees being housed there for multiple days and sleeping on concrete floors with limited food available.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Ukrainians and Sudanese with temporary legal status will keep protections for now | Ariana Figueroa, States Newsroom
GOP focuses on fraud, seeking to redirect voters’ ire over healthcare costs | Stephanie Armour, KFF Health News
Thanks for reading Top of the Morning. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.