ELECTRIC VEHICLES: California’s Democratic senators push President Joe Biden to follow their state’s lead and “set a date by which all new cars and passenger trucks sold be zero-emission vehicles.” (Reuters)

ALSO:
• Amazon-backed electric vehicle startup Rivian announces a plan to build more than 10,000 fast chargers across the U.S. and Canada by 2023. (The Verge)
• Advocates say Massachusetts won’t reach its climate goals unless people start driving less, and that current plans overemphasize electric vehicles. (Energy News Network)

OVERSIGHT: The House schedules a week of climate and energy hearings, including sessions on Democrats’ proposed clean energy overhaul, sustainable aviation and low-carbon buildings. (E&E News, subscription)

OFFSHORE WIND: Documents suggest federal officials were poised to approve the Vineyard Wind offshore project in June 2019 before the Trump administration called for additional review, raising questions of political interference. (E&E News, subscription required)

COAL:
• An investigation reveals how Georgia Power convinced regulators to approve pushing coal-ash clean-up costs onto ratepayers while also pursuing a plan that would perpetually risk contaminating drinking water in neighboring communities. (ProPublica/Georgia Health News)
• A Kentucky lawmaker introduces a bill to pause new permits for mountaintop coal removal until a federal study can examine its health effects. (E&E News, subscription)

NUCLEAR: A New Jersey appeals court rules state regulators properly awarded zero-emission credits to the state’s nuclear fleet, creating the annual subsidy of up to $300 million. (NJ.com)

UTILITIES:
• More than two dozen cities, counties and corporations submit comments to North Carolina regulators that critique Duke Energy’s 15-year power generation plan as including too few renewables and too many new gas plants at ratepayers’ expense. (Energy News Network)
• California utility PG&E is set to start moving ratepayers to a time-of-use plan next month where electricity is more expensive from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. each day. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Connecticut regulators lambaste Eversource for its preparedness and response to Tropical Storm Isaias last summer and suggest the company could be fined. (Hartford Courant)

OIL & GAS:
• Documents show that California’s oil and gas regulator is failing to enforce pollution violations, and imposing small fines when it does. (ProPublica/Desert Sun)
• A perfume entrepreneur from Myanmar bought up $3.7 million of federal oil leases, then sold them to fellow immigrants at inflated prices, an investigation shows. (Reuters)
• Environmental groups call the Trump administration’s rush to grant permits to a massive oil refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands “a textbook case of environmental injustice” that demands President Biden’s attention. (Inside Climate News)

PIPELINES:
• Less than 10% of the Keystone XL pipeline had been built when President Biden revoked a key permit for the project. (Reuters)
• Federal regulators’ review of a Massachusetts compressor station has industry analysts concerned that it could set a precedent for projects under review or to be proposed. (WBUR)

EFFICIENCY: A Vermont city is poised to enact a law requiring weatherization of apartment buildings. (Energy News Network)

CLIMATE: The U.S. and China discussed climate change during last week’s summit in Alaska, according to the State Department, but didn’t form a working group like a Chinese state report indicated. (Axios)

COMMENTARY:
• White-centered “climate anxiety” is “literally suffocating to people of color,” an environmental studies professor writes. (Scientific American)
• The communications director for the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance writes in support of a “no-brainer” lawsuit that “aims to establish legal protections for Americans when using publicly owned land.” (The Hill)

Ken is the director of the Energy News Network at Fresh Energy, and has led the project from its inception as Midwest Energy News in 2009. Prior to joining Fresh Energy, he was the managing editor for online news at Minnesota Public Radio. He started his journalism career in 2002 as a copy editor for the Duluth News Tribune before spending five years at the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, where he held a variety of editing, production, and leadership roles, and played a key role in the newspaper's transition to digital-first publishing. A Nebraska native, Ken has a bachelor's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a master's degree from the University of Oregon.

Kathryn brings her extensive editorial background to the Energy News Network team, where she oversees the early-morning production of ENN’s five email digest newsletters as well as distribution of ENN’s original journalism with other media outlets. From documenting chronic illness’ effect on college students to following the inner workings of Congress, Kathryn has built a broad experience in her more than five years working at major publications including The Week Magazine. Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Science in magazine journalism and information management and technology from Syracuse University.