EQUITY: The U.S. Energy Department’s first-ever deputy director of energy justice says the country needs to examine the structural racism and inequality “baked into the energy system.” (NBC News)

CLIMATE:
• President Joe Biden’s administration is putting together a strategic plan for tackling climate change to be rolled out next month, including new emissions-reduction goals and an office dedicated to displaced fossil fuel workers. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)
• Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announces $75 million in funding for industrial energy efficiency and carbon capture research. (The Hill)
• Cleantech investor Jigar Shah discusses how he plans to run the Energy Department’s $40 billion loan guarantee program. (Greentech Media)
• Federal courts have been instrumental in dismantling Trump-era obstacles to climate policy. (Inside Climate News)
• Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says he’s been talking to climate envoy John Kerry and wants to get the GOP “thinking about a new economy.” (Axios)

UTILITIES:
• An analysis finds that customers who switched to third-party retail providers paid $19 billion more for energy from 2010-2019 than if they’d stayed with their utilities. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)
• The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority has connected more than 700 homes to electric service using federal stimulus funds. (Navajo Times)

WIND:
• The Biden administration releases the final environmental impact statement for the Massachusetts Vineyard Wind 800 MW offshore project, putting it on track for final approval later this year. (CommonWealth Magazine)
• As Virginia looks ahead to a growing offshore wind industry, a trade school begins training a homegrown clean energy workforce in a first-of-its-kind wind turbine technician program. (Energy News Network) 

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• House Democrats propose giving the USPS $6 billion to buy new electric vehicles, reshaping the fleet so 75% of the trucks are zero emission or electric. (Reuters)
• The maker of an electric food truck is rebranding its product as a mobile COVID-19 vaccine unit. (Axios)
• A Nevada bill would require the state’s largest utility to spend $100 million over three years building out electric vehicle infrastructure. (Nevada Independent)

EFFICIENCY: Massachusetts holds a competition to create designs for the state’s iconic triple-decker apartment houses to eliminate emissions and improve energy efficiency. (Energy News Network)

COAL: The South’s February deep freeze likely won’t stop the retirement of coal plants nationwide. (S&P Global)

NUCLEAR: The owner of three nuclear power plants in New Jersey tells state regulators the plants will close if a $300 million ratepayer subsidy is not extended for another three years. (NJ Spotlight)

OIL & GAS:
• Public records show a study cited by Wyoming officials projecting thousands of job losses from a suspension of drilling on public land was developed with help from an oil industry trade group. (Wyoming Public Media)
• Just 7 of the 18 oil refineries shut down in last month’s cold snap are operating normally again as of Monday. (Bloomberg)

PIPELINES:
• A new analysis by a clean energy think tank says changes to the natural gas market since the Mountain Valley Pipeline was announced in 2014 have undercut the economic case for building the long-delayed project. (Gazette-Mail)
• Canada’s natural resources minister says the country is preparing to “invoke whatever measures we need” to keep Line 5 operating in the Straits of Mackinac, which he called “nonnegotiable.” (Detroit Free Press)
• Appeals court justices press federal regulators on the level of scrutiny given to a company’s claims about the need for a new gas pipeline in the St. Louis area.  (S&P Global)

COMMENTARY:
• Oil companies’ International Women’s Day campaigns are a reminder of the unequal effects of climate change the industry perpetuates, a reporting fellow argues. (Grist)
• A tribal attorney says the Line 3 pipeline is a “Keystone clone” that violates Indigenous rights, and urges President Biden to step in and halt its replacement and expansion. (Minnesota Reformer)

Ken is the director of the Energy News Network at Fresh Energy and is a founding editor of both Midwest Energy News and Southeast Energy News. 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 worked as a copy editor, online producer, features editor and night city editor. 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. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors.