TRANSPORTATION: The House reconciliation bill includes a measure that would give states “very large incentives” for cutting transportation emissions. (Washington Post) 

FOSSIL FUELS:
• Efforts in Congress to eliminate tax breaks for oil and gas companies could result in a new subsidy to reward companies that cut methane emissions. (E&E News)
• An Energy Department report says the U.S. will lead the world in liquified natural gas export capacity by the end of next year. (Houston Chronicle)
• Conservative groups have coined the term “woke capitalism” to criticize banks for refusing to fund fossil fuel projects, and are pushing legislation to force them to do so. (Gizmodo)

GRID:
• Texas regulators seek to assure residents that the grid is prepared for winter after February’s near-collapse, but energy experts remain concerned that vulnerabilities still exist. (Houston Chronicle, Spectrum News)
• The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power partners with the Navajo tribal utility to connect Navajo homes to the power grid. (Associated Press)

CLEAN ENERGY:
• Nebraska’s largest utility adopts a nonbinding decarbonization goal of net-zero emissions by 2050; the vote was years in the making as clean energy advocates sought representation on the boards of Nebraska’s three main utilities. (Grist, E&E News)
• An aging workforce means the mining industry may face a labor shortage as demand for lithium, copper and other materials needed for clean energy technology ramps up. (Reuters)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Analysts say electric vehicles are still on track to reach price parity with gasoline cars by the mid-2020s; meanwhile EVs are still a better deal than many gas cars because of lower cost of ownership. (Inside Climate News)
• General Motors forms two new partnerships with materials suppliers to help the automaker achieve its electric vehicle production goals. (Detroit News)

WIND: Efforts to create a national monument in the Mojave Desert will likely end plans for a proposed 700 acre wind farm. (E&E News)

POLITICS: Critics say Virginia Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin doesn’t have the power to withdraw the state from a regional carbon market because its participation is regulated by an air pollution control board. (Grist)

COMMENTARY:
• Advocates say Germany’s low rate of power outages shows that the U.S. can push harder on clean energy without threatening reliability. (Yale E360)
• A columnist says Elon Musks’ criticism of government subsidies is “bizarre and ironic” given his companies’ dependence on state and federal tax breaks. (Washington Post)
• A solar engineer and consultant says “extreme misinformation and distortions” helped lead a Kansas county to adopt overly restrictive zoning regulations that could shut out development. (Kansas City Star)

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.