CLEAN ENERGY: Two key changes in the Energy Department have helped the agency block, delay or bury more than 40 clean energy studies, a media investigation finds. (InvestigateWest/Grist) 

ALSO:
• Private equity investors are reportedly turning away from fracking and focusing on renewable energy. (Axios)
• In a television interview, American Electric Power’s CEO says “we’ll continue moving toward a clean energy economy” regardless of the outcome of the election. (CNBC)
• Climate advocates in Boulder, Colorado are divided over whether to continue with a costly municipalization effort or accept a deal from Xcel Energy; voters will decide the issue next week. (Energy News Network)

EQUITY: All three coalitions pushing for Illinois clean energy legislation say equity needs to play a role, though the approaches and accountability measures vary. (Energy News Network)

OIL & GAS:
• Documents show the EPA did not estimate the public health impact of its rollback of methane emission rules. (Vox)
• A federal court will allow the Bureau of Land Management to reconsider the climate impacts of giving oil and gas developers access to public lands across five states. (E&E News, subscription)

PUBLIC LANDS: A new high-level Interior Department appointee has a history of public comments reflecting a white supremacist viewpoint, including accusing social justice protesters of “anti-white racism.” (HuffPost)

COAL: Idaho Power plans to end its agreement with a Nevada coal plant three years early, and will stop using coal entirely by 2030. (Idaho Statesman)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Ohio-based Lordstown Motors seeks to beat its competition to market by delivering its Endurance electric truck by September 2021. (Detroit News)

POLITICS:
• Some Pennsylvania residents who suffer health or other ill effects from fracking will not support Joe Biden for president and will instead vote on cultural issues. (E&E News, subscription required)
• Many southwestern Pennsylvania coal miners still support President Trump and are skeptical of the transition to the clean energy economy. (StateImpact Pennsylvania)

COMMENTARY:
• Indigenous leaders make the case for a Native American to lead the Interior Department: “Indian country has so much to offer the entire Nation when it comes to collaborative resource management, climate policy, and environmental policy.” (Thomson Reuters Foundation)
• A columnist outlines ways oil and gas workers can thrive in a low-carbon economy. (Houston Chronicle)
• Joe Biden’s comment that the world should transition away from oil “is only radical if you’re still working off decades-old facts,” a columnist writes. (Washington Post)

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.