POLITICS: A New York Times/Siena College poll finds 66% of prospective voters support Joe Biden’s $2 trillion climate plan, while respondents remain evenly divided over fracking. (New York Times, The Hill)

CLIMATE:
• After public criticism over delays, the Trump administration has begun work on the National Climate Assessment. (E&E News)
• House Democrats introduce a climate bill targeting oceans that among other measures would expand wind energy while banning offshore drilling. (The Hill)

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OVERSIGHT:
• A media investigation finds calendars and emails showing a pattern of Trump administration EPA appointees working to craft policy favorable to former or prospective employers. (E&E News)
• California regulator Mary Nichols and Mississippi environmental justice leader Heather McTeer Toney are reportedly top picks to lead the EPA if Biden is elected president, as experts say restoring public trust in the agency will be a difficult task. (Bloomberg)

PIPELINES:
• A federal judge denies a request by Native American tribes to stop construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, but has not yet issued a ruling on whether the project violates treaty rights. (Associated Press)
• The Bay Mills Indian Community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula urges state regulators to reject permits to build a tunnel for the Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac, calling the pipeline an “existential threat” to treaty rights. (WPBN)

OIL & GAS:
• Some Pennsylvania activists say strict enforcement of laws already on the books is a more effective way of regulating fracking than an outright ban. (E&E News, subscription required)
• A Colorado environmental attorney says requiring oil and gas companies to post higher bonds would provide more protection for the state during economic downturns. (Denver Post)

WIND:
• A Norwegian conglomerate that already has been awarded an offshore wind contract proposes another 2,500 MW in response to a solicitation from New York. (Newsday)
• MidAmerican Energy is inspecting more than 40 wind turbines in Iowa after a second incident in two months of a blade falling off. (Radio Iowa)

SOLAR: A new report using geospatial analysis shows there are enough brownfield and large rooftop sites for Maryland to meet its solar energy goals. (Solar Power World)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• General Motors announces plans to invest $150 million into five Michigan auto plants, including one for electric vehicle production, as well as $2 billion into a Tennessee plant to produce electric Cadillacs. (Detroit News)
• GM also publicly unveils the 2022 electric Hummer model, which the company calls the “world’s first supertruck.” (CNBC)

POLLUTION: Industrial pollution from southwest Detroit fossil fuel production facilities exacerbates public health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Bloomberg Businessweek)

NUCLEAR: Some scientists say 12 small nuclear reactors to be built in Idaho will not offer much help in staving off the effects of climate change by the time they are completed. (InsideClimate News)

CARBON CAPTURE: A Colorado cement plant is using a $1.5 million grant from the Department of Energy in a bid to be the first such facility in the country to use carbon-capture technology on a commercial scale. (Denver Post)

EFFICIENCY: A recently completed Department of Energy program to improve energy monitoring in 6,500 buildings has already saved $95 million in energy costs. (Utility Dive)

COMMENTARY:
• A writer says that controversy over President Trump’s hypothetical “quid pro quo” with ExxonMobil overlooks the real issue: “The oil and gas sector was built and survives on a sturdy foundation of state support.” (The New Republic)
• California equity groups want lawmakers to take stronger steps to support healthier, more affordable, fossil fuel-free homes for communities most impacted by pollution and structural racism. (Natural Resources Defense Council)

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.