Note to readers: U.S. Energy News will be taking a break tomorrow and Monday for Memorial Day weekend. We will return on Tuesday, May 28. 

GRID: Sens. Joe Manchin and John Barrasso say they will soon release a draft bill to reform permitting for transmission lines and other energy infrastructure, with Manchin saying a recent FERC rule is “a Band-Aid on Congress’s inaction.” (Utility Dive)

ALSO: A key question in FERC’s proposal to accelerate transmission line construction is how much utilities will profit, with outcomes expected to vary by state. (E&E News)

CLIMATE: 

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Auto industry analysts warn that a U.S. retrenchment on electric vehicles, including if a Republican takes the White House in November, would give up significant market share to China. (CQ Roll Call)

LITHIUM: Some residents of California’s Imperial Valley are skeptical the growing lithium extraction industry will bring economic development, saying previous clean energy booms failed to deliver permanent jobs or prosperity. (KPBS)

COAL: 

  • House Republicans introduce a bill to repeal an EPA rule that limits wastewater pollution from coal plants. (E&E News, subscription)
  • A U.S. Senate hearing yesterday discussed mine safety and helping workers who have black lung disease, as lawmakers consider bills to improve benefits for miners. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
  • Residents in northwestern Indiana were potentially exposed to cancer-causing chemicals from coal ash, despite being told otherwise, for nearly a decade after a utility consultant included misleading soil samples that should have been dismissed from studies. (Indianapolis Star)

UTILITIES: Duke Energy’s plan to build five large natural gas plants in the Carolinas is on a collision course with new Biden administration rules that would throttle the plants’ use in just eight years. (Energy News Network) 

WIND: The developers of two Northeast offshore wind farms say they’ve canceled an agreement to use Dominion Energy’s new installation ship, saying only that “we have secured an alternative installation vessel.” (CT Examiner)

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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.