OIL & GAS: Oil companies resist calls to cut prices amid record profits, as ExxonMobil’s CEO insists they’re “returning some of our profits directly to the American people” in the form of dividends to investors. (E&E News)

ALSO:
• The U.S. power struggle with Saudi Arabia over oil markets could have wide-ranging implications for the economy. (CNN)
• Chevron partners with a developer to build a 20 MW solar installation in southeast New Mexico to power the oil and gas company’s Permian Basin operations. (Midland Reporter-Telegram)

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: The outcome of a Supreme Court case on college affirmative action programs could complicate federal efforts to address disproportionate pollution impacts on Black communities. (E&E News)

ELECTION:
• Governor’s races in Massachusetts, Maine and Maryland could have broad impacts on the region’s efforts to transition to clean energy. (E&E News)
• Climate change is still largely absent from campaign advertising even after landmark legislation was passed by Congress this year. (Grist)
• Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Democratic challenger Nan Whaley debate renewable energy and the ongoing HB 6 corruption scandal during an editorial board’s candidate forum. (Cleveland.com)

GRID:
• Experts say energy conservation incentives should be given more consideration after consumer actions averted power outages in Texas and California this year. (Vox)
• Federal regulators find Texas’ standalone grid would not hold up well under extreme winter weather conditions, while a state regulator predicts it will do just fine due to reforms after last year’s winter storm. (Houston Chronicle, KRIV)

OFFSHORE WIND:
• The developers behind two Massachusetts wind projects say the facilities are “no longer [economically] viable” and that their contracts need to be renegotiated. (State House News Service)
• Dominion Energy and Virginia’s attorney general reach an agreement to cap how much customers could pay for its first major offshore wind project, though state regulators still need to approve the deal. (Associated Press)

EFFICIENCY: A Maine grassroots organization insulates heat-leaking windows through “community builds” in four states that produce thousands of the easy-to-install inserts each year. (Energy News Network)

COAL:
• New Mexico regulators finalize a rule limiting coal power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions, further complicating a company’s effort to restart a retired coal plant and run it while installing carbon capture. (NM Political Report)
• Advocates lobby for legislation to accelerate the process for coal miners to receive black lung benefits, which now stretches out to an average of more than six years per claim. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Chicago Public Schools will purchase 10 electric vehicles for drivers education classes. (CBS Chicago)

GEOTHERMAL: The Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe urges the Biden administration to permanently block a proposed geothermal power plant in Nevada, saying it would imperil a sacred spring and a rare toad. (Washington Post) 

POLITICS: A Virginia clean energy advocate says Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s recently released energy plan represents a “U-turn away from a cleaner and cheaper energy future.” (Energy News Network)

More from the Energy News Network: Midwest | Southeast | Northeast | West

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.