‘Want to be my energy secretary?’: How Chris Wright was chosen

OVERSIGHT: Chris Wright, the oil executive whose Senate nomination hearing for Secretary of Energy will take place today, was reportedly selected on a whim by President-elect Trump while appealing to oil industry leaders at an April campaign fundraiser. (New York Times)

ALSO:

• Aligning with Trump’s campaign pledges, Wright has pledged to ​“unleash American energy at home and abroad to restore energy dominance” by increasing fossil fuel production and supporting nuclear power. (Axios)
• Wright’s false and misleading claims about climate change are likely to be raised at today’s hearing, but Republicans, who hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, are expected to approve the nomination. (Washington Post)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Although Tesla CEO Elon Musk is leading Trump’s charge to slash government programs, his company has received $10.7 billion from federal climate credits over the last decade, according to securities filings. (E&E News)

TRANSPORTATION: California abandons regulations aimed at phasing out diesel trucks and requiring cleaner locomotives, saying the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to issue waivers allowing the rules’ implementation. (CalMatters)

CLEAN ENERGY:

• Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Republicans are ​“struggling” to identify Biden administration climate policies they could successfully roll back using the Congressional Review Act. (E&E News)
• A $6 billion round of funding announced by the USDA last week will help rural co-ops around the country develop new clean energy resources. (Canary Media)

GRID: Grid operator PJM proposes changes making it easier to take advantage of underused interconnection capacity, potentially unlocking as much as 26 GW of new capacity, supporters say. (Utility Dive)

BIOMASS: Neighbors of large wood-pellet plants in North Carolina and the Southeast suffer through incessant dust and noise from the facilities as countries burning the exported biomass fuel count its use toward international climate targets. (Energy News Network)

INDUSTRY: Low-carbon solar components, zinc batteries, and refurbished, cleaner diesel engines are among the products coming out of southwestern Pennsylvania as the region experiences a manufacturing resurgence driven by federal stimulus money. (WESA)

WIND: A conservative push to block wind energy in Oklahoma has created a conflict between pro-wind Gov. Kevin Stitt and the state schools superintendent he helped recruit into politics, who dismisses clean energy as part of a ​“woke value system in the state.” (Oklahoman)

COAL: Despite touting investments in renewable energy, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns 12 of the dirtiest coal plants in the country, an analysis of federal emissions data finds. (Reuters)

PUBLIC LAND: The Biden administration proposes banning new mining claims on federal land targeted for lithium extraction near the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

CLIMATE: California advocates look to revive legislation that would require the state’s largest carbon polluters to help cover the costs of climate disasters, but the oil lobby is already gearing up to fight it. (The Guardian)