Axios

Four members of Texas' power grid operator resigned from their posts Tuesday after a winter storm led millions of homes to lose power across the state last week, according to a public filing.

Why it matters: Their resignations come days after Texas' public utility commission launched a probe to discover the "factors that combined with the devastating winter weather to disrupt the flow of power," throughout the state.

The Senate on Tuesday voted 92-7 to confirm former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as secretary of the Department of Agriculture.

The big picture: Vilsack, a longtime supporter of President Biden, is returning to the department he led for eight years under the Obama administration. He served as governor of Iowa from 1999 to 2007.

A new post at UC Berkeley's Energy Institute at Haas explores one reason Texas' energy demand got so high during the Arctic blast: lots of new homes to heat.

The big picture: "No U.S. state has built as many new homes as Texas over the last decade, and most of these homes use electric heat," business professor Lucas Davis writes.

Of note: They tend to be less insulated than homes in cold regions and require lots of power when temperatures plummet, Lucas says.

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President Biden's pick for Interior secretary faces a balancing act as she defends limits on oil-and-gas development while responding to concerns that the initiatives — and her own policy views — threaten producing states.

Driving the news: Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) appears this morning before the Senate energy committee vetting her nomination and faces critical questioning from GOP members.

The electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors is going public via merger with the special purpose acquisition company Churchill Capital Corp IV at a valuation of $24 billion, the companies said Monday.

Why it matters: The high value of the transaction with the blank-check firm headed by former Citi exec Michael Klein underscores how Lucid could be well positioned in the growing market.

Xos Inc., an electric truck company that counts UPS among its customers, said this morning that it's going public at a $2 billion valuation via a reverse merger with NextGen Acquisition Corp.

Why it matters: The California-based Xos' deal is the latest in a wave of electric vehicle companies going public via mergers with special purpose acquisition companies, signaling heavy investor interest in the sector.

Investigations of the Texas electricity crisis — a disaster with fatal consequences — are proliferating in the state and the Beltway.

Why it matters: The inquiries could bring regulatory changes to Texas' independent grid aimed at better preparation for extreme weather.

The consultancy Rystad Energy sees lots of job growth coming in the offshore wind power sector this decade.

The big picture: They see global installed offshore wind capacity reaching 110 gigawatts by 2025 and 250 GW by 2030, and "this prolific growth will require a lot of skilled employees."

Power has returned to most of Texas after a week of statewide blackouts caused by historic winter storms, but millions still don't have access to safe or running water.

The big picture: A Texas Commission on Environmental Quality spokesperson told CNN that some 8.8 million people, or roughly a third of the state's population, still had issues with their water supply Sunday evening. Food banks and volunteers delivered bottled water to thousands of people in the past few days.