Energy news in brief

** The US, home to more oil refineries than any other country, lost its title to China as the world’s largest refiner of raw crude oil in 2020. China began refining more crude oil into gasoline and other products for the first time during the pandemic, according to new data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), and it has largely remained in the lead.

** More than 80 lobster boats lined up between Maine’s Monhegan Island and Boothbay Harbor on Sunday to protest a seabed survey for a planned offshore wind turbine near Monhegan.

** Canada’s high court will rule on a carbon tax later this week in a case that will test the federal government’s power to force the provinces to fight climate change.

** The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will vote on the nominations of Brenda Mallory to chair the Council on Environmental Quality and Janet McCabe to be EPA’s deputy administrator on Wednesday morning.

** The House schedules a week of climate and energy hearings, including sessions on Democrats’ proposed clean energy overhaul, sustainable aviation and low-carbon buildings.

** Officials in nearly two-thirds of Indiana’s 92 counties oppose a proposed bill that critics say would limit local control over wind and solar energy siting.

** A company seeks tax breaks to build a 98 MW solar farm in Louisiana as state utilities look to buy more renewable energy.

**  BMW says it will convert its South Carolina manufacturing facilities to make all electric vehicles, per a company commitment.

** The Agriculture Department awards federal rural electric loans to states including Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, and a $235 million federal loan to the Navajo Nation to build and improve utility lines across its reservation.

** Amazon-backed electric vehicle startup Rivian announces a plan to build more than 10,000 fast chargers across the U.S. and Canada by 2023.

** California utility PG&E is set to start moving ratepayers to a time-of-use plan next month where electricity is more expensive from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. each day. 

** A perfume entrepreneur from Myanmar bought up $3.7 million of federal oil leases in the US, then sold them to fellow immigrants at inflated prices, an investigation shows.