Energy news in brierf

** An administrative law judge rules that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz can move forward with clean vehicle emission standards without legislative approval.

** Canadian electric vehicle company Lion Electric announces plans to build a $70 million electric bus manufacturing plant in Illinois.

** By 2027, electric vehicles, including larger SUVs and vans, will cost less to produce than fossil-fuel powered vehicles, BloombergNEF predicts.

** Mercedes-Benz debuts an electric van, which will be among eight electric vehicle models it hopes to release next year.

** Ohio officials look to use drones to discover potentially hundreds of previously unidentified abandoned oil and gas wells.

** President Biden will meet with Senate environmental and public works committee leaders this week as he looks to advance his clean energy-focused infrastructure bill.

** Iraq has formally asked to buy U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil’s share in one of Iraq’s biggest oilfields, West Qurna 1, the head of the state-run oil operating company said on Monday.

** The state of Michigan has told a Canadian energy company it must shut down a controversial oil and gas pipeline by Wednesday amid growing fears that a spill would be catastrophic to the region, in a feud which threatens to strain relations between Canada and the United States.

** Tesla agreed to $1 million in penalties for violating air-quality regulations in California. The company will pay a $750,000 fine and fund a solar roof project in a community with poor air quality. The EPA in April accused Tesla of failing to report emissions from its cars’ coatings.

** U.S. agricultural commodities trader ADM said on Monday it planned to build a soy-crushing facility and refinery in North Dakota to meet increasing demand for food and renewable fuel.

** Occidental Petroleum Corp on Monday surpassed Wall Street expectations by reporting a smaller first-quarter loss than a year ago, boosted by earnings from chemicals and oil exports. The oil and gas producer reported an adjusted loss of $136 million, or 15 cents per share, for the March quarter, compared with a loss of $467 million, or 52 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2020.

**  BP said on Monday it will remain a member of the American Petroleum Institute (API) after the largest U.S. oil and gas trade lobby group addressed some differences with the British energy company over climate change.