** The American Petroleum Institute, an oil and gas lobbying group, is petitioning to eliminate the Biden administration’s pause on new approvals for natural gas exports. The organization, along with other trade groups, filed what’s known as a “petition for rehearing” on the pause. Such a petition is not a lawsuit, but it could be thefirst step toward a suit.
** Exxon Mobil’s surprise challenge to Chevron’s acquisition of Hess through a dispute over a stake in a major Guyana oil field could prove fruitful for the U.S. oil giant, even if it does not end up enlarging its holdings in the South American country.
** A pair of Teslas caught fire and were destroyed in San Francisco over the weekend just weeks after a self-driving electric vehicle was torched in a nearby neighborhood, according to authorities.
** Apple has nixed its plans to build an electric vehicle — a project that had been in the works at the tech giant for a decade, according to a new report. Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources, reported Apple’s decision to wind down the EV project, code-named Project Titan.
** Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers reiterated Tuesday that he will veto a Republican bill that would create grants to fight pollution from so-called forever chemicals and again asked GOP lawmakers to release to environmental regulators $125 million set aside to deal with contamination.
World
** The European Union is on the brink of approving a major plan to fight climate change and better protect nature in the 27-nation bloc after protests from farmers and opposition from the biggest party in parliament led it to be diluted.
** A drone small enough to fit in one’s hand flew inside one of the damaged reactors at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Wednesday in hopes it can examine some of the molten fuel debris in areas where earlier robots failed to reach.
** Italy has been in talks with Tesla and other carmakers, including from Asian countries, as it tries to attract another manufacturer and reach an annual output target of 1.3 million vehicles, the industry minister said on Wednesday.
** Local activists and international environmental groups want Nigeria’s government to delay approving the sale of oil company Shell’s onshore assets, claiming Shell is trying to shirk its environmental and social responsibilities in the highly polluted Niger Delta.
