** The Biden administration finalized a rule Wednesday that’s expected to make a significant amount of the new car market electric or hybrid. Under the rule, 56 percent of the new vehicles on the market in 2032 could be battery electric, while an additional 13 percent could be plug-in hybrids.
** Texas and New Mexico faced off with the U.S. government in the nation’s highest court on Wednesday in the latest chapter of a decade-long dispute over the way water from the dwindling Rio Grande river is divided.
** Two in three children under the age of six in Chicago are exposed to dangerous levels of lead in drinking water, according to research published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
** California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced on Tuesday that top automaker Stellantis has agreed to abide by the Golden State’s strict emissions rules, regardless of decisions made by a future federal administration.
** Republican leaders in the Senate and House have opened a joint probe into the International Energy Agency (IEA), a powerful group with influence on major global decarbonization policies.
World
** Suriname’s state-owned oil company Staatsolie has begun talks with oil majors Exxon Mobil and TotalEnergies to encourage joint development of natural gas fields that straddle its and Guyana’s maritime borders, the head of its state oil firm told Reuters late Tuesday.
** Australia, one of the biggest exporters of natural gas, “urgently” needs investment to avoid shortfalls in some of its most populous regions from 2025 and to support increasing renewable energy, according to the grid operator.
** Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras is turning to liquefied natural gas imports this month to secure supplies while it carries out maintenance work at a major offshore pipeline.
** Chinese purchases of Russian coal slumped in the first two months of the year, after Beijing reimposed import taxes that make Russian supplies less competitive.
