France’s Fuel Fiasco & A Snow Crab Shortage
October 17, 2022
French Fuel Freakout
We get it – Europe is facing an energy crisis. Russia, Ukraine, oil pipelines, gas prices – the list goes on. But how are things looking on the ground for real people, and how are state policies helping the average citizen? Let’s take a look at France to find out.
Last week in the suburb of Neuilly-sur-Marne, police officers armed with rifles patrolled gas station lines, chasing down anyone who tried to cut to the pump. Handmade signs warned the station had “no more gasoline.” The shortage was sparked by striking refinery workers, who are demanding higher wages as oil and gas companies continue to make record profits off of skyrocketing energy prices. “Rich people will always be able to get by,” said one retiree waiting for fuel. “But it hits the middle and the working class.” She’d come to get a small gas can’s worth of fuel for her daughter’s car but headed home empty-handed.
The French state has implemented caps on natural gas prices, topping out at fall 2021 levels with price rises limited to 4%. Gasoline prices have also been subsidized. Unfortunately for the government, many don’t think it’s enough. Because the caps affect all households equally, richer households are still able to consume more energy than their poorer counterparts. Wealthier neighborhoods in Paris consume over five times more heating, electricity, and gas per capita than poorer neighborhoods.
Other policies include short-term relief payments of $195 to vulnerable households, though critics say that the payments barely make up for the impact of inflation on poorer communities. “We’re dealing with an unprecedented energy crisis, one that we haven’t seen in France since the oil shock of 1973,” said Sébastien Jumel, one far-left French parliament member. “And while, in a way, war measures would be needed, we’re offered a teaspoon.” (WaPo, $)
Some Good News
- Oxford University: Goldfish do have good memories, scientists find (BBC)
- Australian research finds cost-effective way to recycle solar panels (Guardian)
Intimate Involvement Or Interminable Intervention
- The latest episode of foreign involvement in Haiti dropped just this weekend as the U.S. and Canada sent the Haitian government armored vehicles and other supplies. The nice little care package came as the Haitian government put out a request for international aid, while the populace put out a request for their prime minister’s resignation.
- “This equipment will assist (Haiti’s National Police) in their fight against criminal actors who are fomenting violence and disrupting the flow of critically-needed humanitarian assistance, hindering efforts to halt the spread of cholera,” said the U.S. State Department. Haiti is currently facing an outbreak of cholera and a fuel shortage, while demonstrators and armed gangs block access to fuel infrastructure.
- Haiti’s civil unrest began after Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced that the government would no longer be able to subsidize fuel, sending gas prices sky-high in September. Gangs then commandeered a fuel terminal and demanded Henry’s resignation, followed by mass protests against fuel price spikes. Since then, hospitals and gas stations alike have closed due to fuel shortages, and water and other supplies are beginning to run out in the island nation. (NPR)
Right Down To The Wire / Evin Through The Fire
- On Sunday, a major fire broke out at Iran’s Evin prison, a facility known for housing political prisoners. According to Iran’s state news agency, casualties include 4 prisoners dead and 61 injured. The fire follows weeks of nationwide protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of state morality police.
- According to Iranian state sources, the fire was not linked to the protests. Officials blamed “criminal elements” for the blaze, which Tehran’s governor told the media began with a riot in a wing of the prison housing petty criminals.
- Gunshots and explosions are audible in multiple recordings of the fire, along with chants of “death to the dictator.” Some Iranian journalists have accused the government of “setting the prison ablaze intentionally” after they learned that a high-profile political prisoner (the son of Iran’s late former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani) was granted “early temporary release” just before the fire began. (BBC)
Additional World News
- India slips in Global Hunger Index, ranks 107 out of 121 nations (Al Jazeera)
- US Ambassador summoned after President Biden calls Pakistan ‘dangerous’ having nuclear weapons (CNN)
- Turkey denies involvement with migrant incident at Greek border (Reuters)
- Gunmen kill 12 people in Mexico bar (CNN)
- Palestinian man shot by Israeli forces dies in occupied West Bank (Al Jazeera)
- Turkey coal mine explosion kills 40, traps dozens (CNN)
- 12-meter floods to inundate thousands of properties, Australian emergency services warn (CNN)
“As long as you keep one foot in the real world while the other foot’s in a fairy tale, that fairy tale is going to seem kind of attainable.” – Aaron Sorkin
Flight Plans
- A spokeswoman for Governor Ron DeSantis said this weekend that the lawmaker plans to continue flying undocumented people to sanctuary cities. The news comes a day after the $1 million bill to the state of Florida for the flights to Delaware and Illinois was made public, and about a month after DeSantis paid for almost 50 Venezuelans to travel to Martha’s Vineyard in what he assured everyone was not a political stunt.
- DeSantis’s communications director, Taryn Fenske, said that “while Florida has had all hands on deck responding to our catastrophic hurricane, the immigration relocation program remains active.” It’s good to know that the governor still has his priorities straight, with flights planned between now and December 1 to transport about 100 people. (Guardian)
Spectator-In-Chief
- The final January 6 hearing on Thursday had some fairly consequential evidence, and it seems that the American people at home aren’t the only ones who were watching. President Biden said that the panel made an “overwhelming” case and presented “devastating” evidence.
- Biden prefaced his comments by saying, “I’ve been going out of my way not to comment and see what happens.” He then called out the press a bit, saying, “any more I say about it, you — justified — are going to ask me if I’m trying to influence the Attorney General. I’m not. I’ve not spoken with him at all.” (NBC)
Additional USA News
- Suspected Stockton serial killer arrested, was on a ‘mission to kill’ (ABC)
- Native Americans recall torture, hatred at boarding schools (AP)
- Obama open to Supreme Court reform but warns against “political games” (Axios)
- Roger Stone slammed Ivanka Trump after not getting pardoned, video shows (Guardian)
- How Kari Lake turned her campaign for Arizona governor into a phenomenon (WaPo, $)
- Divided midterms: parties play up different issues as US elections loom (Guardian)
- Kamala Harris campaigns with Gretchen Whitmer in potential 2028 preview (LAT, $)
Snow More Crab Season
- For the first time ever, Alaska’s snow crab season has been canceled. The crab population has dropped dramatically in recent years, but an especially steep decline has shut down the fishery this year. The reason for the population collapse remains unspecified.
- According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game researcher Benjamin Daly, the snow crab population shrunk from 8 billion in 2018 to 1 billion in 2021. More recently, the mature male snow crab population declined by 40% from 2021 to 2022, with just 45 million pounds of the eight-legged delicacy crawling around at the bottom of the Bering Strait.
- While officials cited overfishing as the reason for closing the season, experts say that the actual reason for the collapse is less clear. “We call it overfishing because of the size level,” said Michael Litzow, the Kodiak lab director for NOAA Fisheries. “But it wasn’t overfishing that caused the collapse, that much is clear.” Temperatures around the Arctic have risen four times faster than the rest of the world, and snow crabs like to swim around in areas below 2°C, so unofficially, scientists think climate change is the main factor for the massive population decline. (CNN)
Additional Reads
- Recent whale strandings highlight the mystery that still baffles marine scientists (NPR)
- Kanye West Makes Podcast Appearance, America Slaps Forehead (Vanity Fair)
- Russian man arrested for flying drone over Norwegian airport (WaPo, $)
- Breaching whale shocks father and son fishing off Jersey Shore as it nearly comes aboard boat (NBC)
- Who is Just Stop Oil, the group that threw soup on Van Gogh’s painting? (NPR)
- Lions rescued from Ukraine make Colorado sanctuary their forever home (CNN)