The Trigger Picture

April 12, 2022

Some Good News

Animal crossing: world’s biggest wildlife bridge comes to California highway (Guardian)
Russian journalist who protested Ukraine war on-air is named correspondent for German news station (CBS)

“I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.” – Henry Miller

Fed(Ex) Up

FedEx contractors handle some 60% of daily deliveries for the company’s Ground business. By using contractors, FedEx shields itself from expenses like drivers’ wages and paying for vehicles. FedEx has over 5,000 Ground contractors who typically sign contracts running from one to two years, with agreements spelling out requirements for service levels, safety, and payment. Contractors are generally paid a set weekly amount, plus a certain amount per stop and per package picked up and delivered.

In January, more than 800 Ground contractors signed a letter to company officials, citing, among other things, problems with inaccurate shipping forecasts that left them financially hobbled after they rented trucks and staffed up last holiday season to handle a flood of packages that never came. They asked for back pay to cover some of the peak season losses, along with improvements in operations, forecasting, and other changes.

After the pandemic package delivery boom began waning, FedEx made up for the loss in volume by raising shipping prices and imposing fuel surcharges. In its fiscal quarter ending February 28, revenue rose 10%, and profits rose 25% from a year earlier. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions so shocked global energy markets that FedEx imposed new or increased fuel surcharges on customers beginning April 4. Along with FedEx, Uber Technologies and Lyft also imposed temporary surcharges on customers to help offset soaring fuel costs. And while it’s true the average Uber or Lyft rider fee will be 50% more this summer than before the pandemic, local contractors who own FedEx Ground delivery trucks and U.S. drivers of ride-share services are the ones feeling long-term pain. It prompted them to plead with their companies for even more financial help.

A 51-year-old who quit driving for Uber and Lyft last month said the hours she spends behind the wheel just aren’t worth the payout. And a delivery business owner in Alabama with a single truck and two drivers says, “It’s been rough.” Rather than going through freight middlemen, he’s seeking more direct business with shippers. An online petition being circulated says many FedEx Ground contractors “are on the verge of financial collapse.” It warns that immediate cash injection is needed to “save these businesses – your business partners.” (WSJ, $)

Not Russian To Decide

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has yet to make a commitment to the effort to cut off Moscow’s energy income after the Ukraine invasion. Even though India receives little of its oil from Russia, it recently made a major purchase of Russian oil just as other democracies are trying to isolate President Putin.
President Biden had a video call with Modi on Monday during which he asked the prime minister not to buy more Russian oil – instead, the U.S. could help India diversify its energy sources. Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the president had “made it clear that he doesn’t believe it’s in India’s interest to accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy or other commodities.”
But at a separate State Department news conference with Secretary Antony Blinken, India’s foreign minister pointedly suggested the focus of Washington’s concern about energy purchases from Russia should be Europe, not India. “I suspect, looking at the figures, probably our total purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon,” he said. (AP)

On The Gas Track

Italy, which sources about 40% of its gas imports from Russia, has been scrambling to diversify its energy supply as the conflict in Ukraine escalates. On Monday, a delegation including Prime Minister Mario Draghi, the head of the Italian energy group Eni, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, and energy transition minister Roberto Cingolani visited Algeria to sign an agreement to ramp up gas imports from that North African nation. The industrial agreement would also include co-investments in renewable energy projects.
Algeria is Italy’s second-biggest gas supplier. The Transmed pipeline, which has been supplying Algerian gas to Italian shores since 1983, has a daily capacity of more than 110 million cubic meters, but currently is transporting only about half that. Draghi hopes to up the current transmission by 9 billion cubic meters. Last week Cingolani said Italy was talking to seven countries to secure more gas, with some talks “in a very advanced stage.” (Reuters)

Additional World News

The Trigger Picture

“Ghost guns” are unregulated, untraceable weapons made from kits. While they make up a relatively small share of guns recovered by law enforcement, their numbers are increasing. President Biden brought one of the kits to the Rose Garden Monday when he announced a new firearm regulation meant to contain the use of privately made weapons.
The regulation addresses a critical gap in the government’s ability to track ghost guns by requiring background checks before purchase and serial numbers on some of the component parts. “If you buy a couch you have to assemble, it’s still a couch. If you order a package … that includes parts that you need and directs the assembly of a functioning firearm, you bought a gun,” he declared, adding that the new rules make “basic common sense.”
Biden also nominated Steve Dettelbach, a former U.S. attorney from Ohio, to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Biden said the agency’s mission “isn’t controversial – it’s public safety.” Opposition in the Senate forced his previous nominee to withdraw. (CNN)

Giving The Coal Shoulder

Dozens of protesters rallied Saturday outside the front gates of West Virginia’s coal-fired Grant Town Power Plant. They denounced Senator Joe Manchin for his ties to the coal industry, calling on the conservative Democrat to abandon his support for fossil fuels and support green energy legislation instead.
Manchin wields considerable influence as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and with the Senate split 50-50, he was able to single-handedly torpedo President Biden’s big social and environmental bill. Manchin’s family business is selling waste coal to the power plant, located about 90 miles south of Pittsburgh.
One protester said Manchin’s family business represents “a huge conflict of interest” that “absolutely should not be allowed to happen.” 16 protesters were arrested by state police and sheriff’s deputies. (AP)

Additional USA News

Kite It Up

Wind farms must be built in areas that get a lot of wind, the turbines are expensive, and the blades of wind turbines can be deadly to birds. On the other hand, high flying kites can generate energy, they’re cheaper to manufacture and transport, they can be used in areas that don’t get a lot of wind, they have a smaller carbon footprint, and they don’t hurt birds.
Kites you say? Airborne Wind Energy? Yes, companies comprising this fledgling wind power industry are flying massive kites 200 meters or more above the ground, and using the air they find there to generate electricity. At least 10 firms in Europe and the U.S. are developing variations of this kind of kite power.
To become a widespread source of electricity, the airborne wind energy business needs to overcome a number of technological and commercial hurdles. And it will need to demonstrate that it’s safe, won’t harm wildlife, and won’t create intolerable noise and visual disturbances for neighbors. The accomplishments and challenges of this nascent endeavor can be studied in a paper in the 2022 Annual Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems, due out in May. (Ars Technica)

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