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CNN 10
U.S. Lawmakers Grapple Over Various Bills; Fuel Crisis Empties Many British Gas Stations; Man Works to Protect Whales Near New York. Aired 4- 4:10a ET
Aired September 28, 2021 - 04:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: A shortage of fuel, sighting of whales and one macho terrier are all featured this Tuesday on CNN 10. I`m Carl Azuz and
we`re thankful to have you watching. We`re starting in Washington, D.C. where lawmakers are grappling with some major pieces of legislation this
week. One of them is funding for the U.S. government. That`s expected to expire on September 30th. If lawmakers can`t push that through before the
end of this week, a government shutdown is possible. That doesn`t mean the country shuts down, but it can send hundreds of thousands of Federal
workers home without pay, and it can suspend some government services until Congress passes a funding bill.
One hold up with the current funding bill is that it would raise the U.S. debt ceiling. That`s the limit on what the government is allowed to borrow
as it spends more money than it takes in. Congress has always raised the limit when the U.S. reached it, but it`s not a politically popular thing to
do. So, Democrats want Republicans to help raise that ceiling, while Republicans want Democrats to raise the limit on their own. What remains
to be seen is whether Democrats who control Congress will separate the debt ceiling vote from the government spending vote, in an effort to get the
bills passed. There are two other spending bills that Congress is debating. One of them is a $1 trillion infrastructure package, money for
roads, bridges, waterways, railroads, electric vehicles and charging stations.
Some Republicans have joined Democrats in supporting this bill. The other piece of legislation is a larger $3.5 trillion social policy bill. It
would spend more on immigration reform, universal pre-school, free community college, climate related policies and public housing. No
Republicans support this bill, and there`s some disagreement among Democrats over it as well. The reason why all of this is being so closely
watched, is because these packages include major legislative priorities of President Joe Biden. If they don`t get passed, the fallout could effect
his presidency in the coming years.
10 Second Trivia. In what country would you find the Jurassic Coast? Argentina, Britain, Costa Rica or New Zealand. Landmarks, landforms,
cliffs and rocks characterize the Jurassic Coast in the southern United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom has more than 8,000 gas stations, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation, and most of them are either out of gas or
running out fast. Leading companies in Britain`s fuel industry say there`s actually plenty of gasoline in the country. The problem is, it`s located
at refineries and terminals, not gas stations and a big part of the crisis is that there`s a shortage of tanker truck drivers to get the fuel from A
to B. Another problem, panic buying. Experts say people who are afraid of running out of gas are topping off their tanks or storage cans when they
don`t actually need it, and that that`s hurting availability.
Suppliers think that once panic buying settles down, demand will drop down to its normal levels and pumps will once again have gasoline. In the
short-term though, lines are long. Some cars have been abandoned after running out of fuel, and the leader of a Gas Sales Association says there`s
no single action the industry and the government can take to solve the crisis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well despite petrol pumps like this one in central London having run dry, the government says that there is no
national fuel shortage rather just localized supply chain issues, exacerbated by a lack of lorry, or truck drivers across the country. This
is something that supermarkets have been contending with for weeks. It`s effected their fresh produce delivery, and now what we`re seeing is this
labor shortage showing up at places like this Shell garage behind me.
What can the government do about it? Well, it says that this supply chain problem is largely linked to COVID. Experts in the sector also say that
Brexit is playing its part too because remember that Visa rules are now more restricted now that the UK has left the EU. The government could
reverse temporarily some of those restrictions and say that delivery drivers are essentially highly skilled workers. Whatever the difference,
industry body experts say the government needs to act fast if it`s to make sure that scenes like these aren`t replicated across the rest of the
country, and also that good continue to flow across the UK. Nina Dos Santos, CNN, in London.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Got a whale of a tale to tell you next. When you look at top places for whale watching, it`s no surprise that California, Washington State,
Alaska and British Columbia all rank on the Travel Channel`s list. But there`s a big migratory pathway for large whales not far from the coast of
New York State. And while that allows for sightings of amazing animals close to where a lot of people live, it also creates some challenges, busy
shipping lanes, offshore wind farms, productive fishing grounds. They`re also there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New York`s waterways maybe best known for skyline views and crowded shipping lanes, yet these busy waters also harbor a rich
community of marine mammals. Local whale species include the iconic humpback, fin whales, and the endangered North Atlantic right whale, these
photographs captured thanks to a multi-air aerial survey conducted by Tetratech and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
HOWARD ROSENBAUM, NEW YORK WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY SCIENTIST: Right off of our shores, you know, in less than the average distance that, you
know, a New Yorker or someone from the tri-state area would commute. These great whales are here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wildlife Conservation Society Scientist Howard Rosenbaum studies the wild population here in the New York Bight. The area
between Long Island and the New Jersey coast. His mission, to use the latest research methods to protect the whales.
ROSENBAUM: This is one of the busiest urban waterways on the planet, and they face threats such as, you know, impacts from shipping which could
include ship strikes or ocean noise, incidental entanglement in fishing gear. These areas in the New York Bight, along the east coast under this
administration are slated for extensive renewable energy development. Which the planet needs, we just want to make sure that it`s done with the
best environmental and management practices possible, so that wildlife and renewable energy can coexist.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In partnership with Norwegian company Equinoll (ph) which has a major offshore wind project in New York and the Woodshall Ocean
Graphic Institute, the WCS has deployed two acoustic buoys to detect whale calls in real time.
ROSENBAUM: If you could imagine when a whale vocalizes in the New York Bight, like for example, a North Atlantic right whale, we can actually
detect those animals. I can get an alert on my cellphone and when that happens at a certain level right now, the -- the National Oceanic
Atmospheric Administration is requesting ships to slow down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the future, Rosenbaum says this alert system could be used to mandate boat slowdowns or to directly alert developers and
shippers to the presence of whales, so that they can pause noisy or potentially harmful activities.
ROSENBAUM: It`s a great tool and a great use of the technology that we can begin to use and harness the power of that to help better protect whales.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rosenbaum`s team also takes and analyzes genetic samples from the whales, in order to understand more about how this
population connects to others, like how they feed and breed.
ROSENBAUM: We`re also trying to new work, which is called Environmental DNA or EDNA and with that, we`re actually able to detect whale presence and
what they`re eating just by collecting the water sample.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: By combining information from genetic and acoustic research, the scientists aim to understand a lot more about the whales and
their behavior to find practical solutions to the challenges facing these New York Ocean giants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Evar or Evar Swanson, even you baseball fanatics might not know that name, but Swanson holds the World Record for the fastest sprint around the
bases. He ran it in 13.3 seconds. Well, that`s the fastest sprint for human but at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, California, a Russell terrier
was recently unleashed to chase down the record for a dog. And he caught it, Macho, his name is Macho, his trainer reportedly spent more than a year
teaching him how to do this, and when Macho finally came home his time was 21.06 seconds.
Nothing cheesy about "Macho". While he was having a ball, three left turns put him right in the record books. People now know him on a first name
"bases". He deserves his own card because he`s "Topps". It`s official, Macho is a baseball diamond in the "ruff". I`m Carl Azuz and it`s time to
get Loudon. We`re shouting out Loudon, Tennessee today. It`s home to Loudon High School. Thank you for subscribing and commenting on our You
Tube channel. As you know, that is the only way to get your school mentioned on our show. Have a great Tuesday.
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