Russian official warns G-7 amid export ban threats, whale deaths on the rise: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Russian official warns G-7 'idiots' amid export ban threats

Moscow threatens reciprocations if G-7 nations enact an export ban for Russia. Plus, USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page looks at new polling data on President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, a USA TODAY analysis found that many companies on federal contracts are not meeting a commitment on racial equality, USA TODAY Consumer Travel Reporter Zach Wichter talks about a new sustainable aviation fuel, and whale sightings - and deaths - are on the rise.

Podcasts: True crime, in-depth interviews and more USA TODAY podcasts right here.

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Monday, the 24th of April 2023. Today, new threats from Moscow amid talks of a possible export ban for Russia. Plus, what new polling tells us about Biden and Trump, and a new sustainable fuel could be the future of aviation.

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Moscow says it'll shut down the Black Sea grain deal that allows Ukraine to help feed much of the developing world if G-7 countries decide to ban all exports to Russia. The Group of Seven nations, which include the United States, are threatening the near total export ban. Former Russian president and current security council deputy, Dmitry Medvedev, said on his telegram channel, "This idea from the idiots at the G7, about a total ban of exports to our country, by default, is beautiful in that it implies a reciprocal ban on imports from our country."

Since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, G-7 country sanctions have focused more on stopping the import of Russian goods and less on exporting goods to Russia. Import sanctions, for instance, have forced Russia to sell oil and other goods at a discount to China, India and other countries willing to ignore sanctions.

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President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump each face significant challenges in a potential rematch for the White House. That's according to a new USA TODAY/Suffolk Poll. But as USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page told me, their issues are opposite ones. Susan, thanks for hopping on 5 Things.

Susan Page:

Hey, it's great to be with you.

Taylor Wilson:

Let's start with the current president. How is Biden standing among voters who supported him in 2020?

Susan Page:

Well, here's his strength. His support is wide. Seven out of 10 of his voters say he's governing well when it comes to politics and policy. That's a big achievement. But his support is shallow, they're not that enthusiastic about voting for him. Again, a plurality of them say they wish he would not seek reelection. And by 20 points, they are less enthusiastic about voting for him this time than they were last time, and that could be a big problem.

Taylor Wilson:

And moving to Trump, he's obviously kept himself firmly in the news cycle, including a criminal indictment. I'm wondering, Susan, has that indictment negatively impacted his polling numbers? And how is Trump standing among his 2020 voters?

Susan Page:

So it's the reverse of Joe Biden. His support is deep, but it's narrow. And look, for example, on the impact of the criminal indictment in New York, we ask his voters, "Does that make a difference for you?" And overwhelmingly, his voters say it makes no difference to them if he's indicted or if he's indicted again.

And what's especially surprising is among those who say it makes a difference, by seven to one they say the indictments make them more likely to support him, not less likely. So that is a huge strength in the Republican primaries. It makes it really hard for rivals to attack him for being indicted. Usually, being indicted is not a political plus, but it is a problem, or looms as a problem, in a general election. Because, even some voters who tend to agree with Trump on policy may think, whoa, look at him. He's facing indictment, criminal indictment, the first ex-president to be in this situation. That gives me some concern.

Taylor Wilson:

And Susan, what does this polling tell us about whether there's space for a third party candidate to give Biden or Trump a real run?

Susan Page:

There's definitely a landscape that is fertile for a third party candidate. We found that if we end up with a rematch, with a Biden vs. Trump rematch, 6% of Trump voters and 9% of Biden voters said they'll vote for a third party candidate. And even if the argument is made and they're persuaded that doing that makes it more likely that the other side is going to win the White House, a third of them say they'll vote for a third party anyway.

Taylor Wilson:

Susan Page, thanks so much.

Susan Page:

Hey, thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Each year, thousands of companies land lucrative federal contracts producing everything from COVID-19 vaccines to missile defense systems, but those come with some strings attached. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order holding federal contractors to a higher standard than other employers in making sure Black Americans and people of color have equal opportunities in hiring, training, and promotions. But more than half a century later, many firms are not living up to that commitment. That's according to a USA TODAY analysis of data obtained by Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. White men dominate executive ranks, holding 59% of those positions in 2020. A small fraction of executives are Black or Hispanic, and an even smaller number are women of color. You can see the full findings of the analysis with a link in today's show notes.

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Aviation fuel is responsible for some of the worst pollution in travel, but does it have to be that way? USA TODAY Consumer Travel Reporter Zach Wichter told me about a new sustainable fuel option that could power commercial flights in the future. Hello, Zach.

Zach Wichter:

Hey, how are you?

Taylor Wilson:

Good, thanks. Thanks for coming back on the podcast.

Zach Wichter:

Yeah, happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

Can you just explain how this power to liquid fuel process works?

Zach Wichter:

Every time I think about this process, it totally blows my mind because it's really simple and it's really efficient, and I just feel like people should be making a bigger deal about it than what I'm seeing now. Because, essentially, it's fuel made from two ingredients, hydrogen, which is taken out of water as you know, H2O. They pull some water from the municipal water supply, they separate the hydrogen and oxygen in the water. The oxygen goes back out into the air, the hydrogen is combined with carbon dioxide, which they're pulling from existing emitters. And so, it's just those two ingredients. And basically, they run it through this process in a chamber really similar to other kinds of petrochemicals, so like oil and gas processes. And they use those two ingredients, hydrogen and carbon dioxide, to essentially produce aviation fuel. So what comes out is paraffins, which are what's turned into the fuel, that's the most flammable component. Methanol, ethanol and more water, which they're able to recycle back into the start of the process. And so it's really efficient and it's very portable technology from what these producers were telling me. It's something that they can set up almost anywhere.

Taylor Wilson:

And Zach, how does this compare with other sustainable aviation fuels?

Zach Wichter:

This is more comparable in composition to petroleum based fossil fuels, which is good because that means that when this sustainable aviation fuel in the power to liquid process is produced, it's able to just be dropped into existing machines like airplanes and other aircraft. Other kinds of sustainable aviation fuel either require more kinds of processing to get there, or require some kind of modification on the machines, so they need to be adapted to accept different kinds of fuel. So what's interesting about power to liquid is, like I said, it's a drop-in replacement for existing fuel. It comes out of the process essentially ready to go without extra refining, whereas some of the other sustainable aviation fuels that are really popular, I'm thinking about years ago when people were first talking about sustainable aviation fuel, we heard a lot about fuel from food, waste cooking oil that is produced into aviation fuel. That takes a lot more refining. And so it's a much more efficient overall process, this power to liquid way of generating the fuel.

Taylor Wilson:

And is this being used yet for commercial flights?

Zach Wichter:

At least with Air Company, which is the company whose facility I toured in Brooklyn, they're not yet powering commercial flights. They do have partnerships with the Department of Defense and the US Air Force, and they've tested on some experimental aircraft, and so they have powered some flights. It has not yet been used in commercial flight, but their plan is for Air Company's specific fuel, in the next couple of years when their next production facility is online, that should be able to go onto commercial flights.

Taylor Wilson:

And Zach, does this power to liquid process have any critics?

Zach Wichter:

It's not that it has critics that I've heard from, so to speak. I think people are really pretty optimistic about the possibilities. The real barriers right now with all sustainable aviation fuel are the economics. It is more expensive to produce than drilling for oil and refining fuel that way just because we have the infrastructure for that.

It's also an energy intensive process to create the synthesizing of these ingredients, carbon and hydrogen, does take a lot of energy. Air Company right now is buying essentially offsets. They draw power from the grid in New York City to fuel this process, but they're buying offsets to offset the emissions that that produces.

In the future, they hope to power it directly through renewable energy sources, but those are kind of the big obstacles right now. It's finding ways to reduce the overall lifecycle emissions of this process through using more renewable energies behind it, and also just scaling up, which is really difficult and expensive.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Zach Wichter, great info for us. Thanks so much.

Zach Wichter:

Yeah, thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Whale sightings are increasing in the ship-infested waters off New York and New Jersey. Paul Sieswerda, retired curator of the New York Aquarium and founder of Gotham Whale, said his staff and volunteers have reported exponential increases in whale sightings, and they've cataloged more than 300 individual humpbacks, along with other whales, since 2009.

The problem is whales are also dying in the area. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been investigating increases in the deaths of humpbacks, right whales and mink whales since 2016. Deaths among those species averaged 53 animals a year along the East Coast from 2017 to 2022, but just since December 1st, that number is 33. With a third of those off New York and New Jersey.

Scientists aren't yet sure what's killing the whales. When a dead whale washes up on shore, it's often too decomposed to perform a necropsy. But in the cases where a cause of death was determined, most were the result of either ship strikes or entanglement with fishing gear. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

And you can find new episodes of 5 Things every morning wherever you get your podcast. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New Biden/Trump polling, federal contractors lack diversity: 5 Things podcast