Fact Checks

CLAIM: After federal regulators declined to reconsider permits allowing three major natural gas projects to go forward in Texas at the Port of Brownsville, environmental activists say they plan to file a lawsuit against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Opponents argue that FERC commissioners did not take the combined pollution, noise and other impacts of the projects on neighboring communities and endangered species such as the ocelot, jaguarundi and aplomado falcon.

“These projects would disproportionately impact our already-marginalized Latino community, subject us to increased air pollution, and threaten our local tourism economy,” Sierra Club Brownsville organizer Rebekah Hinojosa said …

CLAIM: A column in Crain’s Chicago by the president of Save Our Illinois Land objects to a proposal to increase the capacity of oil that can be transported through the Dakota Access Pipeline. The objections center on two primary claims:

• The pipeline is inherently unsafe and jeopardizes Illinois residents; and
• The pipeline provides little to no benefit for Illinois as oil is shipped from North Dakota to the Gulf Coast.

RATING:

False

FACT CHECK:

First, the safety issue. The writer cites a 1999 accident at a pipeline in Washington state as proof that pipelines are unsafe. This neglects to acknowledge …

CLAIM: Environmental activists are asking federal regulators to reconsider permits for significant economic development in Texas, claiming FERC “failed to take a hard look at the impacts” of the projects:

The Sierra Club and several other opponents of three proposed liquefied natural gas export terminals at the Port of Brownsville are asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider permits that the agency recently awarded for the controversial projects.

In three separate Christmas Eve filings, the Sierra Club and other opponents of Rio Grande LNG, Annova LNG and Texas LNG asked for a rehearing on the agency’s Nov. 21 decision

CLAIM: Former New York City Mayor Bloomberg, who is running for the Democratic nomination for president, said the threat posed by natural gas “is going to be worse than coal.”

RATING:

False

FACT CHECK:

We suspect Bloomberg knows his claim is false, as he once said natural gas is a “godsend” for replacing coal.

He was right then. How right?

In July, the U.S. Energy Information Administration issued a forecast that concluded: “EIA’s July Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) forecasts a 2.2% decrease in CO2 emissions for 2019. Nearly all of the forecast decrease …

CLAIM: Environmental critics of Ohio legislation designed to prevent protesters from damaging critical infrastructure projects claim the bill is actually aimed at ending protests and curbing free speech.

Randy Cunningham with the Cleveland Environmental Action Network says it is similar to legislation in other states backed by the oil and gas industry after the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests.

“They have applied it to virtually everything you can think of: railroads, refineries, pipelines, injection wells,” says Cunningham. “The goal of it is to chill the conversation, to chill dissent.”

RATING

False

FACT CHECK

The language in Senate Bill 33…

It is heartening to see that some former vocal pipeline opponents have come around to see the benefits that natural gas provides communities across the country. That includes the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who once protested the Dakota Access Pipeline but is now pushing for a pipeline to serve an Illinois community that is one of the poorest in the country.

Reverend Jesse Jackson and a group of local leaders are working to bring a natural gas line to Pembroke Township to help one of the poorest communities in America have a warmer and happier winter. 

The township, located in southeastern