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HYPOCRISY WATCH: Flight Attendants’ Union Backs Green New Deal, Despite Plan to Eliminate Air Travel

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The head of a major flight attendant union praised Democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal last week, saying the radical vision poses no threat to the future of air travel.

“[F]light attendants and airline workers have been told by some pundits that the Green New Deal…will ground all air travel. That’s absurd,” wrote Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants.

The Green New Deal calls for “overhauling the transportation systems in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.” This, according to Ocasio-Cortez’s office, would be accomplished in part by “build[ing] out highspeed …

HYPOCRISY WATCH: Emma Thompson Flies A Long Way To Save The Environment

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It’s enough that actress Emma Thompson joined environmental extremists last week who sought to shut down London’s Heathrow Airport to disrupt holiday travel plans at one of the world’s busiest airports.

It’s quite another that she felt entitled to flex her big carbon footprint to fly to London from Los Angeles to protest … checking our notes … people flying too much. She flew in for the protest even though event organizers believe airplanes should “only be used for emergencies.”

Thompson is the same person who wrote last year, “To avoid catastrophic climate change that will affect every one …

FACT CHECK: Gas Moratoriums Will Increase Reliance on Fuel Oil

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The New York City Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection held a hearing Monday to consider a resolution opposing the Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline project. While pipeline foes used the hearing to spread more misinformation, Jainey Bavishi—the director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency—stuck to the facts.

Bavishi, who previously served on the White House Council on Environmental Quality during the Obama administration, emphasized the city’s reliance on clean natural gas and explained the ramifications of potential moratoriums on new gas connections due to limited supply.

Here’s a look at what she had to say …

FACT CHECK: Pipeline Bills Aren’t Aimed At Stopping Dissent

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CLAIM: Anti-pipeline activist Michele Naar-Obed, who was arrested for attempting to damage a Minnesota pipeline, claims that “Since 2016, about three dozen states across the country have considered bills and executive orders explicitly designed to stop dissent against the fossil fuel industry.”

RATING: False

FACT CHECK

As we have previously noted, the legislation signed in South Dakota and being considered in other states is not “designed to stop dissent.” Rather, the legislation is designed to discourage activists like Naar-Obed and those who bring a more destructive or violent approach to their protests of critical infrastructure projects.

The bills do …

FACT CHECK: Missouri Legislation Protects Critical Infrastructure

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CLAIM: The Missouri Sierra Club claims that legislation designed to protect critical infrastructure in Missouri – and the construction of those projects – is “clearly an attack on speech and assembly” and is “meant to intimidate actions.”

RATING: False

FACT CHECK

Senate Bill 293– like other bills in Statehouses across the country – is clear in its language that it is aimed at those who trespass on others’ property without permission and those who “damage, destroy, vandalize, deface, or tamper with equipment in a critical infrastructure facility.”

Quite simply, the proposed law clearly allows for free speech, …

FACT CHECK: Russian Trolls Aided #NoDAPL Protesters

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CLAIM: Russian agents used social media to undermine the U.S. energy infrastructure projects.

RATING: True

FACT CHECK

A 2018 congressional report detailed how Russian agents utilized social media to undermine U.S. energy policy, including approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Investigators with the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology found that between 2015 and 2017, “an estimated 9,097 Russian posts or tweets regarding U.S. energy policy or a current energy event,” including the approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline, appeared on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Pipelines and domestic energy infrastructure were a primary target of the Russian agents.

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FACT CHECK: Security Personnel Did Not Set Fire at North Dakota Pipeline Protest

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CLAIM: The Albuquerque Journal reports that “someone set some army trucks parked on a bridge on fire” at the Standing Rock pipeline protest in 2016, and that “some thought it was the work of security details dressed as protesters.” The Journal also quotes an activist photographer as saying, “There’s this huge issue of who set those trucks on fire” because security “wanted to keep their jobs; they were making $1 million a month.”

RATING: False

FACT CHECK

The Journal quotes the claims uncritically but fails to mention that seven people were charged with federal crimes in conjunction with the protest, …

FACT CHECK: Missouri Legislation Poses No Threat To First Amendment

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CLAIM: The editorial board at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch claims that legislation before the Missouri General Assembly designed to discourage violent and destructive behavior by protesters at pipelines and pipeline construction sites instead “aims to silence environmentalists.”

RATING: False

FACT CHECK

The text of the bill – Senate Bill 293 – makes clear that the legislation poses no threat to the First Amendment rights of environmentalists to gather peacefully and share their concerns about pipeline projects.

Instead, the legislation states:

A person commits the offense of trespass on a critical infrastructure facility if he or she unlawfully trespasses

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FACT CHECK: More Atlantic Coast, Mountain Valley Pipeline Fear Mongering

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CLAIM: A letter to the editor published in the Wilson Times claimed a epoxy coating used to protect pipelines from corrosion is susceptible to UV degradation. The letter goes on to allege the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines pose safety risks because some of the pipe used for the projects had been stored outside for an extended period of time.

RATING: False

FACT CHECK: This letter is more focused on spreading fear than it is on establishing facts. Fusion-bonded epoxy or FBE is a corrosion resistant coating used in the pipeline industry to protect steel pipe from corroding once …

FACT CHECK: South Dakota Riot Boosting Law Is Clear, Protects First Amendment

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CLAIM: The ACLU of South Dakota claims that a new state law designed to reduce the risks associated with pipeline construction and protect workers “(chills) protected speech and (fails) to adequately describe what speech or conduct could subject protesters and organizations to criminal and civil penalties.”

RATING: False

FACT CHECK

As previously noted, the new law does not threaten free speech. Additionally, the language in Senate Bill 189 is clear on the violent behavior the law seeks to address:

In addition to any other liability or criminal penalty under law, a person is liable for riot boosting, jointly …