Latest Fact Check

Campaign Contributions Suggest Pay-For-Play Behind PA Lawmaker’s Anti-Pipeline Vendetta

May 4, 2019

A Pennsylvania lawmaker has benefited handsomely from his anti-pipeline vendetta, according to campaign finance data analyzed by the website Natural Gas Now.

The report found that state Sen. Andy Dinniman, a Democrat and leading critic of the Mariner East pipeline project, has accepted nearly $80,000 in campaign contributions from a real estate developer engaged in a lawsuit against the owner of the pipeline. According to Natural Gas Now:

Hankin Group was the second highest contributor to Andy Dinniman’s between 2014 and 2018, donating $29,500 to the ongoing campaign. Just two months before the lawsuit was announced, the Hankin …

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FACT CHECK: Texas Legislation Protects Critical Infrastructure, Doesn’t Allow Arrest For Mere Demonstration

May 3, 2019

CLAIM: The Texas Observer suggests that a bill before the state legislature designed to protect critical infrastructure projects would “chill civil disobedience” and allow authorities to arrest people for “simply demonstrating with signs at oil and gas sites, since their protest and presence could be construed as impeding operations.”

RATING: False

FACT CHECK

Texas House Bill 3557 is clear in its language:

A person commits an offense if, without the effective consent of the owner, the person intentionally or knowingly: (1) damages, destroys, vandalizes, defaces, or tampers with a critical infrastructure facility; or (2) impedes, inhibits, or otherwise interferes with …

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