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