Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com's next round of the current semester of intern-pestering came after the Russia invasion of Ukraine, when intern Emily Robertson asked senators, “Should the United States prohibit petroleum imports from Russia and if not why not?” She got these senators to respond:
- Lindsey Graham (R)
- Ted Cruz (R)
- James Lankford (R)
- Joni Ernst (R)
- Marco Rubio (R)
- John Cornyn (R)
- Kevin Cramer (R)
- Jon Tester (D)
- Roy Blunt (R)
- Elizabeth Warren (D)
- Josh Hawley (R)
- Tommy Tuberville (R)
- Nancy Pelosi (D)
- Rick Scott (R)
- Todd Young (R)
- Bill Hagerty (R)
- Thom Tillis (R)
- Mike Braun (R)
- Richard Blumenthal (D)
- Ben Cardin (D)
- Roger Marshall (R)
- Jerry Moran (R)
- Ilhan Omar (D)
Nobody Robertson talked to was opposed to the idea, and she also got a roundup article out of it, Of course, the Republican-skewing lineup was given the opportunity to virtue-signal overincreasing the production of U.S. oil. But the boilkerplate text included in each article also stated this:
With President Joe Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, the United States is no longer energy independent. Rather, it relies upon other countries for energy resources such as gas and oil.
First, that statement is logically and factually wrong. The oil the pipeline would have carried would have come from Canada, so it wouldn't have contributed to America being "energy independent." Further, as we've noted, it's likely that much of the oil that came through the pipeline would be exported, which also would not have contributed to American energy independence.
The boilerplate in each article also claimed that "The effect of the pipeline cancellation has led to higher gas prices." In fact, as we also documented (and fact-checkers agree), there's little evidence the pipeline would lower gas prices or that the cancellation of the pipeline caused gas prices to rise.
Again, we're seeing that CNS is more interested in teaching its interns how to peddle right-wing talking points then to engage in factual journalism.
