The Latest Propaganda Push From Pro-Pipeline Front Group GAIN

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This is a guest post by ClimateDenierRoundup.

Although pipelines have been facing a number of setbacks recently, pro-pipeline groups arenโ€™t giving up. One of those isย Grow Americaโ€™s Infrastructure Nowย (GAIN), which came to our attention because itโ€™s recently begun sponsoring the Washington Examinerโ€™sย daily energy newsletter.

GAINโ€™s website simply describes the group as supporting strengthening infrastructure development and only mentions pipelines as one aspect of its focus, which also includes bridges, roads, etc. But the groupโ€™sย blog,ย Twitter, andย coverageย inย the mediaย are pretty exclusively dedicated to pro-pipeline messaging. Hmmm, almost like it isnโ€™t an all-around infrastructure group, and perhaps may have some ulterior motiveย โ€ฆ

Which, of course, it does. GAIN was formerly known as the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now (MAIN), whichย Steve Horn at DeSmogย reported was acting as a front group for DCI. You mayย remember DCIย as the PR firm tied to the GOP: Itโ€™s got experienceย in creating front groupsย on behalf ofย Big Tobacco, itโ€™s known for its roleย spearheading the modern Tea Party movement, and itโ€™s also worked toย discredit Dakota Access pipeline protesters.

And although it seems to have changed names, GAIN is still up to the sameย tricks.

Back in July of 2017,ย Eric Hananoki at Media Mattersย wrote a piece exposing how CNN Commentator James โ€œSpiderโ€ Marks was writing op-eds attacking pipeline protestors without disclosing he was on the advisory board of TigerSwan, a company that was hired to provide security for the Dakota Access pipeline. This led to numerous papers updating Marksโ€™ pieces to reflect this.ย PennLive actually statedย โ€œhis work will not appear on the website againโ€ due to this failure toย disclose.

Whatโ€™s Marks been up to lately? Well as it turns out, in the past year, heโ€™s been writing more pro-pipeline op-eds, in theย Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, theย Washington Times, andย RealClearPolitics. All, of course, without mentioning his position as aย Strategic Advisor at GAIN.ย 

GAINโ€™s latest project is a โ€œfact-checkerโ€ tool, designed, as the website says, to push back against the so-called โ€œcoordinated disinformation campaignsโ€ that have been leveraged against pipelines like Dakota Access and Keystone XL.

However, GAIN seems unaware of how fact-checkers generally work: The website often just repeats a claim without offering any further evidence and then deems itย true.

Aย recent fact-checkย from earlier this week has the appearance of offering more evidence, but that disappears once you dig in. The check gives a โ€œFalseโ€ rating to a claim that a pipeline would negatively impact property values, using evidence inย a 2016 study by the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), a trade organization that advocates for the natural gas pipeline industry, which concluded that proximity to a natural gas pipeline has no impact on propertyย value.

Beyond the inherent bias of having a natural gas pipeline advocacy group do this study,ย some have also pointed outย that the study compared houses next to the pipeline with houses in the same development, a few hundred feet from the pipeline, rather than with the broader market. This means the research may not be accurately portraying the influence of pipelines on property value. After all, if the pipeline depresses value for the whole neighborhood, this methodology wouldnโ€™tย notice.

Personal andย localย accountsย suggest thatโ€™s exactly whatโ€™s happening.ย One property ownerย in the path of that Kinder Morgan pipeline โ€” a self-described conservative who supports pipelines โ€” says heโ€™s been trying to sell his property and interest has dropped since the project wasย announced.

Meaning that unless you own the pipeline or get paid by the people who do, buying into the industryโ€˜s propaganda will be all pain, no GAIN.

Main image: A natural gas pipeline warning at a Pennsylvania pipeline construction site. Credit: Ashley Braun,ย DeSmog

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