Cartoonist incorrect about last state inspection of Texas plant

[white cloud]

By W. Gardner Selby
Published on Wednesday, May 1st, 2013 at 3:30 p.m.



Related rulings:

Says the fertilizer plant that exploded in West, Texas,"had not been inspected by the state of Texas since 2006."

Jack Ohman, Thursday, April 25th, 2013.



Editorial cartoonist Jack Ohman's depiction of Gov. Rick Perry and the explosion of a plant in West, Texas, appeared April 25, 2013 in California's Sacramento Bee.

Defending an editorial cartoon that ticked off Gov. Rick Perry, creator Jack Ohman said he intended to make a provocative point about government oversight in the wake of a Texas disaster that left 14 people dead and 200 injured.

The April 25, 2013, cartoon by Ohman, editorial cartoonist for the Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, depicts Perry as making one of his pitches for businesses to come to Texas. In the cartoon’s first panel, Perry says from behind a dais: "Business is booming in Texas!" The cartoon’s next panel shows the April 17, 2013, explosion of the fertilizer plant in West, Texas, with "BOOM!" in red letters plus a flag with "low regs" visible near flames.

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http://www.politifact.com/texas/article/2013/may/01/cartoonist-incorrect-about-last-state-inspection-t/

[hlthe2b]

1. So what was wrong with what he purported? What a ridiculous article to...

claim errors, but never correct them. How damned annoying.

[unblock]

2. just follow the links

look in the column to the right of the short version of the story for the claims, and click "details" to get the long story.




Our ruling

Ohman said the fertilizer plant in West was last inspected by the state of Texas in 2006.

In fact, one state agency went to the plant less than two weeks before the disaster and multiple times over recent years, while the state’s environmental agency was there in 2007. As significantly, this claim leaves misimpressions that the state routinely conducts major inspections of such plants and that federal government has no particular role. Neither conclusion was supported by news stories published before the cartoon came out.

We're not taking a position here about the Texas regulatory climate nor are we concluding that agencies should be let off the hook for what happened before the explosion. That said, the statement is not accurate. We rate it as False.

[DhhD]

4. May BEE he needs another cartoon to depict the 1985 inspection in some way. May BEE 2006

needs to be made in to another cartoon. I am thinking that you are asking for more bees.

[DhhD]

5. 2006 Inspection due to a chemical smell complaint.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/04/18/1886991/west-texas-fertilizer-plant-hadnt-been-inspected-in-the-past-five-years/

[DirkGently]

3. For Pete's sake. As if that was the point. AND they buried the

actual supposed date of the "last inspection." It was 2007. Zowie. So it was only six years since some kind of inspection occurred. I had to follow a link and scan another nine inches of text to find that. But they say the cartoonist's comment "didn't check out" all over the place.

Methinks TexasPolitifacts is not super neutral on their "fact checking" here.