It's not just Obamacare: Sean Hannity is spreading misleading information about the oil industry, too. Speaking at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in North Dakota last week, Hannity had some great things to say about the state's oil boom -- all of which apparently went unchallenged (it helped that he was addressing a very receptive audience: according to the Associated Press, the Fox News host earned a standing ovation before he even opened his mouth).
The problem was, "Hannity did not know some important details about the drilling industry" as Platts -- a journal whose entire mission is to report on the industry, and which can therefore be counted upon to know its stuff -- was quick to point out.
Media Matters dug up the journal's coverage of Hannity's speech, which identified a few of those knowledge gaps:
For example, he wondered why oil companies were drilling in deepwater “when they could drill in shallow water.” When it was explained that they did so because the deepwater is where large oil reserves can be found, he said he was told that environmentalists forced companies to drill away from shore.
The claim that environmentalists are pushing oil companies away from shore is one that's frequently made by conservative media figures, and once that's previously been debunked -- as Platts confirmed, they're drilling out there because that's where the money is.
"In spite of government, you have been able to show the entire country that there is an answer out there - the answer is oil, the answer is energy, it's the lifeblood of our economy," Hannity told the crowd. "You have shown the country the way, I just hope that America is wise and smart enough to follow North Dakota." According to Platts, a reporter called Hannity out for claiming that oil can have as big an impact in the rest of the U.S. as it did in North Dakota, questioning how "states such as Vermont, Georgia or Idaho, which have no oil production, could follow the lead of North Dakota which had naturally abundant resources."
Hannity, according to Platts, admitted that he's "not an expert in oil."
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