Electricity

Has the Department of Transportation under Secretary Pete Buttigieg spent $7.5 billion on only eight EV charging stations? No, that's not true: Much of the money set aside for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program has yet to be spent as states apply for grants to fund EV charging projects. According to the Federal Highway Administration, 214 charging ports have…

Did inflation "since Biden and Kamala took over" cause a New York City barbershop owner to experience unusually high electric bills, as a post on social media says? No, that's not true: A spokesperson for Con Edison, the utility company that provides power to New York City residents, told Lead Stories the barber's recent bill was in error and that…

Do viral images authentically capture the massive destruction caused by Hurricane Milton at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida? No, that's not true: Those pictures were generated by AI and first posted on a website with a satire label. On October 11, 2024, Disney announced it had reopened its theme parks. The claim appeared in a video (archived here)…

Did humans artificially create Antarctica's ice cap in order to boost energy emissions from frozen metals? No, that's not true: Scientists say Antarctica began freezing about 34 million years ago due to a drop in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. That's about 28 million years before the earliest humans walked the Earth and about 34 million years before artificial refrigeration…

Does a photo show Moscow "dark due to severe electricity shortage" in August 2024? No, that's not true: The image of the Kremlin without its lights on is from 2014 and was taken for a World Wildlife Fund event. The photo does not show Moscow in 2024 amid the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. There are no reports of electricity…

Did the Kamala Harris campaign produce an AI image of a fake rally crowd and then distribute that picture? No, that's not true: The image in question was first published on the internet by a self-described parody account not affiliated with her campaign. That parody account subsequently posted again to say that the picture was "generated with AI." Lead Stories…

Does Iceland have "no prisons" and is electricity free there? No, that's not true: Iceland does have four correctional facilities. A typical monthly residential electricity bill there ranges between $16.50 and $43. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on June 17, 2024. It opened: ICELAND: The country where education and medicare are free. No prisons. No…

Do dust particles rising from the ground to a statically charged balloon prove that gravity isn't real, as was implied in an interview shared on YouTube? No, that's not true: The concept described in the video is that of static electricity or static cling. This phenomenon occurs when differently charged objects attract others based on their number of neutrons, electrons…

Did U.S. Marines forcibly block the Federal Emergency Management Agency from providing tornado relief in Omaha, Nebraska, in April 2024? No, that's not true: A Pentagon duty officer told Lead Stories that this claim is false. It originally showed up in an article on a website that regularly publishes fabricated content. The claim appeared in an article published by Real…

Is the world's first permanent electrified road open in Sweden as of April 2024? No, that's not true: Several short sections of prototype electrified roadway in Sweden have been used to test various charging methods for electric cars and trucks. But the first large-scale, permanent and open-for-public-use electrified road has not been constructed. A 13-mile pilot project was to be…