It’s time now for a fact-check of North Carolina politics. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum spoke at the North Carolina Republican Party convention in Greensboro last month. He focused on energy policy and made this claim:
“President Trump shut down Nord Stream 2. He just shut it down. And then, what does Joe Biden do? Immediately gets in and approves, approves it. And then all of a sudden, Western Europe is totally dependent on them. Then he shuts down our LNG export capacity which would then supply it to our allies.” To fact-check that, I’m joined now by Paul Specht of WRAL.
Marshall Terry: For those unfamiliar with Doug Burgum, he has been mentioned as a top contender to be Donald Trump's running mate this fall. So, is that why he spoke at the North Carolina GOP convention?
Paul Specht: Yes. You know, and through the years, the North Carolina Republican Convention has hosted a lot of people who are supporters of Donald Trump.
Terry: Well, let's start with the Nord Stream 2 that Burgum mentioned. What is that, and what's the broader geopolitical context here?
Specht: Nord Stream 2 was a pipeline that Russia was building that would go under the sea to Germany. It was announced about a decade ago now. But it was pretty controversial at the time because, if you'll remember, back in 2014 Russia invaded Ukraine. And so, you know, the U.S. did not want Germany and the rest of Europe to become even more dependent on Russia for their fuel. The U.S. opposed it, and construction started. And Donald Trump — his administration — placed sanctions on Russia and some of the actors involved in pipeline construction.
Terry: Now, how about the other thing that Burgum mentioned — LNG export capacity. What is that?
Specht: Liquefied natural gas is fast becoming one of our top energy exports. In fact, since Joe Biden took office, we've become the number one exporter of liquefied natural gas in the world.
Terry: OK. Just so we're clear, Russia wanted to export natural gas to Europe through the Nord Stream 2. Burgum said Trump said no to that, and if Europe couldn't get that Russian gas, they would import liquefied natural gas from the U.S. instead. But Burgum said Biden hamstrung our gas exports and gave Russia the go-ahead with its pipeline. Is that about right?
Specht: That's what he alleged. Let's go through the various claims. He said Trump shut down Nord Stream 2. That did not happen. He did place sanctions — and those slowed the project, but they didn't stop it.
Burgum then said that President Biden approved it. President Biden, in 2021, as construction was about to wrap up on Nord Stream 2, he lifted some sanctions that eased the German and Russian ability to finish the project. Although Nord Stream 2 never became fully operational. So to say Biden approved it, A) construction was about to wrap up anyway; and B) as we all know, Russia invaded Ukraine again in 2022. And months later someone blew (the pipeline) up. And so, in that regard, it's completely inaccurate to say that it is used for our European allies to rely on fuel from Russia for. It was never relied upon at all.
And then, finally, Joe Biden earlier this year put a pause on the review of up-and-coming LNG projects — that is just projects that are on paper. It did not stop any LNG exports from the U.S. to our allies or anywhere else.
Terry: So, how did you rate this claim by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum?
Specht: We rated it “mostly false.” And what that means is, there's a kernel of truth. But that he greatly exaggerates and misrepresents the situation otherwise.
