Few things are as sacred to New Yorkers as their pizza, so when deniers caught wind of climate policy brushing up against the city's prized pies, it was time for an urban version of the "Biden's gonna take your burgers" disinformation tactic. This week was filled with shrill alarmist cries that the city's climate policy is going to outlaw coal and wood-fired pizza ovens. Spoiler alert: it's not.
One conservative troll got a police citation for throwing pizzas at City Hall (lol) and the New York Post not only ran a story on it, but also got Marc Morano to publish an op-ed on the topic. Not to be outdone, "On June 27, Fox aired 52 minutes discussing the Post's pizza story," MediaMatters reported.
But as HEATED pointed out, "There was just one problem: the story, like so many others, is a lie." The policy in question is meant to address the particulate matter emissions from the ovens, not the carbon emissions, and "the only thing the rule requires is for pizzeria owners to have an architect or engineer come check out the oven, and see if it’s feasible to install an emissions scrubber. If it’s not, they can apply for a waiver." In other words, all it’s mandating is to have someone check and see if it's possible for the pizza places to pour a little less cancer-causing smoke into their neighbors' air.
But that’s not all! The New York law is finally going into effect now after being passed way back in 2015, so unless time travel is real, the new rules were not created by “Green New Dealers,” as the Post’s editorial board claims.
And remember: If the pizza joints can't put in scrubbers, THEN THEY CAN JUST GET WAIVERS! The law was expressly designed so that it wouldn't require iconic NYC establishments to stop serving up slices, but that's exactly the narrative deniers are spreading to fearmonger about climate policy. And as Emily Atkin observed in a follow-up HEATED piece, plenty of mainstream outlets that should've known better followed suit.
There’s no doubt the Fourth of July holiday will provide another opportunity for disinfluencers to virtue signal on behalf of BBQ grills and burgers, but you, faithful Denier Roundup readers, will be on your own. We're taking some time off, and we’ll resume cursing you with the knowledge of what's happening in denierland on July 18th.
Try not to miss us too much! And if you do, remember there are other great resources out there!
