Cavuto failed to challenge false claim that "we didn't have any spillage whatsoever ... during Katrina"

Summary: On Your World, Neil Cavuto did not challenge Rep. Michelle Bachmann's false claim that "[w]e didn't have any spillage whatsoever from the oil rigs during Katrina." In fact, a report prepared for the federal government by an international consulting firm identified damage from Hurricane Katrina to 27 platforms and rigs that resulted in the spilling of approximately 2,843 barrels of petroleum products into the Gulf of Mexico.

During the September 1 edition of Fox News' Your World, host Neil Cavuto did not challenge Rep. Michelle Bachmann's (R-MN) false claim that "[w]e didn't have any spillage whatsoever from the oil rigs during [Hurricane] Katrina" in 2005. In fact, a 2007 report prepared for the U.S. Minerals Management Service by the international consulting firm Det Norske Veritas identified damage from Katrina to 27 platforms and rigs that resulted in the spilling of approximately 2,843 barrels of petroleum products into the Gulf of Mexico. The report further found that when also considering damage done to oil pipelines, a total of approximately 5,552 barrels of petroleum products spilled into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of Katrina.

In response to Bachmann's false claim, Cavuto asserted, "They're saying, 'We lucked out; a [Category] 4 or 5 storm -- Katie, bar the door.' " Bachmann responded, "Hey, isn't that great? Isn't that great that we did? I don't think it's luck. I think it's the fact of American ingenuity and technology. We know how to do things, and our companies have done a wonderful job making sure that we are both environmentally sound, but also able to produce the energy that America needs."

From the September 1 edition of Fox News Your World with Neil Cavuto:

CAVUTO: All right, so, you know what they're going to say, that a bad -- "We're one bad storm away from a lot of rigs getting knocked to smithereens and oil spilling all over the place, and now the Republicans want to push this too much. Bad, bad, bad."

BACHMANN: No, no, no. It's nonsense, because if you want to talk about a bad hurricane, it's Katrina. We didn't have any spillage whatsoever from the oil rigs during Katrina.

CAVUTO: They're saying, "We lucked out; a [Category] 4 or 5 storm -- Katie, bar the door."

BACHMANN: Hey, isn't that great? Isn't that great that we did? I don't think it's luck. I think it's the fact of American ingenuity and technology. We know how to do things, and our companies have done a wonderful job making sure that we are both environmentally sound, but also able to produce the energy that America needs.

CAVUTO: How do you think this is going, Congresswoman? You know, delayed --

BACHMANN: The convention?

CAVUTO: Yeah. The whole nine yards.

—J.H.