Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumHow Pruitt Built His Coal Job Lie: By Including All Mining Jobs In Every Sector
When the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, incorrectly told a series of talk show hosts this weekend that the coal industry had added nearly 50,000 jobs since late last year, he was using figures covering the metals, oil and gas industries too, an EPA spokesman said on Monday.
Pruitt's comments, which came on the heels of a decision by the administration of President Donald Trump to withdraw from a global pact to fight climate change, triggered a backlash on social media by people questioning his honesty.
The coal industry has added 1,700 jobs since late 2016 and now employs about 51,000 people. The figure is down sharply from 175,000 in the late 1980s when it steadily began losing market share to natural gas, according to government figures.
"Administrator Pruitt was referring to mining, which includes coal," EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman said. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the mining sector as any business involved in the extraction of minerals like ores, coal, petroleum and natural gas.
EDIT
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-coal-jobs-idUSKBN18W2P4
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,621 posts)By Michael Biesecker and Seth Borenstein
The Associated Press June 6, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trumps environmental chief has been trying to clear the air about why his boss is pulling out of the Paris climate accord, but some of the claims hes making are as solid as smoke. A look at a some of the statements Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt made over the weekend:
PRUITT, pushing back on whether the president is overstating his ability to bring back long lost coal-mining jobs, credited Trump with creating almost 50,000 jobs in the coal sector since the fourth quarter of last year. In the month of May alone, almost 7,000 jobs, Pruitt told NBCs Meet the Press.
THE FACTS: Hes wildly off base. Instead of adding almost 50,000 jobs in the last few months, coal mining accounted for a total of only 51,000 jobs nationally at the end of May. Thats only up about 400 jobs from the prior month, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Asked about Pruitts claim of 50,000 new coal jobs, his staff on Monday pointed to statistics encompassing seven months of job gains across the far broader mining sector. That includes not just coal but also oil and gas extraction, metal ore mining, stone quarrying and other unrelated jobs. Three of the months Pruitts staff is counting were while Barack Obama was still president.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,621 posts)By Glenn Kessler June 6 at 3:00 AM
The Facts
On Meet the Press, Pruitt flatly stated that almost 50,000 jobs have been added in the coal sector. Many readers asked about this claim, noting that there are only about 50,000 jobs in coal. Heres the Bureau of Labor Statistics data on coal jobs. As you can see, it has been in a tight range for months, with a slight gain. In the last four months of the Obama administration, September to January, there was a gain of 1,400 jobs. In the first four months of the Trump administration, there has been a gain of 1,000 jobs.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
On the other programs, Pruitt more carefully referred to mining and coal or coal jobs, mining jobs. You can see how he tries to slip in the word mining. Thats a sign that this is a carefully crafted spin. He emphasizes coal while trying to be technically correct by slipping in a reference to mining.
Heres the BLS data on mining jobs.
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
If you go back to October, you end up with a gain of 47,000 jobs. Thats Pruitts nearly 50,000. (From April to May, there was a gain of 6,600 jobs thats Pruitts 7,000.)
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Four Pinocchios
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Glenn Kessler has reported on domestic and foreign policy for more than three decades. He would like your help in keeping an eye on public figures. Send him statements to fact check by emailing him, tweeting at him, or sending him a message on Facebook. Follow @GlennKesslerWP
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There was this comment:
grkatz
4:37 PM EDT {Edited}
Are Pinocchios calculated on a logarithmic scale?
Under the Trump administration, they should be.
And this reply:
BlackHawk7
4:42 PM EDT
Let's say a Richter-Lie Scale. 0-9 with 8 or 9 catastrophic. Trump would be about a 9 most of the time.