EPA chief blowing smoke over coal jobs and climate

By Michael Biesecker and Seth Borenstein
The Associated Press June 6, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s 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 he’s 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 NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

THE FACTS: He’s 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. That’s only up about 400 jobs from the prior month, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Asked about Pruitt’s 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 Pruitt’s staff is counting were while Barack Obama was still president.

Pruitt’s claim that ‘almost 50,000 jobs’ have been gained in coal

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. Here’s 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.” That’s 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.

Here’s 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. That’s Pruitt’s “nearly 50,000.” (From April to May, there was a gain of 6,600 jobs — that’s Pruitt’s 7,000.)
....

Four Pinocchios



....
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