Trump’s False Claims About Coal, the Environment and West Virginia

WHAT WAS SAID

“We love clean, beautiful West Virginia coal. We love it. And you know that’s indestructible stuff. In times of war, in times of conflict, you can blow up those windmills. They fall down real quick. You can blow up those pipelines. They go like this and you’re not going to fix them too fast. You can do a lot of things to those solar panels. But you know what you can’t hurt? Coal.”

THE FACTS

If coal itself were truly indestructible, you couldn’t mine or burn it. Anthracite coal is hard, but yields to a hammer; you can crumble soft lignite in your hand. (The term “clean coal” is also a misnomer.)

The notion that coal-fired plants are somehow trouble-free and secure is also mistaken. In June, Westar Energy shut down Kansas’ largest power plant after an equipment failure led to the deaths of two employees, and an industrial accident shut down a Florida plant in 2017. In World War II, British bombers targeted the coal plants and stockpiles that powered the steel mills of the Ruhr Valley in Germany.

Trump has also argued that coal is more reliable than solar and wind power systems, which do not generate when the sun does not shine and the wind dies. This argument ignores the efforts to develop innovative energy storage systems to smooth those curves of supply and demand.

WHAT WAS SAID

“We are back. The coal industry is back.”

THE FACTS

Trump lauded his administration’s attempts on many fronts to roll back environmental policies from President Barack Obama’s administration that encouraged the transition to renewable energy sources, including this week’s announcement of a proposed replacement for Obama’s signature Clean Power Plan.

But despite all of Trump’s efforts, the industry remains under heavy economic pressure from cheap natural gas and the rise of renewable energy. Coal consumption has continued to decline, and production, too, was lower in the first three months of 2018 compared with last year. The economy added about 2,200 jobs in the coal sector from February 2017, Trump’s first full month in office, to July 2018 — a modest increase of about 4.3 percent.

WHAT WAS SAID

“When I came here originally, West Virginia, frankly, was down and out. It was not doing exactly well. One of the last. Do you know that a few months ago, it hit where West Virginia is, on a per capita basis, one of the most successful GDP states in our union?”

THE FACTS

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, West Virginia ranked 47th out of 50 states in 2017 at a per capita gross domestic product of $37,353, after adjusting for inflation.

Trump may have been thinking of the increase in the state’s gross domestic product, which he has lauded in the past, but he would also be wrong about that. West Virginia’s economy grew at a rate of 1.3 percent in the first quarter of 2018, placing it at No. 37.

WHAT WAS SAID

“I want clean air. I want crystal clean water. And we’ve got it. We’ve got the cleanest country in the planet right now. There’s nobody cleaner than us.”

THE FACTS

The United States ranked 27th out of 180 countries in an environmental performance review, compiled by Yale and Columbia University researchers in collaboration with the World Economic Forum in 2018. (Switzerland topped the list.)

The Environmental Performance Index assigns the ranking based on 10 categories, including air and water quality, biodiversity, and climate and energy. The United States ranked the highest in agriculture, at No. 2, and the lowest in forests, at No. 115.

OTHER CLAIMS

Trump made a number of other false or misleading claims that The New York Times has previously debunked:

— He falsely claimed that United States Steel is opening “seven different plants.” (The company has not announced the opening of a single plant.)

— He misleadingly claimed that construction on his border wall “is moving along very nicely.” (Construction has not begun.)

— He claimed that the number of jobs added in the 20 months since his election was unbelievable. (More jobs were added in the previous 20 months.)

— He claimed that Obama had paid $1.8 billion to free hostages from Iran. (The payment was a settlement of a decadeslong dispute.)

— He falsely claimed that NATO members were “delinquent” in payments to the alliance. (Members do not owe NATO or the United States money.)

— He falsely claimed to have signed the “biggest” tax cuts in history. (Several rank higher.)

— He falsely claimed terminally ill patients “couldn’t get the drugs” before the enactment of a new law. (Patients could seek access to experimental medicines through an existing federal program.)

— He falsely claimed to have signed “a record $700 billion for the military.” (The Pentagon received more money in several years under Obama.)