Big Coal Lies About Jobs

[Better Believe It]

Big Coal Lies About Jobs
April 3, 2011

When Big Coal argues for permission to build coal-fired power plants, it always makes big promises about job creation. A new study shows the promises are no more credible than promises of “clean coal.”

From the Executive Summary of A Fraction of the Jobs: A Case Study of the Job Creation Impact of Completed Coal Fired Power Plants between 2005 and 2009, published by the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies:

Proponents of coal-burning power plants have suggested that the counties where they are located can reap an economic windfall through construction and permanent jobs. Their case is largely based on an economic modeling process that often relies on assumptions that are established with a high degree of uncertainty. Very few communities evaluate after the fact whether actual jobs were created.

These findings strongly suggest that the economic development argument for coal plants is relatively weak, especially when compared with the job creation potential of alternative means of addressing demand for power through energy efficiency.

http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=4074#more-4074

Read the full study and report at:

http://www.afractionofthejobs.com/