Did Obama’s ‘war on coal’ really cost Mich. 50,000 jobs?

Published August 8, 2016 8:04pm ET



Donald Trump’s claim Monday that Michigan has lost 50,000 jobs due to President Obama’s “war on coal” is inaccurate, based on federal and business data, as the state doesn’t have any coal mines and the state’s power industry employs less than half that amount.

The prepared copy of Trump’s speech cites a press release from the National Mining Association from 2011 as the source for the statistic. The press release targeted the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign and never mentions Obama or Trump’s Democratic opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

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