The first extended analysis of a Mike Myer column that I did for my old blog was back in March of 2014. Myer had claimed an unnamed industry analyst (my hunch was that it was a Murray Energy employee) had told him that China was not the biggest importer of U.S. coal, Germany was. I found that difficult to believe given the country's well-publicized movement away from fossil fuels and nuclear. It took me all of 5 minutes to confirm my doubts -- according to the US Energy Administration, Germany was 9th. Additional research explained the reason it was even that high -- Germany was totally abandoning nuclear and coal was seen as a stopgap in its movement towards alternative energy sources. (Google "Germany + alternatives" to read about Germany's incredible success with alternative energy.)

Myer's point was that here was the country that was most committed to alternatives and they were the number one importer of American coal! It wasn't true but it didn't stop him from citing the lie anytime he discussed coal and alternatives. This past year we've frequently read in Myer's columns and editorials about the incredible increases in our electric bills that we will all soon face because of the president and his EPA. As I've noted on a number of occasions (see here for example), the number that's used comes from an obviously biased study commissioned by coal companies including Murray Energy. Obviously that doesn't matter to them - the bogus number is in place.

And so, it continues. On Monday, both papers printed a totally dishonest summary of a Harvard study on the cost of retraining coal miners for work in alternative energy in which they cherry-picked their numbers and lied about the study's conclusion. (Please see next post down.) And now Tuesday afternoon's editorial has doubled-down by repeating their bogus analysis:

But a study by the Harvard Business Review notes effective retraining — not the nearly worthless showcase projects so often provided under government auspices — could be very costly. Harvard’s estimate for jobless miners alone is $1.8 billion.

Monday's misrepresentation was deliberate and I'm sure Tuesday's editorial will not be the last time it will be referenced. They're despicable.