Fox News: alarmist, false reporting


http://mediamatters.org/research/201109270014

No, EPA Is Not Hiring 230,000 Workers To Implement Climate Rules
September 27, 2011

EPA explained in a court brief that by phasing in greenhouse gas regulations and focusing on large sources of emissions, the agency avoids a scenario in which 230,000 new workers would be required. Somehow, the Daily Caller's Matthew Boyle concluded from this that "The EPA is asking taxpayers to fund up to 230,000 new government workers." Other conservative media outlets, including Fox News, repeated Boyle's false report.

EPA Currently Employs 17,000 People. The fact that EPA does not plan to hire 230,000 employees at a cost of $21 billion per year should be obvious considering that the entire agency employs around 17,000 people and its fiscal year 2011 budget is only $8.7 billion. [Environmental Protection Agency, accessed 9/27/11]

Led By Daily Caller, Conservative Media Claim EPA Plans To Hire 230,000 Workers

Daily Caller Completely Misreads EPA Court Filing. Citing EPA's September 16 court brief, Matthew Boyle of the Daily Caller falsely reported that "The EPA is asking taxpayers to fund up to 230,000 new government workers to process all the extra paperwork, at an estimated cost of $21 billion." Getting EPA's argument backwards, Boyle claimed that "If the EPA wins its court battle and fully rolls out the greenhouse gas regulations, the number of businesses forced into this regulatory regime would grow tremendously -- from approximately 14,000 now to as many as 6.1 million." [Daily Caller, 9/26/11]

Fox Nation: "EPA: Regulations Would Require 230,000 New Employees."


No word yet on whether Fox Nation plans to retract its story and apologize.

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