Tweet [3]

[4]

[5] [6]

US_Chamber_of_Commerce_logo-740806.jpg [7]

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released its “The State of American Business 2012 [8]” plan this week, outlining their own vision of how to create jobs in America. There were no surprises in Chamber President Tom Donohue’s address to business leaders. He simply rehashed the same tired talking points that we’ve seen from them for years.

In addition to enacting what they call a “globally competitive tax code” and “fixing our broken immigration system,” the Chamber threw out some classic gems that persist despite being able to withstand the truth test. From their newly launched FreeEnterprise.com website [9]:

Produce American Energy and Rebuild Infrastructure. Approve the Keystone XL pipeline to put up to 250,000 Americans to work over the life of the project while preventing the EPA from enacting new regulations on fracking that sabotage a natural gas revolution. Complete Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, which is more than four years delayed, to strengthen our aviation system and deploy the NextGen air traffic control system. Renew surface transportation funding legislation before it expires in March and invest in water infrastructure.

Advance Regulatory and Legal Reform. Pass the Administrative Procedure Act to restore sound science, quality data, and common sense to the regulatory system while curbing regulatory overreach by EPA and the National Labor Relations Board. Stop the expansion of liability at home and abroad that is sucking the vitality out of our nation’s job creators.

Put more bluntly, this is the Chamber's message: Do away with environmental and health protections and let the same companies that brought us the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and countless other "accidents" expand oil drilling, fracking, and other dirty energy extraction methods in every possible place. "Trust us, we're experts, [10]" they say.

Here are a few excerpts from Donohue’s address, the full text of which can be found here [11]:

To tap our energy resources, we must speed up permitting and end many of the restrictions that have put key areas off-limits. Instead of handpicking a few technologies, we must harness all our resources, traditional and alternative—while expanding nuclear power and driving greater efficiency.

Our biggest and most reliable foreign energy supplier is Canada. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would bring Canadian oil sands down to our Gulf Coast refineries and to other destinations along the way.

This project has passed every environmental test. There is no legitimate reason—none at all—to subject it to further delay. Labor unions and the business community alike are urging President Obama to act in the best interests of our national security and our workers and approve the pipeline. We can put 20,000 Americans to work right away and up to 250,000 over the life of the project…

The regulatory avalanche confronting our job creators is unprecedented. The Labor Department has 100 rulemakings in the pipeline. Dodd-Frank requires 447 rules, 63 reports, and 59 studies. The health care law established 159 new agencies, panels, commissions, and regulatory bodies. EPA has some 200 regulations in the works. And the business community must contend with a National Labor Relations Board that is clearly tilted toward the unions.

This adds up to a big drag on our economy.

The industry has long attempted to convince Americans that enforcing environmental protections and public health and labor standards are stifling our job market. No matter how often they repeat those talking points, they simply are not true. The last few months have provided us with a flurry [12] of reports [13] showing [14] that enforcing environmental rules would help create more jobs than allowing the energy industry free rein to pollute and exploit our lives and lands.

As recently as last week, a new report [15] by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation showed that enforcing an EPA standard to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay would create more jobs [16] (permanent jobs, at that) than the Keystone XL Pipeline. Contrast that with TransCanada’s own admission [17] that the Keystone XL project would only create between 6,000 and 6,500 jobs and that most would only last 2 years. (Among many reports [18] debunking even this estimate, see our previous coverage of the Cornell report [19].)

But those facts haven’t stopped the U.S Chamber from tweeting earlier this week that building the Keystone XL pipeline would create as many as 250,000 American jobs:

[20]

From fracking [21] to air pollution standards [14], the dirty energy industry has consistently and predictably distorted the truth about job creation. And even with the wealth of information pointing out that their claims are false, the U.S. Chamber’s recent regurgitation of these same, tired talking points shows us that the lie is here to stay.

The question is, when will this blatant misinformation and those who spout it be held accountable?