The New York Times and The Washington Post both explained how GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump flipped the script on energy and electricity in his August 8 speech on economic policy. Despite Trump’s fearmongering over the Obama administration’s energy policies and his claim of rising costs of electricity, the U.S. has seen stable electricity prices and a boon in clean energy over the past eight years.

In his August 8 speech at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump asserted that the “Obama-Clinton Administration has blocked and destroyed millions of jobs through their anti-energy regulations, while raising the price of electricity for both families and businesses.”

But as The Washington Post’s Chris Mooney pointed out, home electricity prices increased greatly under the Bush administration -- from about 8 cents per kilowatt hour to 12 cents, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) -- and “there hasn’t been as much growth since then.” The New York Times’ editorial board noted that the EIA projects a decrease in electricity prices this year, from 12.82 cents per kilowatt hour to 12.64 cents.

Trump also completely overlooked the renewable energy and natural gas sectors, which have spurred an increase of energy-related jobs, when he claimed that “millions of jobs” have been “blocked and destroyed” during Obama’s administration. The Post cited a recent study from the Solar Foundation that found the solar industry added 115,000 jobs over the past six years and another Duke University study that found coal job losses between 2008 and 2012 were far outpaced by job gains in wind and solar and natural gas, resulting in a net increase of about 125,000 jobs over these sectors. The Times pointed out the irony of calling for an “energy revolution” that makes “no mention of carbon-free renewable energy sources.”

Multiple outlets also pointed out that Trump’s pledge to put coal miners “back to work” is an unachievable promise based on a false premise. Vox’s Brad Plumer explained that the coal industry is “collapsing” and is “not coming back,” and CNBC’s Tom DiChristopher cited the EIA saying the demise of coal has been "mainly a market-driven response to lower natural gas prices that have made natural gas generation more economically attractive.”

Many of the false claims Trump made about energy have been debunked before, which allowed journalists at The Washington Post to fact-check his speech while it was happening. The Post’s Glenn Kessler tweeted a fact check of the bunk study Trump cited on the cost of federal regulations, and Michelle Ye Lee Hee pointed to another fact check explaining how conservatives distorted Clinton’s speech discussing her plan to provide aid to struggling coal communities.

The Post’s Mooney summarized Trump’s speech:

In the end, Trump’s negative picture of the energy sector is similar to his dire picture of the economy, which has been criticized for being inaccurately skewed towards the negative. U.S. energy is definitely undergoing major changes. Whether it’s in trouble — that’s a much tougher argument.

Photo at the top via Flickr user Greens MPs with a Creative Commons license.