New reporting confirms Governor Newsom used bad math to pursue his fracking ban, which the real data show will hurt far more workers than he’s willing to recognize.

The governor has consistently and incorrectly claimed that fracking accounts for “less than 2%” of oil and gas production in California. The gambit appears to be an effort to downplay the impact of the ban, which will actually affect 17% of the state’s production and eliminate thousands of high-paying jobs for working families.

Read an excerpt of the POLITICO report below, and find the full version on their site.

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POLITICO: How much fracking is there in California? Newsom, state regulators can’t tell

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom has repeatedly said that fracking accounts for less than 2 percent of California oil production, but he appears to have vastly underestimated its use as the state prepares to ban the technique by 2024.

Oil and gas groups say the true figure is eight times higher, and environmentalists — squarely on the other side of the fossil fuel debate — agree that 2 percent is too low. Newsom is relying on a questionable statistic from his own oil regulator, and advocates wonder how the state can effectively address fracking if it doesn’t have a handle on how much is taking place.

“It understates the economic importance of fracking and the number of jobs that are involved,” said Brad Williams, a former state analyst who now consults for the industry at Capitol Matrix Consulting. “It’s the difference between ‘no big deal’ and ‘big deal.'”

NOTE: THE FULL REPORT CAN BE FOUND ON POLITICO HERE.