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Dec 22, 2022Liked by Emily Atkin

I once heard an interview with Bob Woodward, co-author of the series of articles in the Washington Post that exposed the Watergate break-in and brought down the corrupt Nixon presidency. In it, he said that no other series of articles had been fact-checked to the degree these had, and in all those articles that had been written only a few small, insignificant errors in fact had been discovered. That interview has stuck with me through the years, because THIS is what reporting is: write factual accounts, make sure what you write is pure fact under any level of scrutiny, and let the reader make up their minds. Something like the oath one swears in a courtroom: tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

There are times when I feel nostalgic for those days when that was the norm, and convince myself that those days are long gone. Reading this article, however, has been deeply reassuring to me that there are still reporters out there with the integrity, the work ethic, and the passion to do the same sort of reporting that exposed a corrupt presidency and didn't stop until that presidency ended. And I couldn't be more thrilled that this sort of reporting is focused on the corruption that threatens to keep our society on this selfish and senseless path to destruction.

TL;DR: keep up the fantastic work, both of you. You're an inspiration.

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I just became a subscriber. Having reviewed several other newsletters on Substack for the past two months, I found yours to be the best.

This story is of particular interest to me as I worked in power generation technology R&D for many years at Southern Company before retiring in late 2015. As Manager of Renewable Power R&D, I had a couple of brief encounters with Joe Perkins, Matrix LLC, at his office in Montgomery, AL...odd interactions, but nothing noteworthy.

Looking forward to future newsletters! Anything on fusion? I saw a post by Ernie Moniz indicating he believes we could have a functioning fusion power plant within 10 years. I have serious doubts about that timing.

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founding
Dec 22, 2022Liked by Emily Atkin

Thank you for the wonderful interview!

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There are so many sources of “grossly misleading” climate information, that I have run out of digits: NY Times, CNN, WaPo, USA Today, LA Times, CBS, NBC, ABC, BBC, E&E News, The Guardian, MSNBC, Time Magazine, Newsweek, the Economist, Forbes, Chicago Tribune, PBS, NPR, Bloomberg News, Science Magazines, National Geographic, AP, Reuters, NASA, NOAA, SEC, DOT, DOE, EPA, FERC, FCC, CDC, WEF, WTO, UN, Red Cross, ECB, EU, to name a few.

The journalism displayed in your piece should also have ongoing discussions from other points of view that are also well researched.

The Energy World has over 8 billion people, 220 or so countries, no international governing body, complex policies/laws/economics/income levels/forms of government. In addition, 3.5 billion people don’t have access to enough electricity to power a single American refrigerator and as much as 80% of the people who die from pollution each year dies of interior air pollution created by wood, charcoal, and cow dung without any ventilation.

Balanced reporting encourages credibility.

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Full disclosure - I grew up in a house where FP&L was a revered name and the source of all that was good. Dad worked for them for 35 years and the company is still paying good dividends and a pension to mom 35 years after dad passed away.

While I understand the story and don't like underhanded tactics, I didn't see any mention of the fact that FP&L is part of NextEra Energy, one of the largest renewable power generators in the world.

FP&L was the original company. NextEra evolved from FP&L to build renewables in areas where FP&L wasn't allowed to operate because of its status as a rate-regulated monopoly utility with an obligation to serve all customers in its service territory.

FP&L also operates 4 large nuclear plants that together generate more than 28 TWh of clean electricity every year.

IOW - what is FP&L's motive for fighting clean energy? I'm not arguing, I'm just asking.

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