Assertion Supported
Florida Power & Light paid Matrix millions to fund ghost candidates
“An investigation from the Miami Herald and Orlando Sentinel found that FPNL, Florida's biggest utility, sent millions of dollars to Matrix to prop up fake candidates in local races. Those so-called ghost candidates siphoned votes away from candidates who the u…”
Assertion Supported
Matrix used utility funds to secretly finance six local news sites
“The floodlight team found direct financial links between six local news outlets, Matrix, FPNL, and Alabama Power. Matrix used utility money to fund political websites with names like Alabama Today, Florida Politics, and The Capitalist, and buy favorable covera…”
Assertion Supported
Elon Musk laid off Tesla's entire Supercharger team to prioritize robotaxis
“Musk also laid off the entire supercharger team, and now he's putting all his attention on an autonomous robo-taxi.”
Opinion
Lacey: AI data centers need grid transmission, not advanced nuclear breakthroughs
“I don't think we really need any energy breakthroughs to serve these data centers, though. We just need a lot more transmission to get clean power to these data centers, and it's, I mean, it's an infrastructure challenge and there are a lot of ways that you ca…”
Assertion Partly supported
Lacey: Zero EV chargers built yet from $7.5B federal infrastructure program
“The Inflation Reduction Act allocated seven and a half billion dollars to building out a national EV charger network in this country, and two billion of those funds have been allocated to states, but there have been zero chargers built as part of those funds, …”
Assertion Partly supported
Lacey: Over Half of US Manufacturing Incentives Go to Foreign Firms
“More than half of the incentives are actually being in on the manufacturing side are being taken and Advantage of by firms outside the US.”
Assertion Supported
Lacey: 99% of US coal plants cost more than new renewables
“Back in February, we made an episode about how 99% of coal plants in America are more expensive to operate than new renewables.”
Insight
Lacey: America Excels at Inventing Energy Technologies, Not Manufacturing Them
“A-one-two-three systems was supposed to represent the next generation of U.S. Manufacturing. Instead, it showed how America excels at inventing new energy technologies, but not building them.”
Opinion
Lacey: GOP threats to repeal IRA incentives are economically insane
“In any case, even if these are hollow threats, they are just economically insane.”
Assertion Supported
Lacey: Republican districts get 5x more IRA clean energy funding than Democrats
“According to the Financial Times, Republican-held congressional districts are getting five times more funding for clean energy projects, including new manufacturing plants, than ones controlled by Democrats through this IRA legislation.”
Assertion Supported
Susan Ralston's firm received $300,000 from the Paul Singer Foundation
“At the time she was setting up Citizens for Responsible Solar, Ralston's firm pulled in 300,000 dollars from the Paul Singer Foundation,”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lacey: FPL wants monopoly control over its massive renewable footprint
“Florida Power and Light has one of the biggest renewable energy development arms in the country, but they want to own it, and, ah, any policies that promote customer empowerment are potentially a threat to the utility”
Assertion Supported
Lacey: Clean Energy Is Only 5% of Global Oil Capex
“And even with windfall profits, clean energy only accounts for five percent of oil company capital expenditures globally.”
Assertion Supported
Lacey: Tesla faced a DOJ criminal probe for inflating Autopilot capabilities
“Tesla was facing a criminal probe from the Department of Justice for inflating autopilot capabilities, and a handful of startups were facing cash flow crunches.”
Assertion Supported
Lacey: Study finds 42% of corporate emissions targets fail real-world mitigation
“A study just published in the journal Nature Climate Change looked at a 115 companies with science-based targets. These are targets modeled after the Paris Climate Accord, and researchers found that 42% of planned emissions cuts from those companies will quote…”
Assertion Supported
Power outage durations doubled under privatized grid operator LUMA Energy
“In the fall of last year, there was some investigative reporting about what was happening to the grid under Luma, and one of the stats that grabbed me was that outage times have actually doubled under Luma. It's taking them longer to repair service than it did…”
Assertion Partly supported
The CBO lacks a method to calculate economic costs of climate change
“Is that it has no way of calculating the cost of climate change to the economy.”
Opinion
Lacey: Political Backlash Over Solyndra Was "Incredibly Stupid" Theater
“This was an incredibly stupid piece of political theater.”
Assertion Supported
Lacey: A single Bitcoin transaction can power a US home for six weeks
“And if you want to trade that Bitcoin or use it to buy something, no matter how small, that single transaction could use enough energy to power an American home for six weeks.”
Assertion Supported
Lacey: Struggling US Fossil Fuel Plants Get Lifeline From Bitcoin Miners
“What Brian saw in Lake Seneca is unfolding across the U.S. Coal and gas power plants that are under pressure in Ohio, Montana, Pennsylvania, and even elsewhere in New York are now getting an economic lifeline thanks to partnerships with Bitcoin miners.”
Assertion Supported
Lacey: Biden Administration Considers Using Wartime Powers to Produce Heat Pumps
“There's a real serious consideration inside the Biden administration to use wartime powers to boost heat pump production and then to send those heat pumps over to Europe to for heating to reduce natural gas consumption.”
Assertion Supported
Lacey: BP invented the 'carbon footprint' in a PR campaign
“And so Mark dug into the history of the term, and he soon found that this popular framing wasn't grounded in science or academia. It was the direct result of a public relations campaign. It was a story made up by a multinational oil company.”
Assertion Partly supported
Lacey: 100 companies generated 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions since 1988
“Since 1988, only a hundred companies have been the source of 70% of the world's heat-trapping gases, and BP's campaign did a miraculously good job of deflecting that blame for nearly two decades”
Assertion Supported
Tampa Electric used lobbying funds to fight local gas bans
“Again, it was non-binding, but it scared the local investor-owned utility Tampa Electric, also known as TECO. So TECO did what a lot of other gas utilities are doing. It used its lobbying power and money to launch a more aggressive counter-strike.”
