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Published Sept. 11, 2015

Ex-boss at Duke says utilities off track | Sept. 1

Column ignores some basic facts

I am writing to correct factual and conceptual errors in the Robert Trigaux column on Lighting the World, the book I wrote with Jim Rogers, former CEO of Duke Energy.

It appears that Trigaux only skimmed the book and clearly ignored basic facts in the public record, such as that Jim Rogers led Duke for only one year following the merger with Progress Energy. He had nothing to do with creating the problems at the Crystal River nuclear plant, which happened years before the merger. He did take action to fix the problem — concluding that it was in the best interests of Duke's Florida customers and the company's shareholders to close the plant and limit an array of unknown financial risks.

Contrary to Trigaux's suggestion, Jim is not opposed to nuclear power — it is the only reliable carbon-free source capable of operating around the clock in existence today. However, neither one of us believes that large nuclear plants are a viable option for supplying power to rural areas of the low-income nations of the world, given the costs and costly grid investments necessary to deliver that power.

Our book instead encourages innovative financing and government franchise zones that will make it possible to harness rapidly evolving solar technology, so that low-income nations can skip the development of industrial grids and leap directly to the future of renewable power. We also focus on hydroelectric, wind energy, tidal energy and other innovations that will play a role — but solar energy will dominate because the power of the sun provides locally distributed energy to almost every village on earth.

Trigaux's apparent churlishness aside, this is a vitally important effort we can all make to ensure that one-sixth of humanity no longer has to live in the dark.

Stephen P. Williams, New York, N.Y.

The wrong guy is getting the blame

Robert Trigaux is wrong to blame Jim Rogers and Duke for the nuclear debacles that were created by Jeff Lyash and Progress Energy. Rogers was forced out of Duke because he was chairman of the board and CEO when Duke acquired Progress Energy with all its nuclear problems. Had Duke not pulled the plug on the Levy County and Crystal River nukes, Floridians would have been on the hook for $30 billion instead of $3 billion, and the pile of deadly radioactive waste would have kept on growing. Rogers and Duke did us all a big favor. Since Progress Energy Florida simply had its name changed to Duke Energy Florida, it's no surprise that the other abuses Trigaux cites have occurred. Rogers is not responsible for them either.

Thomas Eppes, Thonotosassa