Overload (33 page)

sure what, he added, "I don't see why you should go on blaming yourselves

for circumstances . . ."

A glance from Luther and a, "Please, Mr. Goldman," silenced him. Nim

realized what be should have known instinctively: There was nothing else to

say; the arguments had been marshaled before, and emphatically rejected.

There was no way, never had been, in which these two could be relieved of

one iota of the burden they carried.

"Henrietta's right" Luther said. "I do think the same way she does. Both of

us will take the guilt with us to our graves."

His wife added, "So you see what I mean when I say that whatever we

do-including working to pay for a van for Karen-iS really nothing."

"It isn't nothing," Nim said. "Whatever else is true, it's a whole lot more

than that."

They walked from the apartment lobby to the street outside. Nim's car was

parked a few yards away.

"T'hank you for telling me what you did," he said. "I'll try to do

something about the van, just as soon as I can."

As Nim bad come to expect, some verse from Karen arrived two days later.

When young Did you ever run on sidewalks, Playing the game Of

avoiding cracks? Or, much later, Straddle hairlines mentally And

strut vicarious tightropes, Dreading, yet perversely courting,

Disaster from a fall?

"Disaster" did I say? An aberrant word! For there are other falls

and penalties Not wholly catastrophic, But cushioned by largesse Of

joy and glory. Filling in love is one.

Yet wisdom cautions: A fall is a fall With aftermaths of hurt and

pain Only delayed, not circumvented.

141

Tish, tosh! Away with wisdomi Hooray for crazy paving, tightropes,

hairlinesl Right now, who's wise, or wants to be? Not 1. Are you?

Ile subject was Tunipah.

"Talking to the Governor of this state about anything," J. Eric Humphrey

declared in his clipped Bostonian accent, "has about the same effect as

putting one's band into a pail of water. As soon as you take the hand

out, the water is exactly the way it was before, as if the hand had never

been there."

"Except," Ray Paulsen pointed out, "your hand would be wet."

"Clammy," the chairman corrected.

"I warned you," Teresa Van Buren said. "I warned you right after the

blackout two months ago that public memory is short, that people

-including politicians-would forget the power shortage and the reasons."

"Memory isn't the Governor's problem," Oscar O'Brien assured her. The

general counsel had been with Eric Humphrey during recent sessions at the

state capitol, where proposals for new generating plants -including

Tunipah-had been discussed. He went on, "There's only one trouble with

our Governor: He wants to be President of the United States. He wants it

so bad, he can taste it."

Nim Goldman said, "Who knows? He might make a good president."

"He might at that," O'Brien conceded. "In the meantime, th ' ough,

California is rudderless, stuck with a head of state who won't take

stands or band down decisions. Not if they're likely to offend a single

national voter."

"Allowing for slight exaggeration," Eric Humphrey said, "that is the

essence of our problem."

"Furthermore," O'Brien added, blowing cigar smoke, "the same thing

applies-for similar if different reasons-to every other public figure in

Sacramento."

The five of them were at Golden State Power & Light headquarters, in the

chairman's office suite, seated informally in the lounge area.

142

In less than two weeks public hearings on the proposed coal-burning,

high-capacity generating plant at Tunipah would begin. And while the

project was vital to California-a viewpoint agreed to privately by the

Governor, his aides and senior legislators-for political reasons none would

lend public support to the Tunipah plan. The utility, despite strong

opposition forces, must "go it alone."

Something else the Governor bad rejected was GSP & L's plea that the

several regulatory agencies which would be involved with licensing Tunipah

should hold joint hearings because of urgency. Instead, regular procedures

would take their course. It meant a long, exhausting series of submissions

and argument before four separate government bodies, each concerned with a

differing aspect, though often overlapping.

Teresa Van Buren asked, "Is the Governor, or anyone else, likely to have a

change of heart?"

"Only if the bastards see an advantage to themselves," Ray Paulsen growled.

"And they won't." Paulsen bad grown increasingly bitter of late about the

frustrating delays in having plans approved. As the executive in charge of

power supply, Paulsen would have the unpopular job of initiating power cuts

when they became needed in the future.

"Ray's right," O'Brien acknowledged. "We all know bow the Sacramento gang

left us holding the bag on nuclear, admitting-off the rccord-the need for

nuclear plants, but without the guts to say so out loud."

"Well," Eric Humphrey said incisively, "whether we like that attitude or

despise it, the same is true again. Now about the Tunipah hearings. I have

some thoughts to share with you. I want our own participation in those

hearings to be of the highest caliber. Our presentation must be factual,

reasoned, calm and dignified. Under cross-examination the responses of all

our representatives must be the same, with emphasis on courtesy and

patience. As part of their tactics, the opposition will try to provoke us.

We must resist that provocation and I want all our people briefed to that

effect."

"It will be done," Oscar O'Brien said.

Ray Paulsen regarded Nim somberly. "Remember that applies to you.,,

Nim grimaced. "I'm already practicing restraint, Ray-rigbt now."

Neither had forgotten their clash at the management meeting where Nim and

Van Buren favored a hard-line public airing of the utility's problems,

Paulsen and a majority of others the reverse. judging by the chairman's

instructions, the "moderate line" was still in effect.

"Do you still believe, Oscar," Eric Humphrey asked, "that it is necessary

for me, personally, to appear at those hearings?"

O'Brien nodded. "Absolutely yes."

Behind the question, obviously, was Humphrey's wish to avoid public

attention. During the past ten days there had been two more bombings at GSP

& L installations, none causing major damage but a reminder of

143

the continuing danger to the utility and its personnel. Only yesterday a

warning, telephoned to a radio station, declared that "more Golden State

Piss & Lickspittle management criminals will shortly pay the people's

penalty for their misdeeds."

O'Brien added, "I promise it will be a brief appearance, Eric, but we

need you on the record."

The chairman sighed. "Very well."

Nim thought with wry humor: As usual, the low-profile strategy would not

apply to him. At the upcoming hearings Nim would appear as a key witness

and, while others from the utility would testify on technical matters,

Nim would present the broad sweep of the Tunipab project. Oscar O'Brien

would lead the witnesses through interrogation.

Nim and O'Brien already had had several rehearsals in which Ray Paulsen

shared.

During their work with O'Brien, Paulsen and Nim bad suppressed their

normal antagonism and at moments had come close to amiability.

Taking advantage of this, Nim raised with Paulsen the subject of a used

van for Karen Sloan because transportation was a subordinate department

under Power Supply.

To Nim's surprise, Paulsen was interested and helpful. Within fortyeight

hours of their conversation, be bad located a suitable van which would

shortly be available for sale. More than that, Ray Paulsen was personally

designing some modifications. They would facilitate loading Karen's

wheelchair into the van and, once inside, locking it in place. Karen

telephoned Nim to say that a GSP & L mecbanic had visited her to measure

her chair and check on electrical connections.

"One of the best things that's ever happened to me," Karen told Nim

during their phone talk, "was your seeing that red circle on the map that

day and afterwards coming here. Speaking of that, when are you coming

again, dear Nimrod? Soon, I hope." He had promised he would. Later, Nim

bad phoned Karen's parents, Luther and Henrietta, who were delighted

about the van and were now arranging a bank loan to cover most of its

cost.

Oscar O'Brien's voice brought Nim back to the present. "I presume all of

you realize how long this entire process concerning Tunipah is likely to

take."

Paulsen said gloomily, "Too damn long!"

Van Buren inquired, "What's your best estimate, Oscar?"

"Assuming we are successful at the various sets of hearings, and allowing

for delaying court actions subsequently, which our opponents are certain

to resort to-I'd say six to seven years." The general counsel shuffled

papers. "You may also be interested in costs. My department estimates

that our own costs-just to seek the license to build, and whether we win

or lose-will be five and a half million dollars. Environmental studies

will cost a few million more, and we won't have turned a spade until

construction is fully licensed."

144

"Let us make sure, Tess," Eric Humphrey told the p.r. director, "that

that information becomes as widely known as possible."

"I'll try," Van Buren said. "Though I can't guarantee that many outside

this room will care."

"They'll care when the lights go out," Humphrey snapped. "All right, I

want to review progress, if any, on our other applicationsDevil's Gate

pumped storage and Fincastle geothermal."

"'If any' is right," O'Brien observed. He reported that so far only the

earliest skirmishes through bureaucratic jungles had been accomplished.

Countless others lay ahead. Meanwhile, massive opposition to Devil's Gate

and Fincastle was growing . . .

Listening, Nim experienced a surge of anger at the cumbrous, inefficient

system and the utility's own faintheartedness in failing to attack it

strongly. Nim knew be would have trouble at the Tunipah bearings. Trouble

in exercising restraint, difficulty in maintaining patience, a reluctance

to curb his own harsh words which could speak the truth forthrightly.

8

J. Eric Humphrey sat red-faced and uncomfortable in the elevated, hard-

backed witness chair. He had been there half a day-already several hours

longer than the "brief appearance" Oscar O'Brien had promised him.

Three feet away, in the courtroom-like setting, Davey Birdsong stood

facing the witness and towering over him. Birdsong swayed slightly as be

transferred his formidable weight from his heels to the balls of his

feet, then back, forward, back again. "Since you must be hard of hearing,

I'll repeat my question. How much do you get paid each year?"

Humphrey, who had hesitated when the question was first posed, glanced

at O'Brien, seated at counsel's table. The lawyer gave the slightest of