Overload (42 page)

was saying, "I remind the witness he is already sworn . . ."

When the preliminaries were over, Oscar O'Brien began, "Mr. Goldman, how

many shares of Golden State Power & Light do you own?"

"One hundred and twenty."

"And their market value?"

"As of this morning, two thousand one hundred and sixty dollars."

"So any suggestion that you, personally, are likely to make a lot of

money out of Tunipah is . . ."

"Ridiculous and insultin&" Nim snapped before the question could be

completed. He had personally asked O'Brien to get that into the record,

and hoped the press would report it-as they had Birdsong's charge about

profiteering. But Nim doubted if they would.

"Quite so." O'Brien seemed taken aback by Nim's intensity. "Now let us

go back to the environmental impact statement about Tunipah. Mrs.

Carmichael in her testimony argued that . . ."

The idea was to counteract testimony by opposition witnesses which had

been erroneous, excessively prejudiced or incomplete. Nim wondered, while

responding to O'Brien's questions, what effect it would all have. He

decided: probably none.

O'Brien concluded in less than half an hour. He was followed by Holyoak,

the commission counsel, and Roderick Pritchett, neither of whom gave Nim

a hard time and both were mercifully brief.

Which left Davey Birdsong.

The p & lfp leader indulged in his characteristic gesture of passing a

band through his bushy, gray-flecked beard as he stood regarding Nim.

"T'hose shares of yours, Goldman. You said they were worth"Birdsong

consulted a slip of paper-"two thousand one hundred and sixty dollars.

Right?"

Nim acknowledged warily, "Yes."

"The way you said it-and I was right here, listening; so were others

-made it sound as if that kind of money was just peanuts to you. A ,mere'

two thousand, you seemed to say. Well, I guess to someone like you who's

used to thinking in millions, and riding around in helicopters

The commissioner interrupted. "Is this a question, Mr. Birdsong? If so,

please come to the point."

"Yessirl" Tle big man beamed toward the bench. "I guess it's just

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that Goldman here gets under my skin because he's such a big cheese, or acts

that way, and can't understand how much that kind of money means to poor

people . . ."

The commissioner rapped sharply with his gavel. "Get on with it!"

Birdsong grinned again, secure in the knowledge that however much he might

be scolded, the chances of being cut off entirely were remote. He turned

back to Nim.

"Okay, here's my question: Did it occur to you that money like that -'mere

thousands,' as you put it-means a fortune to a lot of people who will have

to foot the bill for Tunipah?"

"In the first place I didn't say 'mere thousands,' or imply it," Nim re-

torted. "You did. In the second, yes it did occur to me, because that kind

of money means a lot to me too."

"If it means that much," Birdsong said quickly, "maybe you'd like to double

it."

"Maybe I would. What the hell's wrong with that?"

"I'm asking the questions." Birdsong smiled maliciously. "So you admit

you'd like to double your money, and maybe you will if this Tunipab deal

goes through, won't you?" He waved a hand airily. "No, don't bother

answering. We'll draw our own conclusions."

Nim sat, fuming. He saw O'Brien watching him intently, trying to convey a

message: Watch yourself! Be wary and moderate.

"You said some things about conservation," Birdsong resumed. "I have some

questions on that too."

During the re-examination by O'Brien, conservation had been mentioned

briefly. It gave p & lfp a right to raise the subject now.

"Do you know, Goldman, that if big, rich outfits like Golden State Power

spent more on conservation instead of on multimillion dollar ripoffs like

Tunipah, we could cut the use of electricity in this country by forty

percent?"

"No, I do not know that," Nim shot back, "because a forty percent saving

from conservation is unrealistic and a figure you probably pulled out of

the air, the way you do most of your other accusations. The best that

conservation will do-and is doing already-is help to offset a part of new

growth and buy us a little time."

"Time for what?"

"Time to let the bulk of people realize they are facing an electrical

crisis which can change their lives-for the worse-in ways they never

dreamed of."

" Is that really true?" Birdsong taunted. "Or isn't the real truth that

Golden Power doesn't want conservation because conservation interferes with

profits?"

"No, it isn't the truth, not any kind of truth, and it would take a twisted

mind-like yours-to suggest or believe it." Nim knew he was being baited,

and was rising to the bait, probably just as Birdsong intended. Oscar

O'Brien was frowning; Nim looked the other way.

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"I'll ignore that nasty remark," Birdsong said, "and ask another ques-

tion. Isn't the real reason you people aren't working hard at developing

solar energy and wind power-which are available now-is because those are

cheap power sources, and you wouldn't make the huge profits you expect

from Tunipah?"

"The answer is 'no,' even though your question's a distorted halftruth.

Solar electricity is not available in sizable amounts, and won't be until

the turn of the century at the earliest. Costs of collecting solar power

are extremely high-far more than electricity from coal at Tunipah; also,

solar may be the biggest polluter yet. As to wind power -forget it,

except for peripheral, small applications."

Above Nim, the commissioner leaned forward. "Did I understand you, Mr.

Goldman, to say that solar power can pollute?"

"Yes, Mr. Chairman." The statement often surprised those who hadn't

considered solar in all its aspects. "With today's technology, a solar

power plant with the same output that we are proposing for Tunipah would

need one hundred and twenty square miles of land just to house its

collectors. That's roughly seventy-five thousand acres-two thirds the

size of Lake Tahoe-compared with three thousand acres required by a

conventional power plant such as we are proposing now. And remember-land

used for those solar collectors would be shut off to any other use. If

that isn't pollution . . ."

He left the sentence unfinished as the commissioner nodded. "An in-

teresting point, Mr. Goldman. One, I suppose, that many of us hadn't

thought of."

Birdsong, who had been standing impatiently during the exchange, resumed

his attack. "You tell us, Goldman, that solar power won't be ready until

the next century. Why should we believe you?"

"You don't have to." Nim slipped back into his earlier manner, making his

contempt for Birdsong clear. "You can believe or disbelieve anything you

want. But a consensus of the best technical judgments, made by experts,

says that large-scale use of solar electricity is twenty-plus years away;

even then it may not fulfill expectations. Tbat's why, in the meantime,

there must be coal-burning plants like Tunipah-and in a lot more places

than just Tunipah-to meet the coming crisis."

Birdsong sneered, "So we're back to that fake, make-believe, phony

crisis."

"When it happens," Nim told him heatedly, "you can read those words back

and eat them."

The commissioner reached for his gavel to command order, then hesitated;

perhaps curious to see what would happen next, he let his band fall back.

Birdsong's face reddened, his mouth tightened angrily.

"I won't be eating any words. You willl" be spat at Nim. "You'll choke

on words-you and that capitalist gang at Golden State Power. Words,

words, words! From these hearings, which those of us who stand against

you will keep going as long as we can, and from other

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hearings like them. After that, still more words because we'll drag this

Tunipah boondoggle through the courts, and tie you up with appeals,

injunctions, and every other legal blockage in the book. Then if that

isn't enough we'll raise new objections, so the whole cycle will start

again and, if we have to, we'll go on for twenty years. The people will

stop your profiteering schemes, and the people will win!"

Tle p & lfp leader paused, breathing heavily, then added, "So maybe solar

energy will get here first after all, Mister Goldman. Because let me tell

you, you won't get those coal-burning plants. Not Tunipah or any others.

Not now or ever."

As the commissioner hesitated again, seeming fascinated by the verbal

duel, a burst of applause erupted in part of the spectator section. At

the same moment, Nim exploded. He slammed a fist down hard on an arm of

the witness chair, then leaped to his feet. Eyes blazing, he faced Davey

Birdsong.

"So maybe you will stop those plants being built-Tunipah and others-just

the way you say. It happened with nuclear; it can happen again with coal.

And if you do it, it will be because this crazy, selfdefeating system

gives limitless power to egomaniacs and kooks and charlatans like you."

Suddenly the hearing room had fallen silent. Nim's voice rose as he

continued. "But spare us any sanctimonious drive], Birdsong, about you

representing the people. You don't. We represent the people-ordinary,

decent, normal-living people who rely on power companies like ours to

light and heat their homes, and keep factories working, and do the

million other things you'll cut people off from if you and your kind have

their selfish, shortsighted way."

Nim swung toward the bench ' directly addressing the commissioner and

administrative law judge. "What's needed now, in this state and most

others, is intelligent compromise. Compromise between the 'no-

growth-at-any-pricers' like the Sequoia Club and Birdson& and those who

call for maximum growth and damn the environmentl Well, I-and the company

I work for-admit the need for compromise, and urge it on ourselves and

others. We recognize there are no easy, simple choices, which is why we

seek the middle ground, namely: Let there be some growth, but for God's

sake grant us the means-clectrically-to accommodate it."

He turned back to Birdsong. "What you'll do for people in the end is make

them suffer. Suffer from desperate shortages, from massive unemployment,

from all the big and small things which won't work without electric

power-all of it when the crisis hits, a crisis which isn't phony but is

real, a crisis which will sweep across North America, and probably a lot

of other places in the world."

Nim asked the silent, surprised figure in front of him, "And where will

you be then, Birdsong? In hiding, probably. Hiding from the peo-

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ple who'll have found out what you really are-a cheat and faker who misled

them."

Even while speaking, Nim knew he had gone too far, had broken recklessly

the normal constraints of public hearings, as well as restrictions placed