Overload by Arthur Hailey Page A

"I'm
    for Eric's idea which would ~bove a live wire up their asses."
    "Three live wires," someone said.
    Paulsen grinned. "Better still."
    Ino looked offendcd.
    Ignoring the last exchange, Eric Humphrey observed, "Let's remember there
    are strong arguments in favor of exceptional action. Moreover, we shall
    never have a better time to press them. The power failure of last week
    showed clearly that a crisis can happen; therefore crisis methods are
    needed to counter it. Even in Sacramento I think they'll see that."
    "In Sacramento," Oscar O'Brien said, "all they see is politics, Just as
    in Washington. And let's face it-the opponents of what we plan will usc
    politics to the bilt, with Tunipah at the top of their bate list."
    There were reluctant murmurs of assent. Tunipah, as everyone around the
    table realized, could prove the most controversial of the three
    developments now being discussed. It was also, in several wavs, the most
    vital of their plans.
    Tunipah was a wilderness area near the California-Nevada border. It was
    neither inbabited-the nearest small town was forty miles distant -nor
    favored by sportsmen or naturalists since it held little of interest for
    either. 'Hie region was difficult to get to and no roads, only a few
    trails, traversed it. For all these reasons Tunipah had been chosen care-
    fully.
    What Golden State Power & Light proposed to build at Tunipah was an
    enormous generating plant, capable of producing more than five million
    kilowatts of electricity-enough to supply six cities the size of San
    Francisco. The fuel to be used was coal. This would be transported by
    rail from Utah, seven hundred miles away, where coal was plentiful and
    relatively cheap. A rail link would be built-to the main line of the
    Western Pacific Railroad-at the same time as the plant.
    Coal could be North America's answer to Arab oil. Coal deposits within
    the conterminous United States represent a third of the entire world's
    known supply and are more than enough to satisfy U.S. energy needs for
    three centuries. Alaska is believed to have another two thousand years'
    supply. Admittedly, coal presented problems. Mining was one, air
    pollution another, though modern technologies were at work on both. At
    new electric utility plants in other states, smokestacks a thousand feet
    high, supplemented by electrostatic filters and scrubbers that removed
    sulfur from smokestack gases, were reducing pollution to acceptable
    levels. And at Tunipah, what pollution there was would be far removed
    from inhabited or recreation areas.
    Something else Tunipah would do was to permit the closing of some of
    GSP&L's older, oil-burning plants. This would further reduce de-

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pendence on imported oil and produce big cost savings, present and future.
    Logic favored the Tunipah project. But, as all public utilities bad learned
    from experience, logic didn't rule, nor did the greater public good if a
    handful of determined objectors-no matter how warped or unqualified their
    judgments-decided otherwise. By the use of slow, procedural tactics applied
    with ruthless skill, a project like Tunipah could be so long delayed as to
    be, in reality, defeated. Those who consistently opposed any electric
    utility expansion made effective use of Parkinson's third law: Delay is the
    deadliest form of denial.
    "Is there more discussion?" J. Eric Humphrey asked. Several of those around
    the conference table had begun stuffing papers into briefcases, assuming
    the meeting to be almost over.
    "Yes," Teresa Van Buren said. "I'd like a nickel's worth."
    Heads turned toward the public relations vice president, her short, plump
    figure thrust forward to command attention. Her normally unruly hair was
    more or less tidy today, presumably in deference to the occasion, but she
    still wore one of her inevitable linen suits.
    "Twisting the Governor's arm the way you plan, Eric, and stroking other
    egos around the state capitol is okay," she pronounced. "I'm in