In his cowboy hat, S. David Freeman has been ubiquitous in California energy regulation. Now, he is publishing what amounts to his memoirs, Winning Our Energy Independence: An Insider Shows How. The last-of-summer reading by Freeman is a trip down memory lane. Freeman’s version of the lane, that is. Gotta’ give it to him though, he’s been a player in national, as well as California energy policy. He plays up the good and the schmooze in the book and he’s got some fun vignettes. For instance, “When I became director of the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1977, the staff gave me a T-shirt that said, ‘nuclear power is safer than sex.’ . . . I will leave it to the reader to decide which, nuclear power or sex, he or she wishes to do without.” And: “I was the senior advisor to Governor Gray Davis during the dark days of the California energy crisis in 2001. Brownouts could have been averted if we were able to use all the backup generators located in office buildings, hospitals, etc. But we could not use these generators because they ran on diesel fuel and the air quality regulators rightfully would not permit their operation on the hot days when electric demand is highest and the air is the smoggiest.” From there, Freeman goes on to promote hydrogen fuels. He also shares some revelations about a past President. “I was one of Jimmy Carter’s most influential energy advisors when he was governor of Georgia.Yet, as he campaigned for President I was curious that I was never invited into his inner circle. Finally, I was asked to come to Atlanta in 1976 to help with Carter’s policy planning. . . A week before the meeting, Carter’s financial advisor asked me not to attend. I said, ‘Why in hell not? It’s my meeting!’” Turns out Carter got $80,000 from the oil industry but didn’t know personally about it. “If it was worth $80,000 in 1976 dollars to get rid of me, just imagine what Big Oil spends today” on influence. I found the personal notes interesting--like hearing stories around the Thanksgiving table from my elders. (My step-granddad engineered the turbines for Southern California Edison’s hydro facility at Big Creek. I thought that was pretty cool.) But for Circuit readers, those are probably the highlights. Freeman rubbed shoulders with George Schultz, Jimmy Carter, and Gray Davis. He writes less of his short tenure at the very beginning of the California Independent System Operator and another short stint at the failed California Power Authority. Sandwiched in between the vignettes is Freeman’s philosophy that clean energy in all its permutations can and should work. In these sections, he’s speaking to readers without an energy background--breaking it down to the basics. For instance, “America is especially vulnerable to attack by the oil weapon not only because we are so dependent on imported oil, but also because many of the oil-producing nations disagree with U.S. foreign policy.” The 81-year-old comes out staunchly anti-nuclear and believes that renewable energy and alternative fuels can bail us out. Those parts are a read for our friends and family. His memories are more interesting to those of us in the industry. In general, though, a friend who’s been in the industry for over 20 years summed up Freeman’s attitude: “I’m brilliant and everyone else is screwed up.” Personally, if my memoirs ever get published, they will be a whole lot racier.
