Carmichael, chairman of environmental group Sequoia Clubs (a thinly veiled reference to the real-life Sierra Club) meets with Nim to protest the building of three coal-fired plants at Tunipah, Fincastle valley and Devil's Gate, fearing the environmental damage to near-extinct species. Not having much experience with coal, Nim decides to take a trip to Colorado and visit a power plant operated by Public Service Company of Colorado (now known as Xcel Energy). Noticing that a worker on the furnace feed conveyor was in danger, Nim instinctively runs down to the plant floor and saves the man from otherwise certain death. A comely young lady who is part of the group saw what happened and decides she wants to invite herself into Nim's bed and offer him sex as a thank you for what he did. When Nim is back in his bedroom a woman slips in, and he discovers it's not the lady who propositioned him, it's the wife of one of the executives of the Colorado electric company where he is staying, who asks Nim to impregnate her so she can have a child (the other executive had privately admitted to Nim that he is "shooting blanks", i.e. infertile and unable to get his wife pregnant.) Then, later, the lady who originally wanted to bed Nim arrives, and is able to get Nim to have sex with her as well. Returning to California after his trip, Nim decides the benefits of coal power outweigh the environmental risks, but also decides to continue the startup of other power plants, as a result a geothermal plant at Fincastle and a hydro at Devil's Gate are launched. At Devil's Gate, Nim and the press end up seeing a gruesome electrocution of a plant employee after he tries to save a technician's child (similar to the successful effort of Nim in saving a worker at the Colorado coal plant). A California Examiner (the local newspaper for San Francisco) reporter, Nancy Molineaux, reports Nim to be selfish when she sees him arrive in a utility-owned helicopter. David Birdsong, leader of Power and Light for People, and the Sequoia Club, hold a trial against GSP&L. Birdsong and Georgos later plan to destroy the power workers, including Nim Goldman who would meet for a conference at a hotel. Unknown to Georgos, Yvette, his mistress, knows of his plans and betrays him to Nancy Molineaux, who reports