Learning Energy Strategy From Power Player
L owell Bergman, the hard-driving “Frontline” producer whose investigation into the tobacco industry inspired the 1999 Oscar-nominated movie “The Insider,” will appear tonight on KCET after an encore presentation of his documentary “Blackout,” which focuses on California’s power predicament.
In collaboration with several New York Times reporters, Bergman crisscrossed the country this spring, following money, documents, deals and friendships. The trail stretched from Houston’s “Energy Alley” to Gov. Gray Davis’ office in Sacramento to Vice President Dick Cheney’s office in the West Wing.
“Blackout” first ran on PBS in June, but tonight’s rebroadcast will be paired with “California’s Current State: A Life & Times Tonight Special Report.” During the 30-minute talk show, Bergman and “Life & Times” anchors Jess Marlow and Val Zavala will ask questions of Loretta Lynch, chairwoman of the state Public Utilities Commission, and S. David Freeman, Davis’ newly appointed senior energy advisor.
Bergman spoke to The Times last week about “The Insider” and life under the power lines.
Question: Any lasting effects of Al Pacino’s portrayal of you in “The Insider”?
Answer: In some places now, especially in Washington, people call me back. But it’s not difficult for me to explain to people that I’m not Al Pacino. I’m a lot taller.
Q: In “Blackout,” the energy industry, at least in California, appears to be a runaway horse. What will have to happen to rein it in?
A: It’s not my job, nor is it yours, to come up with a solution. What we were confronted with in the very beginning of this were some simple questions, like, “What were we deregulating?” No one had spent any time on television explaining how we got to where we are. When people say they get most of their information from television, it’s a good indication that they don’t get much information at all.
Q: What interviews did not make it into the documentary that you wish had?
A: There was a whole sequence about the bankruptcy of PG&E; and how the company has ring-fenced its assets so they can’t be touched. We also had a lot of detail about how the whole industry got started.
Q: You live in Northern California. What did you pay last month in gas and electric?
A: I paid $150, but it went all the way up to $350 sometime during the reporting of the investigation.
Q: You’ve penetrated big tobacco, illegal drugs and now the energy industry. What’s next?
A: I took a lot of time off. I was face down in the water of the Caribbean lookin’ at fish. I’m still working with the New York Times, and I’m probably looking at being involved in a project about small arms trading and the violating of the U.N. embargo.
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“Blackout” will air tonight at 8 on KCET and will be followed by Lowell Bergman’s appearance on “California’s Current State: A Life & Times Tonight Special Report” at 9:10 p.m.
