PUF Editor’s article in a 1991 issue talks Redford.
Robert Redford, aka the Sundance Kid, in Public Utilities Fortnightly? That's right. The February 1, 1991 issue of PUF.
PUF's Editor-in-Chief at the time, Cheryl Romo, wrote about a conference she attended, hosted by the Institute for Resource Management. Aside from starring in everything from The Sting to Indecent Proposal to The Natural to A River Runs Through It, Redford had founded IRM in the early eighties.
Romo relates in her article that IRM was led by an odd couple of Redford and the executive committee chair of SCE Corporation (now Edison International). Redford had fought construction of an SCE coal plant near his Sundance, Utah home in the early seventies.
He stopped the plant. But was "verbally trashed by his mountain neighbors [favoring the economic development] who literally burned the Sundance Kid in effigy."
So Redford reached for balance of economic development and environmental protection through IRM. And since, in other activities such as his board membership at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Though some would say The Electric Horseman hasn't favored much energy development.
In a candid moment, he once admitted:
"I drive hybrid cars. I've had passive solar heating and wind generation in my Utah home since 1975. But I must say, I do like racing fast cars. It's a hypocritical, weak move on my part. But I've always loved speed."
"I love finding a good stretch of road and cutting loose in my Porsche. That's all I want to say about that."
Romo admits in her article that Barbara Streisand's favorite leading man wasn't actually in attendance at the conference. But her article is illustrated by a photo of Redford, plus a caricature of Romo in a cowboy outfit. Romo's caricature, right there on page 6 of the February 1, 1991 issue of PUF, is labeled The Eco Kid.
Don't worry. I'm not planning to put a caricature of me in a future issue of the magazine.
For commentary, opinion and debate (and entertainment?) on utility regulation and policy, since 1929, Public Utilities Fortnightly.
Steve Mitnick, Editor-in-Chief, Public Utilities Fortnightly
E-mail me: mitnick@fortnightly.com
