BooksBarbecue
Back The Bone Factory
Chapters (48)
  1. Cover
  2. The Bad Man
  3. Epigraph
  4. PROLOGUEBLOOD
  5. PART ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. PART TWO
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. PART THREE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY
  45. EPILOGUE
  46. Acknowledgments
  47. High Praise for Nate Kenyon’s
  48. Other Leisure Books by Nate Kenyon:

When he got to the small paragraph on the project’s financing, he could hardly believe his eyes. A construction cost estimate has been prepared in accordance with FERC requirements, it read. Total cost is estimated at $1,000,000,000, including purchase of land and mining rights.

That was a hell of a lot of zeros.

Of course, he thought. You’ve been around this stuff before, you know how much it costs. But even knowing ballpark figures, the final sum was more than a little terrifying.

From the correspondence file, he pieced together what had happened to the access roads. The only original roads to the spot were the old dirt path previously used for the mines, which had not been kept up since they ceased operation, and a logging track running nearby, which was wider and in slightly better shape.

They ended up cleaning and using the logging track, since updating the old path would take greater effort.

He wondered how they had gotten around the permits regarding proper access. The engineer had probably been working towards a deadline, and bet on being able to use the logging track almost immediately, and so he worked around it somehow. He was probably right, but when the first heavy storm blew in, the track became impassable, and they got into trouble. Still, it would take an awful lot of work (and money, he figured) to get around those permits.

Right now, the most important thing seemed to be satisfying the FERC that the plant would continue to comply with their regulations regarding environmental concerns. According to the correspondence in July and August, there was a significant amount of sludge coming downriver from the construction by the end of the summer, and the FERC was also probably worried about the work that was to be done to get the road into shape. They had to comply with regulations in the license and environmental permits anyway, or they’d lose the project.

“Daddy, will you read me the story about the magic bone before I go to bed?” David looked up and his daughter stood before him, her dark brown hair still dripping from the bath. Helen appeared behind her in the navy blue robe, toweling her own hair.

“Don’t you know that one by now, honey? We’ve read it every night for the past three days.”

“But it’s good, Daddy, and I can follow the pages,” she said, obviously proud of her new ability.

“Come on, Daddy,” Helen said. “You promised.”

David took one last look at the summary file, and then dropped it onto the table. Hydro Development and the FERC would have to wait just a little bit longer.

CHAPTER FOUR