Empire Valley: What Could it Have Been

[Jimmy Todd]

Empire Valley was a McGuffin for a few years on KL. If I recall correctly, it turned out to be a top-secret communications system and it was poisoning the water. Greg wanted it. Abby wanted it. Gary got it, lost to Gabby and then blew it up. I think i have it right. Correctly me if I'm wrong.
What do you think EV should have been? Did you like what was done with it?
I think what it actually was should have been alluded to but not revealed. We should have seen the horrified looks on Gary, Greg or even Abby when they find out for what it was being used. Whatever they revealed it to be was never going to live up to the hype.

 

[Daniel Avery]

I loved how intricately the whole plotline was constructed, and how this impacted so many of the cast in different ways. Whether it was plotted this way from the beginning or if they filled in some blanks as they went along, it came together brilliantly and had so much more impact after we assumed EV was in the rear view mirror.

Empire Valley was originally just a secret dumping site for Galveston Industries toxic waste (mostly arsenic). The waste was apparently buried in a safe way, but was still kept secret because there wasn't the sort of government (EPA) oversight that we later saw courtesy of the Love Canal and Times Beach scandals. Why Galveston would opt to build that satellite eavesdropping unit right on top of it decades later is....questionable. But whatever the case, Galveston purposely left the land to Gary not because he wanted to spite Greg, but because he (Galveston) knew the land was worthless due to the arsenic, and would likely bankrupt Gary if/when the EP found out it was a dump site. Paul G was trying to do Greg a FAVOR but of course Greg had no idea of this. The ultimate irony of course is that the arsenic would likely have remained sealed and safe if Gary (the "tree hugger") had not set off those explosives and caused the containers to leak chemicals into the soil and water.

But Gary had to destroy the communications center one way or the other, since he was being portrayed as the only "white hat' among the players. As you said, both Abby and Greg wanted that center for their own nefarious purposes, and since this whole concept of a secret satellite eavesdropping center was a bit too much for a show like KL, it had to be destroyed or else the show might slip into Falcon Crest territory.

 

[Jimmy Todd]

Did Greg ever acknowledge that Galveston was doing him a favor in the long run e leaving EV to Gary?

 

[Soaplover]

I had assumed EV was supposed to have been an environmental housing development since I remember Karen being gung ho about EV in season 6 during a conversation she had with someone. It was probably going to be one of those get rich quick housing schemes where it pretended to be environmental safe.. but was actually a con.

 

[Daniel Avery]

The plans presented to the public billed Empire Valley as this benign, residential development with "light industry" to employ people close to where they live. They were planning some above-board business/industry as a cover while simultaneously running that eavesdropping thing underneath/in secret. Karen seemed to be buying into their PR campaign, but of course the developers would try a bit harder to convince their Lotus Point neighbors that the place was environmentally responsible and all that stuff.

We learned through Peter and Jill that Galveston had purposely poisoned the water supply of their Empire Valley-adjacent hometown (Wesphall) in order to give the locals a reason to move away, making it appear that he really, really thought this spot (arsenic and all) was some ideal spot for eavesdropping on satellites. But there was a "genuine" town right there to provide cover...so why chase them out, only to rebuild a community in the same area?

Greg was so obsessed with taking EV from Gary that I don't think they ever had him openly acknowledge what a white elephant it turned out to be. His scheme to run all the Lotus Point partners into bankruptcy by dragging his feet on the cleanup showed he still held a major grudge. It even impacted his marriage to Laura, who was friends with Karen and Gary and a minority owner of LP (something like 10%). I do recall Greg being a jerk to them at the LP grand reopening by bragging how they could not have reopened LP had it not been for his company cleaning it up.

 

[Willie Oleson]

But whatever the case, Galveston purposely left the land to Gary not because he wanted to spite Greg, but because he (Galveston) knew the land was worthless due to the arsenic, and would likely bankrupt Gary if/when the EP found out it was a dump site. Paul G was trying to do Greg a FAVOR

It's possible that this part of the plot went over my head.
I love everything Empire Valley except for the horrible miscast of the actor who plays Greg's (or was it Gary's?) former professor. Why couldn't that be the guy who always plays the Russian ambassador type in Hotel and Murder She Wrote series? I don't remember his name but you know who it is.

The ultimate irony of course is that the arsenic would likely have remained sealed and safe if Gary (the "tree hugger") had not set off those explosives and caused the containers to leak chemicals into the soil and water.

Yes, great stuff.

and since this whole concept of a secret satellite eavesdropping center was a bit too much for a show like KL, it had to be destroyed or else the show might slip into Falcon Crest territory.

The bombing scene looks kinda cartoonishly surreal, something that would normally happen in a character's dream.
Perhaps that's what Dynasty did with Moldavia (which was completely irrelevant to the Denver saga) - they shot it out of existence, just like Pam dreamt Bobby's death out of existence. Call it jump-the-shark or an opportunity to reboot the soap (the only time "reboot" means exactly that).
But whereas post-Moldavia still dealt with the surviving Moldavians - and not in a very satisfactory way - the unfortunate results of the EV bombing became a storyline of itself without the slightly embarrassing connection of why it was bombed in the first place.