Clamshell Alliance
Encyclopedia
Paul Gunter
Paul Gunter is a co-founder of the Clamshell Alliance anti-nuclear group, who was arrested at Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant for non-violent civil disobedience on several occasions. An energy policy analyst and activist, he has been a vocal critic of nuclear power for more than 30 years...
, Howie Hawkins
Howie Hawkins
Howie Hawkins is an American politician and activist with the Green Party of the United States and Socialist Party USA. He co-founded the anti-nuclear Clamshell Alliance in 1976 and the Green Party in the United States in 1984. He was New York's Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate in the...
, Harvey Wasserman
Harvey Wasserman
Harvey Franklin Wasserman is an American journalist, author, democracy activist, and advocate for renewable energy. He has been a strategist and organizer in the anti-nuclear movement in the United States for over 30 years. He has been a featured speaker on Today, Nightline, National Public Radio,...
, Guy Chichester
Guy Chichester
Guy Chichester was a founding member of the Clamshell Alliance, an anti-nuclear group that led protests against Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant in the 1970s, which led to a broader environmental movement. Though the Seabrook power plant was eventually built, a planned second reactor at the...
and other activists in 1976. The alliance's coalescence began in 1975 as New England activists and organizations began to respond to U.S. President Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
's "Project Independence" which sought to build 1000 nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
plants by 2000.
The group conducted non-violent demonstrations against nuclear power in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
in the late 1970s and 1980s. In May, 1977 over 2,000 Clamshell protesters occupied the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant
Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant
The Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, more commonly known as Seabrook Station, is a nuclear power plant located in Seabrook, New Hampshire, approximately north of Boston and south of Portsmouth. Two units were planned, but the second unit was never completed due to construction delays, cost overruns...
construction site. 1,414 of these activists were arrested and held in jails and National Guard
United States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...
armories for up to two weeks after refusing bail.
In 2007, veterans of the Clamshell Alliance marked the 30th anniversary of its founding with the creation of a website called, "To the Village Square: Nukes, Clams and Democracy", which relates the story of the Clamshell Alliance and why it matters today. The Clamshell Alliance opposes all nuclear power in New England.
Activities
In July 1976 the Clamshell Alliance adopted a Declaration of Nuclear Resistance as a guiding set of principles in a meeting of 60-75 activists.The alliance conducted non-violent demonstrations in the late 1970s and 1980s. On August 1, 1976, 18 New Hampshire residents were arrested for criminal trespass and disorderly conduct in Clamshell's first civil disobedience action on the Seabrook site. Three weeks later, a second occupation involved 180 New England residents who were arrested and held in a local armory overnight. In May, 1977 over 2,000 protesters occupied the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant
Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant
The Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, more commonly known as Seabrook Station, is a nuclear power plant located in Seabrook, New Hampshire, approximately north of Boston and south of Portsmouth. Two units were planned, but the second unit was never completed due to construction delays, cost overruns...
construction site. 1,414 of these activists were arrested and held in jails and National Guard
United States National Guard
The National Guard of the United States is a reserve military force composed of state National Guard militia members or units under federally recognized active or inactive armed force service for the United States. Militia members are citizen soldiers, meaning they work part time for the National...
armories for up to two weeks after refusing bail. Clamshell activists used this detention for training and networking, and long considered the detention a blunder on the part of Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Governor Meldrim Thomson, Jr.
Meldrim Thomson, Jr.
Meldrim Thomson, Jr. was a Republican who served three terms as Governor of the U.S. state of New Hampshire from 1973 to 1979, during which time he became known as a strong supporter of conservative political values....
Richard Asinof wrote:
- The overwhelming success of the Clamshell Alliance's occupation can be attributed to three factors; the planning and leadership of the Clamshell Alliance itself; the strength of the affinity groupAffinity groupAn Affinity group is usually a small group of activists who work together on direct action.Affinity groups are organized in a non-hierarchical manner, usually using consensus decision making, and are often made up of trusted friends...
and the spirit and discipline of the occupiers; and the strong impact that women in key leadership roles exerted on the events. http://old.valleyadvocate.com/25th/archives/seabrook.html
In later years, New Hampshire authorities minimized the impact of mass civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
at the Seabrook plant by treating activist trespass as a violation, and allowing community service
Community service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
in lieu of fine. Actions were still media events capable of swaying public opinion, but their larger impact was limited. Clamshell Alliance members attempted to have their actions taken more seriously by the courts, and began staging sit-in
Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...
s of the office of Republican Governor Judd Gregg
Judd Gregg
Judd Alan Gregg is a former Governor of New Hampshire and former United States Senator from New Hampshire, who served as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. He is a member of the Republican Party and was a businessman and attorney in Nashua before entering politics...
. While this action resulted in jail time for criminal trespass, the local courts would not rule on the question of "competing harms" or the "Right of Revolution" granted by the New Hampshire Constitution
New Hampshire Constitution
The Constitution of the State of New Hampshire is the fundamental law of the State of New Hampshire, with which all statute laws must comply. The constitution became effective June 2, 1784, when it replaced the state's constitution of 1776....
. Activist Guy Chichester eventually sawed down a Seabrook Station emergency warning siren pole, resulting in charges of "criminal mischief", a Class B felony. Although there was no doubt that he had cut down the pole, Chichester was acquitted. In his appeal Chichester's lawyer Patrick Fleming argued that according to article 10 of the N.H. state constitution, any citizen has a right to act to protect his or herself when the state fails to do so, which is known as the "Right of Revolution:"
[Art.] 10. [Right of Revolution.] Government being instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security, of the whole community, and not for the private interest or emolument of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government. The doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power, and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
The Clamshell Alliance was an inspiration to other communities who wished to organize opposition to nuclear power plants. Hundreds of groups with similar names, such as the Abalone Alliance
Abalone alliance
The Abalone Alliance was a nonviolent civil disobedience group formed to shut down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Diablo Canyon Power Plant near San Luis Obispo on the central California coast in the United States...
in California, adopted similar non-violent organizing techniques to oppose nuclear power and nuclear weapons around the country and internationally.
Aftermath
Public Service Company of New Hampshire, the utility with majority ownership of the Seabrook Station, was bankrupted by the project. Governor Hugh J. Gallen had signed legislation prohibiting the utility from billing consumers for the costs of construction work in progress (CWIP), and the Three Mile Island accidentThree Mile Island accident
The Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
had increased awareness and added the requirement for an evacuation plan prior to commissioning. In the end, only one of the two planned reactors went on line.
In 2007, veterans of the Clamshell Alliance marked the 30th anniversary of its founding with the creation of a website called, "To the Village Square: Nukes, Clams and Democracy", which relates the story of the Clamshell Alliance and why it matters today. In addition, a book and a travelling exhibit are planned.
In the 1997 film Grosse Pointe Blank
Grosse Pointe Blank
Grosse Pointe Blank is a 1997 American Black comedy film, directed by George Armitage, and starring John Cusack and Minnie Driver.In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Grosse Pointe Blank the 21st greatest comedy film of all time. The film's soundtrack features mainly independent music hits...
, a Clamshell Alliance poster hangs on the bedroom wall of Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver is an English actress and singer-songwriter. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, as well as for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for her work in the television series The Riches.- Early life...
's character. The poster was created in the fall of 1976 for a Clamshell-sponsored Alternative Energy Fair near the site of the Seabrook plant. This event followed the initial Clamshell civil disobedience actions of August 1 and August 22 of that year.
The Clamshell Alliance is humorously referenced in Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Davy Guthrie is an American folk singer. Like his father, Woody Guthrie, Arlo often sings songs of protest against social injustice...
's song "The Story of Reuben Clamzo and His Strange Daughter in the Key of A" released in 1978 on the album One Night as an organization of citizens fighting off invasions of gigantic walking clams in Colonial America.
See also
- Macy MorseMacy MorseMacy Morse is an American non-violent peace activist, and anti-nuclear activist.-History and background:Macy Elkins was born in Molalla, Oregon, a Pacific Northwest logging town...
- Anti-nuclear movement in the United StatesAnti-nuclear movement in the United StatesThe anti-nuclear movement in the United States consists of more than 80 anti-nuclear groups which have acted to oppose nuclear power or nuclear weapons, or both, in the United States. These groups include the Abalone Alliance, Clamshell Alliance, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research,...
- Abalone AllianceAbalone allianceThe Abalone Alliance was a nonviolent civil disobedience group formed to shut down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Diablo Canyon Power Plant near San Luis Obispo on the central California coast in the United States...
- Shad AllianceShad AllianceThe Shad Alliance was an active and influential anti-nuclear group which used non-violent, direct action methods in the late 1970s and 1980s. It grew out of the "alliance movement" started in New Hampshire by the Clamshell Alliance...
- List of anti-nuclear protests in the United States
External links
- Clamshell Alliance website History and current activities
- http://web.mac.com/lioneldelevingne/Recent_work/TVS_movie.html Lionel Delevingne's photographs- From Seabrook to Chernobyl 1976-2006
- University of New Hampshire collection of Clamshell Alliance papers
- Peacework Magazine: Clamshell Special Issue, July 1996 Intro & Editorial
- Peacework Magazine: Clamshell Special Issue, July 1996 Table of Contents
- Ecologia newsletter "Clamshell Alliance: Thirteen Years of Anti-Nuclear Activism at Seabrook", by Paul Gunter
- Seabrook Construction Site Occupation Page with timeline, scanned articles, essay and links about the Clamshell Alliance's activities