Watch the webinar here:
The Battle of Bodega Head Webinar recording
Today it sounds almost unimaginable: A 325,000 kilowatt nuclear plant looming upon majestic Bodega Head, within a quarter-mile of the restless San Andreas Fault. An emissions shaft belching steam. Heated water spewing into the Pacific. Electrical cables draped from steel towers along Doran Beach.
In 1964 this seemed the inevitable fate of Bodega Bay, then a remote fishing port with more seabirds than citizens. Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), the state’s largest public utility, had begun excavating a massive crater, dubbed the “Hole in the Head,” for a $61 million Atomic Park, one of the largest nuclear facilities ever built.
In an epic, first-of-its-kind battle, the corporate colossus confronted an unlikely and under-estimated foe: the Hole in the Head Gang, a motley coalition of marine scientists and dairy ranchers, fishermen and farmers, mothers and musicians, a sharp-eared waitress, an outraged homemaker and a feisty widow who wielded a baseball bat—or occasionally a shotgun—to defend her land.
Against all odds, these citizens-turned-activists did more than derail mighty PG&E’s nuclear plans for Bodega Head. Their people’s crusade gave birth to the modern environmental movement and inspired citizen activism for generations to come.
On November 11, the Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods, the Rancho Bodega Historical Society and the Museum of Sonoma County will present a webinar on “The Battle of Bodega Head” to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of PG&E’s official withdrawal of its proposed plant.
Drawing on oral histories, archival documents and contemporary news reports, this online presentation brings to life a dramatic moment in local history. Join us to meet the irrepressible members of the “Gang,” listen to their protest songs, view historic photos and learn about the publicity stunt and, ultimately, the science that led to victory in the first of many campaigns to save the Sonoma Coast.
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