![]() Kathleen Jackson was a middle-aged housewife living on California’s Central Coast when, in early 1963, she read an article in a local newspaper announcing that Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) had purchased nearly twelve hundred acres of the Nipomo Dunes to build the state’s first nuclear power plant. Executives did not acknowledge their role, but those largely responsible were women who kept the issue of nuclear power front and center in California for more than a half century. In 2016, PG&E announced it would shutter the plant in 2026. Meanwhile, public polling revealed growing opposition to nuclear power in general. Diablo Canyon Power Plant went online in the mid-1980s, but opposition remained, as MFP continued to participate in lawsuits and publicize safety issues. Women played prominent roles in this effort as well, publicly linking the nuclear industry to patriarchal control of society. ![]() That September, as low-level testing began, nearly 20,000 protesters blockaded the plant. By 1981, a massive protest movement had emerged. For more than a decade, MFP joined lawsuits targeting what they viewed as PG&E’s lackadaisical approach to safety issues. But this decision fueled further opposition, also from an unlikely group, Mothers for Peace (MFP), based in San Luis Obispo. Against prohibitive odds, she succeeded in getting PG&E to move the plant some thirty miles north, to Diablo Canyon. ![]() Kathleen Jackson (1907–2001) was a Central Coast housewife and avid hiker. ![]() But opposition soon emerged, and from an unlikely source. In 1963 PG&E, California’s largest provider of electricity, announced plans to build a nuclear power plant on the Nipomo Dunes in San Luis Obispo County. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |