Learn the story of three women who saved the Seacoast from 'Big Oil,' Thursday, May 5
The efforts of three dedicated women in the early 1970s saved the New Hampshire Seacoast from an Onassis oil venture.
Area residents are invited to learn more during a special event that will take place on Thursday, May 5 at 7 p.m., at the South Church (292 State Street) in Portsmouth. It is the true story of how three women saved the NH Seacoast. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and admission is free. Masks and proof of vaccination will be required.
One of those women is Dudley Dudley, who at the time was a State Representative from Durham, who went on to become the first women elected to the NH Executive Council. She will be speaking at the event and will be joined by David Moore who wrote a book entitled "Small Town Big Oil" about the true tale of how a local grassroots group defeated the construction of what would have been the then largest oil refinery in the world, funded by Aristotle Onassis, one of the richest men in the world.
It is a story of local and historical significance. In 1973 Aristotle Onassis, considered the richest man in the world at the time, decided to build the largest oil refinery on the planet on Durham Point. Massive oil tankers would have docked on the Isle of Shoals and the oil would have been piped under water to Rye and then on to Durham. Onassis had the powerful Union Leader publisher William Loeb and the Republican governor Meldrim Thomson firmly on his side.
Luckily for all those who call the NH Seacoast home, a grassroots effort led by three local women, Dudley Dudley, Nancy Sandberg and Phyllis Bennett, defeated the attempt to site a refinery that would have had a disastrous effect not only on Great Bay, but the region. Had they not been successful, the Seacoast as we now know it would have been dramatically different.
The event is co-sponsored by the Democratic Committees in Dover, Durham, Greenland, Hampton, New Castle, Newton, Portsmouth and Seabrook. For more information and to register to attend go to https://www.mobilize.us/nhdp_events/event/451451/.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Learn the story of three women who saved the Seacoast, Thursday, May 5
