Nuclear Reaction Report Bibliography Home Page

NUCLEAR REACTION:

Community Response to a Proposed Nuclear Power Plant In

 Charlotte, Vermont

Copyright © 1998 - 2009, Nancy E. Wood

CHRONOLOGY: 1937 - 1997

1937 12/11/37 - Richard B. and Mary D. Thurber purchase the 200-acre Holmes Farm on the shores of Lake Champlain in Charlotte, Vermont. 

1953 First nuclear power station ordered for Shippingport, Pennsylvania 

1960 Yankee Nuclear Power Station, New England's first and the nation's second commercial nuclear powered electricity generation plant, goes on line in Rowe, Massachusetts. 

1962 Rachel Carson's Silent Spring is published, beginning the environmental movement. 

1964 3/3/64 - Town Meeting - Charlotte voters approve the appointment of a zoning commission to prepare a plan & districts for zoning (yes 98/no 81). 

1965 Milton Potash and E.B. Henson, Department of Zoology at UVM, begin first comprehensive field studies of Lake Champlain 

3/2/65 - Town Meeting -Charlotte voters defeat first zoning proposal (yes 157/no 160). 

11/19/65 - The "Great Northeast Blackout" left thirty million people in the dark from Canada to New Jersey. 

1966 FEB Charlotte Selectmen deny permit to Shelburne to use land in East Charlotte for dumping, after a standing room only public hearing. 

MAR 3/1/66 - Town Meeting - Charlotte voters approve the creation of and agree to join the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission, and vote to authorize the selectmen to institute a Planning Committee "to look over the future of the town." Charlotte Central School Budget: $120,955; Champlain Valley Union High School $98,200. 

JUN 6/6/66 - Residential Taxpayers Association will withhold legal action against Charlotte pending results of special meeting to approve reappraisal. Tax rate is $13.86. 

6/20/66 - Special Town Meeting - Charlotte approves zoning (yes 201/no 117) and reappraisal (yes 163/no 106). Zoning establishes classes of districts (rural-residential, commercial and industrial), "to provide for orderly development in Charlotte of homes, agriculture, commerce and recreation.

6/21/66 -Selectmen appoint Dick Thurber the first zoning administrator for Charlotte 

OCT 10/18/66 - Selectmen discuss the need for a special meeting for more money for the reappraisal - already exceeded the $6000 approved by voters. 

1967 APR Charlotte Grand List reflects new appraised values 

MAY 5/15/67 - Special School Meeting - Charlotte votes to approve new school addition, $350,000 bond issue (yes 185/no 134). New homes are being built at the rate of 15- 20 per year; 299 students in 200 student building; Town Hall stage being used as a classroom. 

JUN 6/12/67 - Dick Thurber resigned as zoning administrator. Harry Webb offers $225,000 to the Town of Charlotte for a Water System 

6/27/67 - Charlotte Board of Civil Authority denies property tax appeal of Thurbers on their lakeshore 

JUL 7/10/67 - Dick Thurber offers 300-400 feet of lakeshore to Charlotte for Town Beach, at reappraisal price 

AUG 8/28/67 - Planning Committee requesting legal Planning Commission status 

OCT 10/16/67 - Richard B. and Mary D. Thurber sign option agreement with Central Vermont Power Service for about 142 acres in Charlotte 

10/31/67 - Zoning Board Public Hearing about Shelburne operating a dump on property in Charlotte 

DEC 12/11/67 - Vermont Telephone Co. given approval to install cable TV in Charlotte 

12/29/67 - CVPS option and map of the Thurber property are filed with Charlotte Town Clerk (Book 29, pp. 398-99 and Map 398A of Charlotte Land Records) 

1968 JAN 1/22/68 - Selectboard Meeting - Dick Thurber requested that purchase of Town Beach be delayed another year pending settlement of option of CVPSC 

MAR 3/5/68

APR 4/4/1968 - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated 

4/14/68 - Proposals presented to selectmen for further development at Mutton Hill (expanding from current 10 to 50 houses on 70 acres), and Roy Thorpe's Wildwood West and East, with 122 homes planned plus shopping mall and industrial development. Selectmen cite sewage problems at Mutton Hill. 

4/22/68 - Selectmen discuss ongoing litigation by Shelburne over dump. Shelburne wants to settle amicably. 

MAY 5/13/68 - Planning Commission expanded to seven members with appointments of Allen Moore, Thomas Schermerhorn and Mary Field. Selectmen discussing Charlottes' dump needs (no burning of trash allowed after 7/1/68). 

5/27/68 - James Ogden appointed first sanitary engineer 

JUN 6/4/68 - Robert F. Kennedy assassinated 

JUL 7/8/68 - Dr. Dahl & Mr. Ogden presented plan to Selectmen for Mutton Hill Development 

7/22/68 - Bill Horsford suggests that Selectmen and Planning Commission visit Atomic Power Plant in Rowe, MA 

SEP 9/6/68 - Board of Civil Authority meeting: mostly opposed to Harry Webb $250,000 offer for water system. "Selectmen and Planning Commission have doubts as to whether Charlotte is ready for the kind of growth that will probably come if water comes to Charlotte.

OCT During October various members of Planning Commission and Selectmen meet with representatives of Central Vermont Public Service and Yankee Nuclear Power to discuss proposed Atomic Power Plant 

NOV 11/25/68 - Charlotte signs new lease with Thurbers for Town Beach, 3 years, renewable yearly, due to CVPS uncertainty 

DEC 12/3/68 - Planning Commission votes that if the moderator at the information meeting planned for December 6 asks for the commissions position on the Atomic Power Plant, the chairman (Peter Bergh) will say that a great deal more information is needed re the pros and cons before the commission can determine whether it is an asset or liability for the town. 

12/6/68 - Public Meeting in Charlotte about the proposed Atomic Power Plant. Moderated by Charles Ross. 

12/10/68 - Charlotte Planning Commission voted unanimously to oppose the proposed atomic plant . (Reported in minutes of 12/30/68 meeting) 

12/31/68 - Date of expiration of CVPS option on Thurber property in Charlotte. CVPS decides to exercise the option. 

1969 FEB 2/3/69 - Richard B. and Mary D. Thurber deed property to C.V. Realty, Inc. (Book 30, pg. 202 of the Charlotte Land Records) 

MAR 3/19/69 - Planning Commission votes to put atomic power issue before the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC). Annoyance with CCRPC expressed for lack of thought on the issue. 

3/21/69 - Public Hearing on first Charlotte Comprehensive Master Plan 

3/25/69 - Master Plan accepted by Selectmen. Still discussing water proposal. 

APR 4/19/69 - Vermont Governor Deane Davis signs into law legislation to control construction of power plants and high-tension transmission wires. Before granting approval for the construction of any power plant the Public Service Board would have to find that the construction would not have an undue adverse effect on esthetics, historic sites, air and water purity, the natural environment and the public health and safety. 

JUN 6/9/69 - Board of Civil Authority denies Thurber property tax appeal 

JUL Planning Commission mails survey to 550 Charlotte households; 225 respond. 

7/16/68 - Selectmen accept subdivision regulations 

AUG Special Meeting - Charlotte Town voted to accept sub-division regulations 

8/27/68 - Special Meeting - selectmen reject water proposal 

1970 APR 4/22/70 - First national Earth Day 

MAY 5/4/70 - Information meeting at UVM on atomic power plant siting. 

5/12/70 - Report in Charlotte Planning Commission minutes that the CCRPC had voted 14-3 to adopt proposed guidelines regarding the atomic power plant, one of which specifies that no such plant will be constructed on Lake Champlain. 

JUL 7/18/70 - A record 250 people attended the Lake Champlain Committee meeting in Charlotte, where it is reported that membership increased by 40% in the last year to 1700.

1972 Vermont Yankee Nuclear Generating Station goes on line on the Connecticut River in Vernon, Vermont. 

1975 Brown's Ferry nuclear accident: thirteen nuclear projects cancelled. 

1976 JUL About 40 activists meet on the New Hampshire seacoast and form the Clamshell Alliance. 

AUG 8/1/78 - The Clamshell Alliance organizes the first American occupation at the the Seabrook nuclear plant construction site. 

1978 5/2/78 - Central Vermont Public Service Corp. sells the Thurber property to Willett S. Foster and Pamela L. Foster, ending ten years of uncertainty about the possibility of a Nuclear Power Plant site in Charlotte. 

6/25/78 - More than 18,000 people rally at Seabrook 

1979 3/28/79 - Three Mile Island accident, release of radioactive steam from the nuclear reactor due to equipment failure and human error. 

1986 4/26/1986 - Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 exploded during a test killing 32 people immediately, at least 3600 more who helped with the clean up and died of radiation exposure. 

1989 Long Island Lighting sells Shoreham nuclear plant to state; first completed and commissioned nuclear plant to be abandoned without commercial operation. Shippingport becomes first nuclear plant in world to be decommissioned to "greenfield" condition.. 

1996 100 Nuclear Reactors providing 100.7 gigawatts-electric (Gwe) operating in the United States. 442 commercial nuclear units with capacity of 351 net gigawatts-electric operating in 32 countries worldwide.

 1997 4/97 - Department of Energy completes exploratory studies facility tunnel at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Assessment expected to be completed by 1998 of viability of repository for nuclear waste. Scheduled to begin receiving nuclear waste in 2010.

Return to Nuclear Reaction Report
Bibliography and Sources
Return to Home Page