Collection number: MC 69
Size: 3 boxes
(0.99 cu.ft.)
About Save Our Shores
“Save Our Shores” was a citizens group organized in 1973 to combat the proposal by Greek shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis and others for a massive oil refinery to be built on Great Bay just outside of Durham, N.H. Olympic Oil Refinery’s plan was to build the refinery at Durham Point, supply it with the necessary freshwater from Lake Winnipesaukee and pump oil back and forth to the terminal at the Isles of Shoals via a pipeline through Great Bay, Newington, Portsmouth and Rye. The pipeline’s final leg would have crossed the ocean floor from Rye to a supertanker terminal at the Shoals. Had Olympic Oil been successful, the 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery would have been the largest built from scratch in the United States at the time. It would also have changed Great Bay and Durham Point, areas of outstanding natural beauty, forever.
Save Our Shores included former state legislators Dudley Dudley and Patti Blanchette; Jack Kingsbury, founder of the Shoals Marine Laboratory; Nancy Sandberg, one of the first leaders of the citizens group; and Phyllis Bennett, who was a founder of Publick Occurrences, the newspaper that broke the story of the proposed refinery after many Durham Point landowners were approached to sell their land. Olympic, through a realtor, had successfully optioned more than 1,000 acres from 11 property owners. The realtor told some property owners he wanted land for a game preserve, to others it was for investment, to others it was to build a home and still others he told he was representing someone else.
The fight against the refinery began in the fall of 1973 and it concluded in March 1974. However, plans for a refinery in the Seacoast continued as other towns such as Newmarket, Rochester and Raymond considered the project.
Dudley Dudley played an integral part in the fight as a freshman legislator. She sponsored House Bill 18 that reaffirmed towns’ home-rule rights in decisions on large projects such as the oil refinery. The Legislature approved her bill the day after Rye and Durham residents overwhelmingly voted against zoning amendments needed for the oil refinery plan. In Rye, the vote was 1,073-to-194. In Durham, it was 1,254-to-144.
The collection materials were donated by Gael Ulrich, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of New Hampshire, Nancy Sandberg, chair of Save Our Shores, who at the time was a 27-year-old mother who “grew vegetables and planted apple trees at her family’s home when she was called to action,” and Robert and Gail Bates, residents of Exeter, N.H.
Source: Some of this information was taken from an article written by Richard Fabrizio for the Portsmouth Herald, August 5, 2001.
About the Save Our Shores Papers
The papers are primarily newsclippings, but there is also correspondence, newsletters, flyers, and a small number of slides.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
This collection is open.
Copyright Notice
Contents of this collection are governed by U.S. copyright law. For questions about publication or reproduction rights, contact Special Collections staff.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], [Folder], [Box], Save Our Shores Papers, 1973-2001, MC 69, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Donation: Gael Ulrich, Nancy Sandberg, and Robert and Gail Bates, 1998 (Accession number 98.016)
Collection Contents
| Box 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Box 1, Folder 1 | C. H. Sprague Papers | |
| Box 1, Folder 2 | SOS Board Notes | |
| Box 1, Folder 3 | News Releases | |
| Box 1, Folder 4 | Oil Refinery Proposal | |
| Box 1, Folder 5 | Correspondence-Bates | |
| Box 1, Folder 6 | Correspondence from Ulrich | |
| Box 1, Folder 7 | Correspondence to Ulrich | |
| Box 1, Folder 8 | Correspondence-All Others | |
| Box 1, Folder 9 | Miscellaneous Handnotes | |
| Box 1, Folder 10 | Miscellaneous Items | |
| Box 1, Folder 11 | Photos and Slides | |
| Box 1, Folder 12 | Speeches | |
| Box 1, Folder 13 | Circulars | |
| Box 1, Folder 14 | Letters-Save Our Shores-A Citizens Group | |
| Box 1, Folder 15 | Home Rule Bill | |
| Box 1, Folder 16 | Publications and Prints | |
| Box 2 | ||
| Box 2, Folder 1 | Clippings: American Journal, 1975 | |
| Box 2, Folder 2 | Clippings: Bordertown News (Pub. Daily News) | |
| Box 2, Folder 3 | Clippings: Boston Globe | |
| Box 2, Folder 4 | Clippings: Chemical and Engineering News | |
| Box 2, Folder 5 | Clippings: Chemical Engineering Progress, 1973 | |
| Box 2, Folder 6 | Clippings: Christian Science Monitor | |
| Box 2, Folder 7 | Clippings: Concord Monitor | |
| Box 2, Folder 8 | Clippings: Eagle Times | |
| Box 2, Folder 9 | Clippings: Exeter News Letter, 1974-1975 | |
| Box 2, Folder 10 | Clippings: Foster's Daily Democrat | |
| Box 2, Folder 11 | Clippings: Fortune, 1975 | |
| Box 2, Folder 12 | Clippings: Maine Times, 1973-1975 | |
| Box 2, Folder 13 | Clippings: Manchester Union Leader, 1974 | |
| Box 2, Folder 14 | Clippings: New Hampshire Times | |
| Box 2, Folder 15 | Miscellaneous Clippings (1-2 Articles) | |
| Box 2, Folder 16 | Clippings: Nashua Telegraph | |
| Box 2, Folder 17 | Clippings: Newsweek | |
| Box 2, Folder 18 | Clippings: New York Times | |
| Box 2, Folder 19 | Clippings: Manchester Union Leader, 1975-1976 | |
| Box 3 | ||
| Box 3, Folder 1 | Clippings: Portland Press Herald | |
| Box 3, Folder 2 | Clippings: Portsmouth Herald, 1973 | |
| Box 3, Folder 3 | Clippings: Portsmouth Herald, Jan. 1974-Feb. 1974 | |
| Box 3, Folder 4 | Clippings: Portsmouth Herald, Mar. 1974-May 1974 | |
| Box 3, Folder 5 | Clippings: Portsmouth Herald, 1975 | |
| Box 3, Folder 6 | Clippings: Publick Occurences, 1973 | |
| Box 3, Folder 7 | Clippings: Publick Occurences, 1974 | |
| Box 3, Folder 8 | Clippings: Publick Occurences, 1975 | |
| Box 3, Folder 9 | Clippings: Publick Occurences | |
| Box 3, Folder 10 | Clippings: Rochester Courier | |
| Box 3, Folder 11 | Clippings: York County Coast Star | |
| Box 3, Folder 12 | Clippings: Unidentified Publications | |
