Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
People Power: The 1986 Nuclear Waste Controversy in Western North Carolina
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
This paper will describe and analyze the 1986 protest of the proposed placement of a nuclear waste repository near Asheville, North Carolina. Community organizations aroused the public, and the resulting protests challenged the local, state, and national political leadership to defend the policy. The popular outrage was so great that the proposal was withdrawn and Federal policy was significantly changed.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Gordon McKinney was born and reared in Whitefield, New Hampshire in the White Mountains.
Gordon McKinney taught history at Western Carolina University (1978-1989), University of Maryland (1993-1995), and Berea College (1995-2009). He served as Administrator, Research Division at the National Endowment for the Humanities (1989-1992) and Executive Director of National History Day at the University of Maryland (1992-1995)
Former President of the Appalachian Studies Conference and the Western North Carolina Historical Association. Author of 4 books on Appalachia.
People Power: The 1986 Nuclear Waste Controversy in Western North Carolina
This paper will describe and analyze the 1986 protest of the proposed placement of a nuclear waste repository near Asheville, North Carolina. Community organizations aroused the public, and the resulting protests challenged the local, state, and national political leadership to defend the policy. The popular outrage was so great that the proposal was withdrawn and Federal policy was significantly changed.
