00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:24.478
- Hi, I'm Sam Lovejoy, and
I live on Chestnut Hill in

00:00:24.482 --> 00:00:28.999
Montague, Massachusetts, and
I'm just an organic farmer.

00:00:29.003 --> 00:00:31.999
♪ A light is not a bulb ♪

00:00:32.499 --> 00:00:34.999
♪ A bird is not a plane ♪

00:00:35.003 --> 00:00:37.999
♪ Sometimes things get so tangled ♪

00:00:38.003 --> 00:00:40.999
♪ You need some dumb refrain ♪

00:00:41.099 --> 00:00:44.001
♪ Such as a light is not a bulb ♪

00:00:44.400 --> 00:00:48.001
♪ And a bird is not a plane ♪

00:00:49.010 --> 00:00:52.200
♪ And if it's wet,
it might be rain ♪

00:00:56.999 --> 00:00:59.999
- How did you happen to
become an organic farmer?

00:01:00.759 --> 00:01:02.755
- Well, when I was six years old

00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:04.559
I moved to Wilburham, Massachusetts,

00:01:04.563 --> 00:01:05.817
which is about 50 miles south of here

00:01:05.822 --> 00:01:07.858
on the Connecticut Valley.

00:01:07.862 --> 00:01:11.938
And I started working for
an apple and peach farmer

00:01:11.942 --> 00:01:15.838
at that time, and I worked for
him for probably 11 years,

00:01:15.842 --> 00:01:20.438
from the time I was six until
junior year in high school.

00:01:20.942 --> 00:01:23.698
So it only seemed natural
that after college I'd end up

00:01:23.702 --> 00:01:27.918
being a farmer, and
organic just has to do with

00:01:27.922 --> 00:01:30.918
the consciousness
of the food we eat.

00:01:31.922 --> 00:01:34.998
♪ Energy, energy ♪

00:01:35.002 --> 00:01:37.922
♪ Oh my god, why can't they see ♪

00:01:38.001 --> 00:01:43.001
♪ They just wrap it up to sell it
like their souls ♪

00:01:44.969 --> 00:01:47.997
♪ When there's no more
to be stolen ♪

00:01:48.001 --> 00:01:51.001
♪ Think might once again
start rollin' ♪

00:01:51.102 --> 00:01:56.210
♪ And we'll end up where we
always thought we'd be ♪

00:01:58.739 --> 00:02:02.319
- What was your first reaction
to seeing the NU tower?

00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:05.200
- I turned to you and told you
we're going to have to tip it over,

00:02:05.204 --> 00:02:07.737
or someone was gonna to have to.

00:02:07.742 --> 00:02:10.037
No, I pointed out to you
that I thought it was

00:02:10.041 --> 00:02:12.917
distinctly the symbol which
was probably going to have

00:02:12.921 --> 00:02:16.397
to get removed in order to
get a movement going here in

00:02:16.401 --> 00:02:18.217
the valley to stop the Nuke.

00:02:18.221 --> 00:02:19.717
- The symbol of what?

00:02:19.721 --> 00:02:22.500
- Oh, the symbol of the
nuclear power plant.

00:02:23.002 --> 00:02:25.999
♪ A light is not a bulb ♪

00:02:26.003 --> 00:02:28.999
♪ A bird is not a plane ♪

00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:31.999
♪ Sometimes things get so tangled ♪

00:02:32.003 --> 00:02:34.459
♪ They need some dumb refrain ♪

00:02:34.999 --> 00:02:38.100
♪ Such as a light is not a bulb ♪

00:02:38.999 --> 00:02:41.210
♪ A bird is not a plane ♪

00:02:43.165 --> 00:02:46.765
♪ And if it's wet,
I hope it's rain ♪

00:02:48.320 --> 00:02:51.858
I just thought that it was
so obvious and so symbolic

00:02:51.862 --> 00:02:57.361
and just stuck up there so succinctly

00:02:58.139 --> 00:02:59.517
that I just knew it would end up
tippin' over.

00:02:59.522 --> 00:03:03.177
And then by December 28th
when they announced the plant

00:03:03.181 --> 00:03:07.557
and no one had done it,
and by February 22nd

00:03:07.561 --> 00:03:10.057
and yet still no one had
done it and we had never

00:03:10.061 --> 00:03:12.417
gotten really any kind of
movement off the ground to

00:03:12.421 --> 00:03:16.900
stop the plant in the local area,
I just figured it was time.

00:03:16.919 --> 00:03:19.477
And I figured I was more
than within my rights by

00:03:19.481 --> 00:03:21.858
that time because I was sure
I knew enough that I could

00:03:21.862 --> 00:03:26.620
rightfully claim its unlawfulness.

00:03:28.640 --> 00:03:32.456
- In August of 1945, the great
power hidden in the

00:03:32.460 --> 00:03:35.620
tiny atom was demonstrated
to the world.

00:03:36.760 --> 00:03:39.497
It killed some 300,000
people and left many more

00:03:39.501 --> 00:03:42.759
scarred and crippled
by scorching radiation.

00:03:45.160 --> 00:03:47.397
Albert Einstein had worked
closely for years with the

00:03:47.401 --> 00:03:50.777
US government's Manhattan
Project, a research program

00:03:50.781 --> 00:03:53.960
to develop the bomb
that would end the war.

00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:58.237
After the bomb was dropped,
he wrote to a friend,

00:03:58.241 --> 00:04:01.257
"Our representatives depend
ultimately on decisions made

00:04:01.261 --> 00:04:03.300
in the village square.

00:04:03.500 --> 00:04:05.578
To the village square we
must carry the facts

00:04:05.582 --> 00:04:07.417
of atomic energy.

00:04:07.421 --> 00:04:10.360
From there must come
America's voice."

00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:15.937
In 1953, President
Eisenhower suggested to the

00:04:15.941 --> 00:04:19.418
United Nations that the world
turn its attention

00:04:19.422 --> 00:04:21.897
to the development of what
he called the "peaceful atom,"

00:04:22.901 --> 00:04:25.177
the conversion of this
awesome power into

00:04:25.182 --> 00:04:28.839
electricity by means of
the nuclear power reactor.

00:04:33.610 --> 00:04:37.027
- You know, one makes errors
at various times, and in the

00:04:37.031 --> 00:04:42.147
first blush of enthusiasm
about this remarkable source

00:04:42.151 --> 00:04:45.487
of power after World War II,

00:04:45.492 --> 00:04:49.707
the awesome power of the bomb,
everybody said,

00:04:49.711 --> 00:04:53.507
"Isn't it marvelous that we have
this source of power,

00:04:53.512 --> 00:04:56.527
and now if we just use it
for peaceful purposes,

00:04:56.531 --> 00:04:58.067
it'll be excellent."

00:04:58.072 --> 00:05:01.998
And one of the things
that characterizes free enterprise

00:05:02.002 --> 00:05:04.927
is that they look ahead
and they say,

00:05:04.932 --> 00:05:07.587
"What are the things I ought
to invest my money in?"

00:05:07.591 --> 00:05:11.998
And some awfully big people
and some awfully big interests

00:05:12.002 --> 00:05:15.087
invested in uranium and the
future of atomic power.

00:05:15.591 --> 00:05:18.007
And unfortunately their view is,

00:05:18.011 --> 00:05:20.127
"We've got to recover our investment

00:05:20.132 --> 00:05:23.487
no matter what happens to
the public," you know.

00:05:23.492 --> 00:05:27.067
"It's terribly important to
conserve dollars before life."

00:05:27.072 --> 00:05:29.867
And that's how they
have to look at it.

00:05:29.872 --> 00:05:32.527
It's too bad if somebody
gets hurt in the process,

00:05:32.531 --> 00:05:35.867
but after all they do
have millions and billions

00:05:35.872 --> 00:05:39.087
invested in nuclear power
and the uranium industry.

00:05:43.091 --> 00:05:46.701
- Through the Eisenhower, Kennedy,
Johnson and Nixon years,

00:05:47.103 --> 00:05:49.999
billions of federal and
utility dollars were poured

00:05:50.003 --> 00:05:52.810
into the research and
development of the peaceful atom.

00:05:56.220 --> 00:05:58.997
As the investment grew, so
did the stake of the economy

00:05:59.002 --> 00:06:01.459
in the nuclear experiment.

00:06:03.020 --> 00:06:06.737
Today there are 55 commercial
reactors in operation,

00:06:06.741 --> 00:06:10.277
representing a capital investment
of more than $15 billion,

00:06:10.281 --> 00:06:14.637
with $110 billion more pledged
to plants under construction

00:06:14.641 --> 00:06:16.779
or in the planning stage.

00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:23.098
- Our company, Northeast Utilities,
has been in the

00:06:23.102 --> 00:06:25.837
development and construction
and safe operation of

00:06:25.841 --> 00:06:28.697
nuclear power plants
since the early 1950s,

00:06:28.701 --> 00:06:33.658
which makes us in this
program for almost 20 years,

00:06:33.662 --> 00:06:36.798
and as I indicated, without any
fatalities, without any accidents.

00:06:37.999 --> 00:06:43.999
On our system today, 37%
of the power that's being

00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:48.699
consumed by our customers is
being generated by nuclear means.

00:06:49.900 --> 00:06:52.999
The original projections for the
Light Water Reactor program

00:06:53.005 --> 00:06:55.999
was that there would be
a thousand nuclear power plants

00:06:56.003 --> 00:06:58.800
in this country by the year 2000.

00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:01.978
- Fifth, I'm asking the Atomic
Energy Commission to speed up

00:07:01.982 --> 00:07:05.017
the licensing and construction
of nuclear plants.

00:07:05.721 --> 00:07:08.617
We must seek to reduce
the time required to bring

00:07:08.622 --> 00:07:12.457
nuclear plants online,
nuclear plants that can

00:07:12.461 --> 00:07:13.677
produce power.

00:07:13.682 --> 00:07:18.218
to bring them online from
10 years to 6 years.

00:07:18.222 --> 00:07:20.360
Reduce that time lag.

00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:24.598
- Einstein's hope of 1946
seemed to be slipping

00:07:24.602 --> 00:07:27.077
further and further
from reality.

00:07:27.081 --> 00:07:31.017
By the 1970s, the specter of
nuclear power had become the

00:07:31.021 --> 00:07:33.337
pawn of financial games
in the United States

00:07:33.341 --> 00:07:37.500
and of complex political
barters between nations.

00:07:38.019 --> 00:07:40.557
In his first State of the
Union speech,

00:07:40.562 --> 00:07:43.978
President Gerald Ford asked that
200 new plants be completed

00:07:43.982 --> 00:07:46.100
within 10 years.

00:07:50.530 --> 00:07:53.207
In December of 1973,
Northeast Utilities

00:07:53.211 --> 00:07:55.987
announced that they had
selected Montague, Massachusetts

00:07:55.992 --> 00:07:59.687
as the site for a twin
nuclear power plant to cost

00:07:59.692 --> 00:08:01.769
$1.5 billion.

00:08:02.350 --> 00:08:05.207
The proposed plant would
be one of the largest

00:08:05.211 --> 00:08:08.527
ever constructed,
producing over 2,000 megawatts

00:08:08.531 --> 00:08:11.848
and cooling its reaction
with two 600-foot high

00:08:11.852 --> 00:08:14.728
cooling towers and 20
million gallons of water

00:08:14.732 --> 00:08:17.069
every day from the river.

00:08:18.990 --> 00:08:21.207
Several groups of ecology-minded
people began to

00:08:21.211 --> 00:08:22.627
raise objections
to the plant,

00:08:22.632 --> 00:08:26.087
eventually coalescing into
an umbrella organization

00:08:26.091 --> 00:08:29.910
called Nuclear Objectors
for a Pure Environment.

00:08:31.110 --> 00:08:35.828
- Well, the main objections
are first the health factor,

00:08:35.832 --> 00:08:37.968
which is the
low-level radiation,

00:08:37.972 --> 00:08:42.668
which is so dangerous over
a long period of time to the

00:08:42.672 --> 00:08:45.608
environment, to people,
animals, and to the land.

00:08:45.612 --> 00:08:50.728
Especially the objection
was the watershed, that the

00:08:50.732 --> 00:08:53.588
Montague Plains is a
beautiful and delicate

00:08:53.592 --> 00:08:56.168
ecological asset.

00:08:56.172 --> 00:08:59.099
It's an aquifer, a natural
filter for the Connecticut River,

00:08:59.103 --> 00:09:02.868
so that any leaks or any
radioactivity loose on

00:09:02.872 --> 00:09:03.948
the Montague aquifer

00:09:03.952 --> 00:09:06.588
would affect the whole
Connecticut River Valley.

00:09:06.592 --> 00:09:09.568
We're also really worried
about that much radioactivity

00:09:09.572 --> 00:09:11.728
concentrated in one place.

00:09:11.732 --> 00:09:14.008
Any accident would
pollute the whole area.

00:09:14.999 --> 00:09:19.468
So that's the safety problem
there of an accident.

00:09:19.472 --> 00:09:22.999
We're also concerned about the
storage of radioactive waste.

00:09:23.072 --> 00:09:26.268
transportation of radioactive waste.

00:09:26.272 --> 00:09:28.588
- The radicals were the first
people to run around the

00:09:28.592 --> 00:09:29.968
country and say the war is bad,

00:09:29.972 --> 00:09:32.768
whereas this nuclear
power plant movement,

00:09:32.772 --> 00:09:34.807
anti-nuclear movement in
the country,

00:09:34.812 --> 00:09:37.528
has every range of
American involved with it.

00:09:37.532 --> 00:09:40.108
Liberals, conservatives,
they're worried about

00:09:40.112 --> 00:09:45.028
nuclear power plants killing
people in their area.

00:09:45.032 --> 00:09:48.708
And so it's a localized issue
all around the country.

00:09:48.712 --> 00:09:50.968
It's not a nationwide program yet,

00:09:50.972 --> 00:09:52.828
but it's getting made nationwide.

00:09:52.832 --> 00:09:55.608
What's happening is the
environmental movement,

00:09:55.612 --> 00:09:56.948
the whole ecology movement

00:09:56.952 --> 00:09:59.948
and all these different
segments of society that are

00:09:59.952 --> 00:10:01.868
fighting the No Nukes campaign

00:10:01.872 --> 00:10:04.307
are all starting to
become politicized.

00:10:04.312 --> 00:10:06.628
They're starting to realize
that there's a capitalist

00:10:06.632 --> 00:10:10.328
dialectic forcing nukes to
be built in this country,

00:10:10.332 --> 00:10:12.007
that there's no other way to
draw the lines,

00:10:12.011 --> 00:10:14.068
no other way to define it.

00:10:14.072 --> 00:10:17.048
So the Montague nuclear power
plant will not be built,

00:10:17.052 --> 00:10:20.307
and I can claim that as a
person who is feeling that

00:10:20.312 --> 00:10:23.728
he's talking from the right side,

00:10:23.732 --> 00:10:27.548
capital "R" right, in saying
that Sam Lovejoy will not

00:10:27.552 --> 00:10:29.008
allow that plant to be built,

00:10:29.012 --> 00:10:30.688
and there are other people
that agree with him,

00:10:30.692 --> 00:10:34.490
and they will have to build
that plant over my body.

00:10:34.769 --> 00:10:37.268
And it's gonna get to the
point where all these other

00:10:37.272 --> 00:10:38.508
factions all over the country

00:10:38.512 --> 00:10:40.448
are going to start to
realize that the only way

00:10:40.452 --> 00:10:42.488
that they can stop those
nuclear power plants

00:10:42.492 --> 00:10:45.488
all over their area is certain
kinds of

00:10:45.492 --> 00:10:48.648
political action, direct action,
saying "No"

00:10:48.652 --> 00:10:52.250
in a concrete way, "No plant."

00:10:52.730 --> 00:10:54.988
- The most complex and
delicate technology

00:10:54.992 --> 00:10:58.889
developed for the reactor
is the control mechanism.

00:10:59.169 --> 00:11:01.828
This is necessary to
prevent the fission reaction

00:11:01.832 --> 00:11:05.950
occurring in the reactor's
core from getting out of hand.

00:11:06.289 --> 00:11:08.908
Although no one is sure just
what would happen if such a

00:11:08.912 --> 00:11:10.608
meltdown were to occur,

00:11:10.612 --> 00:11:12.848
it is certain that incredible
heat would be generated

00:11:12.852 --> 00:11:17.070
and the possible radioactive
release would be catastrophic.

00:11:20.729 --> 00:11:22.568
- I don't believe potentially
it's very dangerous.

00:11:22.572 --> 00:11:26.148
I think it's a question
of probabilities.

00:11:26.152 --> 00:11:28.948
There have been a great many
numbers bandied about in prior years

00:11:28.952 --> 00:11:32.728
that if anything happened
to a nuclear plant, well,

00:11:32.732 --> 00:11:35.648
it would spread for miles and kill
thousands and thousands of people.

00:11:35.652 --> 00:11:36.888
I just don't believe that.

00:11:36.892 --> 00:11:39.710
I just don't see any
evidence for that.

00:11:39.950 --> 00:11:43.528
- In 1957, the Atomic Energy
Commission conducted a study

00:11:43.532 --> 00:11:47.528
investigating the possible consequences
of a nuclear reactor accident

00:11:47.532 --> 00:11:50.750
and subsequent release
of radioactivity.

00:11:51.289 --> 00:11:55.501
The results of this study indicated
that a maximum credible accident

00:11:55.512 --> 00:11:59.108
could result in thousands of
square miles of destruction,

00:11:59.112 --> 00:12:04.612
killing as many as 3,400
people and injuring 43,000.

00:12:06.490 --> 00:12:09.728
- First place, if the worst of all
possible accidents were to happen,

00:12:09.732 --> 00:12:12.427
and the odds against
that are very great,

00:12:12.432 --> 00:12:15.427
even if it were to happen
there are a great many

00:12:15.432 --> 00:12:17.168
things that could be
done to contain it.

00:12:17.172 --> 00:12:20.307
It probably would be
contained on-site.

00:12:20.312 --> 00:12:24.009
I doubt very much if it would
have a widespread effect.

00:12:25.809 --> 00:12:32.508
- When we're talking about a mass
of 100 tons or so of material

00:12:32.512 --> 00:12:38.012
melting at 5,000 degrees
Fahrenheit with water around,

00:12:38.049 --> 00:12:40.268
with hydrogen being generated

00:12:40.272 --> 00:12:45.608
and burning explosively, melting
through concrete into soil,

00:12:45.612 --> 00:12:48.247
when somebody tells me,

00:12:48.251 --> 00:12:50.899
"But we're sure it isn't going
to go far away,"

00:12:50.952 --> 00:12:55.148
I look at them as a chemist
and I say,

00:12:55.152 --> 00:12:57.888
"I have heard various forms
of insanity,

00:12:57.892 --> 00:13:00.610
but hardly this form."

00:13:01.409 --> 00:13:05.999
So I don't really know whether
the chance is 1 in 10

00:13:06.002 --> 00:13:07.548
or 1 in 100

00:13:07.552 --> 00:13:13.248
or 1 in 10,000 as to whether
20% of the radioactivity

00:13:13.252 --> 00:13:15.408
will get 30 miles away.

00:13:15.412 --> 00:13:19.648
Who's going to define what the
chance is that this molten mass

00:13:19.652 --> 00:13:23.408
at 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit is
or isn't going to do something?

00:13:23.412 --> 00:13:26.988
When we don't have
the need to get this,

00:13:26.992 --> 00:13:30.568
why do we want to put every
city and hamlet of the

00:13:30.572 --> 00:13:33.668
United States at risk by building
a thousand of these plants?

00:13:33.692 --> 00:13:37.948
We can get the power from sunshine
very easily and economically.

00:13:37.952 --> 00:13:40.328
It just makes no sense.

00:13:40.332 --> 00:13:43.568
But I would like to say that
even if this hazard of a meltdown

00:13:43.572 --> 00:13:48.528
were securely answered, it
doesn't alter for one second

00:13:48.532 --> 00:13:51.368
my opposition to nuclear power,

00:13:51.372 --> 00:13:55.248
because I am concerned about
the fact that whether it

00:13:55.252 --> 00:13:57.288
melts down or doesn't melt down,

00:13:57.292 --> 00:13:59.768
you've created an
astronomical amount of

00:13:59.772 --> 00:14:01.568
radioactive garbage

00:14:01.572 --> 00:14:07.708
which you must contain and isolate
better than 99.99% perfectly

00:14:07.712 --> 00:14:13.212
for the future, and in the future
I mean forever.

00:14:13.750 --> 00:14:18.508
Do you know or would you predict
that humans will do something

00:14:18.512 --> 00:14:23.111
99.99% perfectly

00:14:23.115 --> 00:14:27.988
in peace and war, with human error
and human malice,

00:14:27.992 --> 00:14:33.368
guerrilla activity, psychotics,
malfunction of equipment?

00:14:33.372 --> 00:14:36.528
Do you believe that there's
anything you'd like to

00:14:36.532 --> 00:14:37.708
guarantee will be done

00:14:37.712 --> 00:14:43.212
99.99% perfectly
for 100 ,000 years?

00:14:44.409 --> 00:14:48.608
- NOPE publicly stated its belief
that the plant would never be built,

00:14:48.612 --> 00:14:53.210
but the opposition within
Montague was small and isolated.

00:14:53.629 --> 00:14:56.408
Outside the town there
seemed little awareness that

00:14:56.412 --> 00:14:59.028
the plant was even being planned.

00:14:59.032 --> 00:15:01.908
Meanwhile, NU began the
preparation of its site

00:15:01.912 --> 00:15:03.889
on the Montague plains.

00:15:04.269 --> 00:15:07.968
By June of 1973, they had
constructed a 500-foot

00:15:07.972 --> 00:15:10.990
steel tower to test
weather conditions.

00:15:11.690 --> 00:15:15.358
It was ironically not the
decisions about nuclear power,

00:15:15.362 --> 00:15:17.488
but the plants themselves
that had moved to the

00:15:17.492 --> 00:15:19.529
villages of America.

00:15:22.459 --> 00:15:25.538
- Well, the function of the tower
is to measure the

00:15:25.542 --> 00:15:26.898
wind speed, wind direction,

00:15:26.902 --> 00:15:30.758
temperature and dew point,
and this is done at

00:15:30.762 --> 00:15:34.259
four different elevations
above ground elevation.

00:15:34.299 --> 00:15:38.358
It will enable us to make
some predictions regarding

00:15:38.362 --> 00:15:40.838
the design and
location of the plant,

00:15:40.842 --> 00:15:46.342
regarding the allowable
normal radioactive emissions

00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:48.057
through our stacks in the plants

00:15:48.062 --> 00:15:52.438
and what will happen to these
as they leave the stacks.

00:15:52.442 --> 00:15:57.138
I would imagine that some of this
information could be utilized

00:15:57.142 --> 00:16:01.318
as far as our evacuation
plan is concerned to predict,

00:16:01.322 --> 00:16:04.658
under certain weather conditions,

00:16:04.662 --> 00:16:09.458
which way the radioactive
emissions would be moving

00:16:09.462 --> 00:16:12.700
and how fast they would be moving.

00:16:12.840 --> 00:16:15.858
- In the early morning
darkness of February 22,

00:16:15.862 --> 00:16:19.677
Sam Lovejoy slipped onto the plains
and sabotaged the weather tower

00:16:19.682 --> 00:16:23.557
simply by loosening the
guy wires that held it up.

00:16:23.562 --> 00:16:26.838
He flagged down a car and
rode to the local police station,

00:16:26.842 --> 00:16:29.419
where he turned himself in.

00:16:30.100 --> 00:16:32.198
Lovejoy submitted a four-page
written statement

00:16:32.202 --> 00:16:33.918
which explained his act,

00:16:33.922 --> 00:16:36.938
citing the Declaration of
Independence and accusing

00:16:36.942 --> 00:16:40.919
both the government and the
utility companies of despotism.

00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.258
He was soon indicted by a
grand jury for willful and

00:16:44.262 --> 00:16:47.078
malicious destruction
of personal property.

00:16:47.082 --> 00:16:50.638
He pleaded absolutely not
guilty and announced that he

00:16:50.642 --> 00:16:53.039
would handle his own defense.

00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:55.500
- God...

00:16:55.999 --> 00:16:59.097
I mean, I walked in there
and it was one of the

00:16:59.101 --> 00:17:02.557
quietest, clearest cold nights.

00:17:02.562 --> 00:17:04.017
It was just crisp.

00:17:04.022 --> 00:17:06.357
There was not a sound in the air.

00:17:06.361 --> 00:17:08.837
And when I walked up to the
tower with a strobe light

00:17:08.841 --> 00:17:09.978
blinking on and off,

00:17:09.982 --> 00:17:12.037
it was like lighting the
entire area.

00:17:12.042 --> 00:17:15.198
It was like I could see
everything clearly for a

00:17:15.202 --> 00:17:17.277
split second, then darkness
for a split second,

00:17:17.282 --> 00:17:18.498
then light for a split second.

00:17:18.502 --> 00:17:20.519
It was hypnotic.

00:17:20.599 --> 00:17:23.617
I went over to the farthest
turnbuckle and I measured it

00:17:23.621 --> 00:17:26.859
up a little bit and
then I just set to work.

00:17:27.380 --> 00:17:31.279
And it took me about 45 minutes
to get the first one undone.

00:17:31.799 --> 00:17:34.119
It was a lot of work, actually.

00:17:34.819 --> 00:17:37.958
And very carefully I got it
down to about an inch from

00:17:37.962 --> 00:17:40.317
the end where it was
just about to pop off.

00:17:40.321 --> 00:17:44.817
And then I very carefully
stuck my crowbar in at an

00:17:44.821 --> 00:17:46.978
angle so that in case
the thing took off,

00:17:46.982 --> 00:17:48.337
it wouldn't take my wrist with it.

00:17:48.341 --> 00:17:50.638
So I was like being
incredibly careful and I was

00:17:50.642 --> 00:17:53.458
twisting it and
suddenly it just let go.

00:17:53.462 --> 00:17:55.478
Boom, without notice.

00:17:55.482 --> 00:18:00.698
It made this like double wanging
noise that carried up the cable.

00:18:00.702 --> 00:18:05.337
It repeated it twice,
like wang, wang.

00:18:05.341 --> 00:18:09.158
And then the steel cable and the
shockwave hit the top of the tower.

00:18:09.162 --> 00:18:13.178
And the tower being solid steel,
the noise then echoed

00:18:13.182 --> 00:18:15.718
down through the
tower to the ground.

00:18:15.722 --> 00:18:18.317
And in addition to that, by
then the cable had decided

00:18:18.321 --> 00:18:20.117
to start whapping
around the tower.

00:18:20.121 --> 00:18:22.817
And the noise and the
amplification of the noise

00:18:22.821 --> 00:18:25.117
and steel on steel
and everything,

00:18:25.121 --> 00:18:29.658
it was so noisy out on the Montague
Plains there for about a minute,

00:18:29.662 --> 00:18:33.720
I'm surprised the entire
Montague didn't wake up.

00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:35.038
So then I was paranoid,

00:18:35.042 --> 00:18:38.498
I sat down really quiet to
make sure no one was coming.

00:18:38.502 --> 00:18:41.698
Pulled out a cigarette,
smoked a cigarette,

00:18:41.702 --> 00:18:43.238
and nobody came.

00:18:43.242 --> 00:18:44.998
So then I said, oh,
it's clean sailing.

00:18:45.002 --> 00:18:46.918
This is ridiculous.

00:18:46.922 --> 00:18:49.658
So then I just undid the
next two turnbuckles.

00:18:49.662 --> 00:18:52.007
The second one let go and
it didn't fall over.

00:18:52.011 --> 00:18:53.140
And I said, great.

00:18:53.144 --> 00:18:55.218
And the third one let go.

00:18:55.222 --> 00:18:59.198
And the tower, I thought
that I observed the tower

00:18:59.202 --> 00:19:01.478
like move just a little bit.

00:19:01.482 --> 00:19:03.498
And then it seemed
to move back.

00:19:03.502 --> 00:19:07.097
And I said to myself, well, it's
not going and that's beautiful

00:19:07.101 --> 00:19:09.738
'cause now I might be able
to knock over the whole thing.

00:19:09.742 --> 00:19:13.097
That was a real question in my mind,
about whether it was conceivable

00:19:13.101 --> 00:19:15.178
that the thing would have
enough structural integrity

00:19:15.182 --> 00:19:18.999
to fall as a unit like it didn't.

00:19:19.361 --> 00:19:21.738
And as I had just thought
that I was going to have the

00:19:21.742 --> 00:19:24.178
chance to do that
fourth turnbuckle,

00:19:24.182 --> 00:19:27.718
it swayed for the last time
and it just started to go.

00:19:27.722 --> 00:19:30.057
And then it just
disintegrated in midair,

00:19:30.061 --> 00:19:33.577
just kind of crumbled down
into pieces on the ground

00:19:33.581 --> 00:19:37.180
with this incredible
giant crashing noise.

00:19:37.400 --> 00:19:39.678
And I felt a little let down
'cause I realized I had

00:19:39.682 --> 00:19:41.778
knocked down the whole thing.

00:19:41.782 --> 00:19:44.938
But then I said to hell with it,
because the symbolic

00:19:44.942 --> 00:19:48.680
thing had happened that
I wanted to take place.

00:19:49.180 --> 00:19:52.337
- Although Lovejoy was seen as
a simple terrorist by many,

00:19:52.341 --> 00:19:54.798
his action represented the
feelings of thousands of

00:19:54.802 --> 00:19:56.158
citizens who had been mobilized

00:19:56.162 --> 00:19:59.038
by a growing concern about
the safety and necessity of

00:19:59.042 --> 00:20:01.240
nuclear power plants.

00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:05.359
Locally, the plant was no
longer an abstract issue.

00:20:05.880 --> 00:20:10.099
In the fall 1974 elections,
the Alternate Energy Coalition

00:20:10.103 --> 00:20:12.999
sponsored a referendum in the
state senate district

00:20:13.003 --> 00:20:16.319
encompassing Montague and the
surrounding towns.

00:20:16.759 --> 00:20:19.158
Forty-eight percent of the
voters cast their ballots

00:20:19.162 --> 00:20:21.740
in opposition to the Montague plant.

00:20:24.680 --> 00:20:26.638
- I don't think I'd make a
judgment as to whether

00:20:26.642 --> 00:20:28.238
the yes or a no vote

00:20:28.242 --> 00:20:31.357
would have any major impact
on the outcome of whether

00:20:31.361 --> 00:20:33.660
that plant is built or not.

00:20:34.099 --> 00:20:36.778
It seems to me that
society has to go forward.

00:20:36.782 --> 00:20:40.498
And I use the analogy of the railroads
in the 1840s in this country,

00:20:40.502 --> 00:20:45.398
that there would be no
railroads built if one town

00:20:45.402 --> 00:20:48.140
or a group of towns could
block the line.

00:20:48.779 --> 00:20:51.617
- Radioactivity cannot be seen
or otherwise detected by the

00:20:51.621 --> 00:20:53.799
five human senses.

00:20:55.159 --> 00:20:57.617
Nuclear scientists admit that
there is much they

00:20:57.621 --> 00:21:00.298
do not know about the
effects of radioactivity,

00:21:00.302 --> 00:21:02.458
but they are aware that
minute doses can cause

00:21:02.462 --> 00:21:08.357
cancer, leukemia, genetic damage,
and thus birth defects.

00:21:08.361 --> 00:21:11.018
Dr. Goffman has estimated that
if every American were to

00:21:11.022 --> 00:21:14.758
receive the maximum dose of
radiation allowed by the AEC,

00:21:14.762 --> 00:21:17.798
there would be an additional
32,000 deaths per year

00:21:17.802 --> 00:21:19.680
from cancer alone.

00:21:21.089 --> 00:21:25.908
- The decision to build
nuclear power plants may

00:21:25.912 --> 00:21:28.388
very well be for the first time

00:21:28.392 --> 00:21:31.648
a decision that can result
in the desecration of the

00:21:31.652 --> 00:21:37.152
earth with respect to life
for all future generations.

00:21:37.490 --> 00:21:42.990
And if any decision requires
profound consideration

00:21:44.009 --> 00:21:47.928
and the most intensive
public study and debate,

00:21:48.732 --> 00:21:51.769
I would think it is that decision.

00:21:52.289 --> 00:21:55.628
- Early in 1975, Henry
Kissinger announced that a

00:21:55.632 --> 00:21:57.428
second oil embargo by the Arabs

00:21:57.432 --> 00:22:01.268
might be considered a
strangulation of America,

00:22:01.272 --> 00:22:04.710
and require military seizure
of the oil fields.

00:22:05.009 --> 00:22:08.329
Energy had become a
very serious business.

00:22:08.589 --> 00:22:11.766
The cries of danger from
hundreds of nuclear scientists

00:22:11.770 --> 00:22:13.067
and millions of frightened Americans

00:22:13.071 --> 00:22:15.248
carried little weight in what
had become a

00:22:15.252 --> 00:22:17.688
national security issue.

00:22:17.692 --> 00:22:20.008
America's need for energy.

00:22:20.012 --> 00:22:22.367
- Supposing there were a natural
gas shortage in this country

00:22:22.371 --> 00:22:25.128
or supposing the coal
deposits were not developed

00:22:25.132 --> 00:22:26.888
as rapidly as we think
they might be

00:22:26.892 --> 00:22:30.607
or coal gasification came,
supposing the Arabs

00:22:30.611 --> 00:22:32.468
were to shut off oil again

00:22:32.472 --> 00:22:35.688
and our foreign sources
were insecure again.

00:22:35.692 --> 00:22:38.228
Well, then you might see a
very rapid shift to electricity

00:22:38.232 --> 00:22:41.448
and the growth would be beyond
what it has been in the past.

00:22:41.452 --> 00:22:44.708
On the other hand,
with conservation,

00:22:44.712 --> 00:22:47.367
with an energy ethic,
it could be less.

00:22:47.371 --> 00:22:50.347
I think the devilish thing
is that we just don't know.

00:22:50.351 --> 00:22:52.347
It's better to plan, however,
that you have

00:22:52.351 --> 00:22:54.548
facilities in place
when you need them,

00:22:54.552 --> 00:22:57.688
and have an excess, than it
is to have an undersupply

00:22:57.692 --> 00:23:00.587
because that means a
disaster for the economy,

00:23:00.591 --> 00:23:02.670
for jobs, employment.

00:23:02.950 --> 00:23:06.968
- Let us set as our national goal,
in the spirit of Apollo,

00:23:06.972 --> 00:23:09.488
with the determination
of the Manhattan Project,

00:23:09.492 --> 00:23:13.087
that by the end of this
decade we will have

00:23:13.091 --> 00:23:16.667
developed the potential to meet
our own energy needs

00:23:16.671 --> 00:23:18.999
without depending on any
foreign enemy--

00:23:19.999 --> 00:23:21.999
foreign energy sources.

00:23:24.750 --> 00:23:28.367
- Franklin County and Hampshire
County are at the south slope

00:23:28.371 --> 00:23:31.067
or the foothills of the
Berkshire Mountains,

00:23:31.071 --> 00:23:34.668
and has been known to be the
most conservative district

00:23:34.672 --> 00:23:36.968
in all of Massachusetts,

00:23:36.972 --> 00:23:39.688
and has also been known as
one of the most depressed

00:23:39.692 --> 00:23:41.188
areas in all of America.

00:23:41.692 --> 00:23:44.948
But it's funny because the
first time that a big project

00:23:44.952 --> 00:23:46.867
was proposed for Montague

00:23:46.871 --> 00:23:50.347
was when Boston decided
to dump its garbage on the

00:23:50.351 --> 00:23:52.109
Montague Plains.

00:23:52.490 --> 00:23:55.567
The citizens of the town sort
of went through an ego shock

00:23:55.571 --> 00:23:57.807
and decided that the
Montague Plains shouldn't be

00:23:57.811 --> 00:24:00.067
used for Boston's garbage.

00:24:00.071 --> 00:24:02.888
And so what they did
in order to stop this

00:24:02.892 --> 00:24:06.347
was to pick on the environment
as the reason to stop it.

00:24:06.351 --> 00:24:08.587
And they said that the
Montague Plains was a unique

00:24:08.591 --> 00:24:10.388
ecological area, which it is.

00:24:10.392 --> 00:24:14.208
It turns out that it's
about 1,900 square acres

00:24:14.212 --> 00:24:18.327
of what's called an
aquifer or a sandy filter.

00:24:18.331 --> 00:24:20.948
And it was estimated in a
report written during the

00:24:20.952 --> 00:24:22.808
"dump fight" times

00:24:22.812 --> 00:24:27.248
that up to a quarter of the
Connecticut River's entire

00:24:27.252 --> 00:24:30.067
water supply filters through
the Montague Plains,

00:24:30.071 --> 00:24:33.589
and therefore this aquifer concept.

00:24:33.950 --> 00:24:35.827
In addition to that,
you have thousands upon

00:24:35.831 --> 00:24:37.968
thousands of people's wells

00:24:37.972 --> 00:24:41.148
always using water filtered
by the Montague Plains

00:24:41.152 --> 00:24:42.999
because the Montague Plains
water table

00:24:43.003 --> 00:24:44.509
is the source of most of the water

00:24:44.513 --> 00:24:47.008
for most of the valley itself.

00:24:47.012 --> 00:24:49.948
So the dump project
was dropped,

00:24:49.952 --> 00:24:54.168
and the B &M Railroad were in no
position to do anything with this

00:24:54.172 --> 00:24:57.428
land that they owned on the
Montague Plains, so it was perfect.

00:24:57.432 --> 00:25:02.932
In the late winter, maybe
early spring of 1972, '73,

00:25:03.450 --> 00:25:05.928
Northeast Utilities
started to make these hints

00:25:05.932 --> 00:25:09.908
that Montague was being
looked at as a possible site

00:25:09.912 --> 00:25:11.248
for a nuclear power plant,

00:25:11.252 --> 00:25:13.648
of course, thinking that
they could just attach

00:25:13.652 --> 00:25:15.548
themselves to about 1,900 acres

00:25:15.552 --> 00:25:18.948
of undeveloped land within a
mile of the Connecticut River,

00:25:18.952 --> 00:25:21.349
which served all their purposes.

00:25:21.549 --> 00:25:24.388
- Well, it was a basic
screening of, oh, I guess as

00:25:24.392 --> 00:25:27.648
many as 300 potential locations,

00:25:27.652 --> 00:25:30.002
most of them ruled out
very quickly,

00:25:30.008 --> 00:25:33.548
and we got down to some
five or six sites.

00:25:33.552 --> 00:25:37.130
Montague seems to
have good bedrock.

00:25:37.470 --> 00:25:41.910
We can build away from
the underground water.

00:25:42.069 --> 00:25:45.928
It has make-up water for cooling
towers from the Connecticut River

00:25:45.932 --> 00:25:49.067
we think can be used
judiciously and not to

00:25:49.071 --> 00:25:51.849
damage the ecosystem
of the river.

00:25:52.069 --> 00:25:55.307
It has good rail access to
it to actually physically

00:25:55.311 --> 00:25:56.587
build the plant.

00:25:56.591 --> 00:25:59.388
And it's relatively near the
major transmission lines

00:25:59.392 --> 00:26:01.768
which form the grid
in New England.

00:26:01.772 --> 00:26:06.690
So to that extent, it seems
to be a very fine site.

00:26:08.250 --> 00:26:12.708
- So we have the utilities being
one of the biggest employers,

00:26:12.712 --> 00:26:14.807
an unemployment rate
somewhere between 12% and

00:26:14.811 --> 00:26:17.248
15% in the area.

00:26:17.252 --> 00:26:22.008
About the only organized
force of workers in the area

00:26:22.012 --> 00:26:25.048
are the Construction Trades
Council, and they're looking

00:26:25.052 --> 00:26:26.228
for jobs so badly

00:26:26.232 --> 00:26:28.988
that they'll work at any
possible job handed to them,

00:26:28.992 --> 00:26:33.388
and you're more or less put in
the position of a depressed area

00:26:33.392 --> 00:26:36.107
being offered a giant
construction project

00:26:36.111 --> 00:26:39.388
in which the only way these
people can respond is to say,

00:26:39.392 --> 00:26:41.008
"God, we need jobs, and
therefore we're gonna

00:26:41.012 --> 00:26:44.849
have to take the
nuclear power plant."

00:26:46.549 --> 00:26:49.999
- Well, would you like to see
the nuclear plant built?

00:26:50.003 --> 00:26:50.829
- No.

00:26:50.833 --> 00:26:52.105
Oh, yes, yes, I would.

00:26:52.109 --> 00:26:52.809
- You would?

00:26:52.813 --> 00:26:53.628
- Yes, I would.

00:26:53.632 --> 00:26:55.748
- Why would you like
to see it built here?

00:26:55.752 --> 00:26:58.107
- Well, I suppose we need it.

00:26:58.111 --> 00:27:00.028
That would be nice.

00:27:00.032 --> 00:27:02.869
- You need the power?
- Yeah.

00:27:03.029 --> 00:27:04.769
- Thank you very much.

00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:11.158
Do you think the power
plant should be built here?

00:27:11.162 --> 00:27:12.837
- Sure, why not, yeah.

00:27:13.218 --> 00:27:14.339
Absolutely.

00:27:14.343 --> 00:27:18.218
- Are you worried about
leakage from the power plant?

00:27:18.222 --> 00:27:19.999
- No, they should have it here.

00:27:20.003 --> 00:27:22.017
- They should?
- That's right.

00:27:22.021 --> 00:27:23.019
- Um...

00:27:23.819 --> 00:27:25.418
Why, because you need the power?

00:27:25.422 --> 00:27:27.498
- Yes, we need plenty of it.

00:27:27.502 --> 00:27:30.518
- You know, nuclear power
hasn't been really proven yet.

00:27:30.522 --> 00:27:33.258
There's other powers, I believe,

00:27:33.262 --> 00:27:35.640
that they could use better,
you know?

00:27:37.619 --> 00:27:39.678
I don't know why, but they're
just not developing it,

00:27:39.682 --> 00:27:41.758
you know, for some reason.

00:27:41.762 --> 00:27:45.880
Maybe because it's not that
much profit in their pocket.

00:27:47.819 --> 00:27:48.999
- Do you think the plant should
be built here?

00:27:49.003 --> 00:27:50.959
- Absolutley.
- You do?

00:27:50.963 --> 00:27:52.238
- Yeah, why not?

00:27:52.242 --> 00:27:54.038
Who's gonna stop 'em?

00:27:54.042 --> 00:27:56.398
Is there money enough
behind you to push it?

00:27:56.402 --> 00:27:58.218
- There are a lot of people
who are opposed to it.

00:27:58.222 --> 00:27:59.978
- Opposed to it, but hell,
they haven't got nothin'

00:27:59.982 --> 00:28:01.678
behind 'em to push it.

00:28:01.682 --> 00:28:03.538
- You mean they have no
political base?

00:28:03.542 --> 00:28:05.355
- No, they haven't got the
finance to push it.

00:28:05.359 --> 00:28:06.359
- They don't have the money.

00:28:06.363 --> 00:28:07.361
- That's right.

00:28:07.366 --> 00:28:08.199
- Uh-huh, and the big...

00:28:08.203 --> 00:28:11.039
- If you got the money,
all right, if you haven't...

00:28:12.419 --> 00:28:14.837
- So sometime in the early
spring you started to have

00:28:14.841 --> 00:28:16.198
these strange meetings occurring

00:28:16.202 --> 00:28:20.018
between Northeast Utilities
and the selectmen and some

00:28:20.022 --> 00:28:22.557
of the bigger powers in the town.

00:28:22.561 --> 00:28:26.117
So much so that it got to be to
the point where the newspapers,

00:28:26.121 --> 00:28:29.357
who were actually pro-nuclear
at the time,

00:28:29.361 --> 00:28:31.218
were actually running
editorials saying

00:28:31.222 --> 00:28:34.199
wining and dining and secret
sessions with the selectmen

00:28:34.203 --> 00:28:36.617
just don't make it.

00:28:36.621 --> 00:28:38.958
And you've got this
incredible scene where,

00:28:38.962 --> 00:28:43.557
when they're talking about
Montague as one of the sites,

00:28:43.561 --> 00:28:46.138
they were also talking
about huge tax breaks,

00:28:46.142 --> 00:28:47.938
which more or less
come down to a bribe.

00:28:47.942 --> 00:28:50.278
They actually said that the
tax rate would be a tenth of

00:28:50.282 --> 00:28:51.638
what it is now,

00:28:51.642 --> 00:28:54.018
more or less bribing the
people in the town to vote

00:28:54.022 --> 00:28:55.538
for a nuclear power plant

00:28:55.542 --> 00:28:57.198
just to get the tax cut.

00:28:57.202 --> 00:28:59.276
- Do you think of that as sort
of a bribe situation?

00:28:59.280 --> 00:29:00.380
- No, we don't.

00:29:00.384 --> 00:29:04.938
In fact, in all of our meetings
with the town officials,

00:29:04.942 --> 00:29:07.378
we've always played down--
not played down,

00:29:07.382 --> 00:29:11.198
but did not feel that the tax break

00:29:11.202 --> 00:29:15.378
or the large tax base that
would come from the plant

00:29:15.382 --> 00:29:18.758
was not the reason why they
should elect to have a plant

00:29:18.762 --> 00:29:21.218
in their town.

00:29:21.521 --> 00:29:24.158
I mean, it's sort of hard to
sum up Northeast Utilities

00:29:24.162 --> 00:29:26.557
because they're sort of
this amorphous group.

00:29:26.561 --> 00:29:30.678
It's just a holding company of
sort of big mucky executives

00:29:30.682 --> 00:29:32.857
that sort of think that
they're deciding the future

00:29:32.861 --> 00:29:34.518
of the energy needs of America

00:29:34.522 --> 00:29:36.758
their own way, based on profit.

00:29:36.762 --> 00:29:41.158
And I just don't look at the needs
of America as being based on profit.

00:29:41.162 --> 00:29:44.278
I think they're based on need
and on what's available.

00:29:44.731 --> 00:29:45.839
Necessity.

00:29:46.220 --> 00:29:47.837
- I think you weigh the evidence.

00:29:47.841 --> 00:29:49.438
I don't think it's a numbers game.

00:29:49.442 --> 00:29:53.018
You try to evaluate
different opinions,

00:29:53.022 --> 00:29:56.978
you try to judge the
background of the individual

00:29:56.982 --> 00:29:59.178
expressing an opinion about it.

00:29:59.182 --> 00:30:02.577
You try to weed out those
who are perhaps

00:30:02.581 --> 00:30:05.178
anti-technology anyway.

00:30:05.182 --> 00:30:08.298
They'd be as much against an
electric toothbrush, if you will,

00:30:08.302 --> 00:30:10.698
as they would be against
nuclear power plants.

00:30:10.702 --> 00:30:12.238
It's a lifestyle with them.

00:30:12.242 --> 00:30:16.577
You have to, I think, take their
opinions into some context.

00:30:16.581 --> 00:30:19.077
You have to weigh that
against the great body of

00:30:19.081 --> 00:30:20.978
scientific knowledge in
Western civilization,

00:30:20.982 --> 00:30:24.938
which pretty much has put an
imprimatur on nuclear power,

00:30:24.942 --> 00:30:28.298
certainly in France,
certainly in England.

00:30:28.302 --> 00:30:29.758
Russians, now.

00:30:29.762 --> 00:30:35.077
- When electric utility
companies use their funds to

00:30:35.081 --> 00:30:36.138
put advertisements

00:30:36.142 --> 00:30:40.898
in national newspapers
and magazines stating that

00:30:40.902 --> 00:30:43.577
nuclear power is safe

00:30:43.581 --> 00:30:48.038
in the face of considerable question
in high scientific engineering

00:30:48.042 --> 00:30:51.579
and engineering circles
that it is not safe,

00:30:51.599 --> 00:30:54.998
the effort to influence the
public mind by the use of

00:30:55.002 --> 00:30:56.758
money in the media
and the press

00:30:56.762 --> 00:31:00.999
without an open ability to
debate that issue,

00:31:01.070 --> 00:31:03.470
that is a conspiracy.

00:31:03.940 --> 00:31:08.438
In spite of the profound
character of the decision

00:31:08.442 --> 00:31:10.438
that has to be made,

00:31:10.442 --> 00:31:12.857
public debate has not even begun.

00:31:13.761 --> 00:31:16.357
And indeed, the very authorities,

00:31:16.361 --> 00:31:17.998
both governmental and industry,

00:31:18.002 --> 00:31:22.557
involved in making this
decision have simply prevented

00:31:22.561 --> 00:31:26.819
that public information
process from occurring.

00:31:27.980 --> 00:31:31.238
- Well, after I had studied the
whole concept of nuclear power

00:31:31.242 --> 00:31:33.718
and its dangers and the
catastrophe that it would

00:31:33.722 --> 00:31:35.117
mean on the health level

00:31:35.121 --> 00:31:37.617
to all the citizens of
the town and the area,

00:31:37.621 --> 00:31:41.718
and the consequences of
a catastrophic accident

00:31:41.722 --> 00:31:44.738
and all the rest of it, throwing
it all into a giant kitty,

00:31:44.742 --> 00:31:47.138
then I decided I had to hunt
around for some recourse,

00:31:47.142 --> 00:31:52.018
some way that I could stop this
disaster from occurring in my area

00:31:52.022 --> 00:31:54.817
and maybe stop it all across
the country or the world.

00:31:54.821 --> 00:31:57.018
So I started to look at recourse.

00:31:57.022 --> 00:31:59.698
And there's only two main
recourses available due to the fact

00:31:59.702 --> 00:32:02.238
that the Atomic Energy
Commission preempted all

00:32:02.242 --> 00:32:06.319
regulation on the state level.

00:32:06.619 --> 00:32:08.738
And that is that they've
set up this thing called

00:32:08.742 --> 00:32:12.077
"citizen's limited
appearance interventions"

00:32:12.081 --> 00:32:15.518
and what's called a
"legal general intervention."

00:32:15.522 --> 00:32:18.097
And they're somewhat different
in that the general intervention

00:32:18.101 --> 00:32:21.117
costs somewhere between
$75,000 and $100,000,

00:32:21.121 --> 00:32:23.357
and you hire lawyers
and bring in experts

00:32:23.361 --> 00:32:25.999
and try and compete with the
Atomic Energy Commission

00:32:26.003 --> 00:32:26.940
on its own rules,

00:32:26.944 --> 00:32:29.758
whereas the Atomic Energy
Commission is making the rules

00:32:29.762 --> 00:32:31.498
and it comes out like
a kangaroo court.

00:32:31.502 --> 00:32:34.117
They make the rules and then
they decide whether they

00:32:34.121 --> 00:32:36.038
like what you're talking about.

00:32:36.042 --> 00:32:37.978
The limited appearance
is a one-shot deal.

00:32:37.982 --> 00:32:41.498
The citizen walks in,
speaks for five minutes to

00:32:41.502 --> 00:32:42.518
the regulatory board,

00:32:42.522 --> 00:32:45.658
and they decide whether all
these little petty issues

00:32:45.662 --> 00:32:48.378
that you supposedly raised
in un-technical terms

00:32:48.382 --> 00:32:50.998
are gonna convince them that
a nuclear power plant is bad

00:32:51.002 --> 00:32:53.478
when obviously they think
they're just dynamite.

00:32:53.482 --> 00:32:57.378
- As long as the process is working,
that I can get to the newspapers,

00:32:57.382 --> 00:33:01.557
that I can appear in a film
and say what I wanna say,

00:33:01.561 --> 00:33:03.958
or I can go to an AEC hearing,

00:33:03.962 --> 00:33:09.461
that I can band together
and get with my fellows to

00:33:09.720 --> 00:33:10.878
express my point of view,

00:33:10.882 --> 00:33:13.738
whether it's on the Vietnam War
or detente or nuclear power,

00:33:13.742 --> 00:33:16.218
as long as that process
is reasonably open,

00:33:16.222 --> 00:33:18.418
and I think it is reasonably
open in the United States,

00:33:18.422 --> 00:33:21.658
then I have to be fairly
confident about the future.

00:33:21.662 --> 00:33:23.018
- The thing that convinced
me the most

00:33:23.022 --> 00:33:27.138
that the whole intervention
process was totally ridiculous

00:33:27.142 --> 00:33:31.298
was when I went to a
speech given by a man

00:33:31.302 --> 00:33:33.998
who had worked for six years
in an intervention process

00:33:34.002 --> 00:33:36.738
to stop a nuclear power
plant just over the border

00:33:36.742 --> 00:33:39.519
here in Vernon, Vermont.

00:33:39.839 --> 00:33:44.048
And the end result of
his six years of working

00:33:44.052 --> 00:33:46.498
to stop the Vernon
nuclear power plant,

00:33:46.502 --> 00:33:50.458
the end result was him
claiming to the people

00:33:50.462 --> 00:33:51.857
he was speaking to that night

00:33:51.861 --> 00:33:56.117
that it was his belief that
nothing would stop nuclear

00:33:56.121 --> 00:33:59.319
power development in America

00:33:59.579 --> 00:34:02.519
except a giant catastrophe.

00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:04.698
And when I looked at
him and I realized

00:34:04.702 --> 00:34:08.318
that that was six years
of educated frustration

00:34:08.322 --> 00:34:11.617
saying that there was no recourse,
there was no way to stop it,

00:34:11.621 --> 00:34:13.637
and the only way to
stop it was a disaster

00:34:13.641 --> 00:34:15.938
killing thousands upon
thousands of people,

00:34:15.942 --> 00:34:19.498
I knew that I was right
in tipping over the tower

00:34:19.502 --> 00:34:23.518
and at least trying to just raise
the issue to the local people

00:34:23.522 --> 00:34:26.298
and say,
"We can't have a disaster."

00:34:26.902 --> 00:34:29.478
- When the U.S. Atomic
Energy Commission

00:34:29.482 --> 00:34:33.898
announces that it is going
to hold open public hearings

00:34:34.002 --> 00:34:39.258
on the safety of emergency
core cooling systems,

00:34:39.262 --> 00:34:42.217
and then in advance
of those hearings

00:34:42.221 --> 00:34:46.278
issues a written directive
to its scientists,

00:34:46.282 --> 00:34:50.258
"Never disagree with
established policy on safety,"

00:34:50.262 --> 00:34:53.378
this is a conspiracy to
obstruct the truth

00:34:53.382 --> 00:34:56.538
that the hearing process
is supposed to bring out.

00:34:56.542 --> 00:34:59.918
There is no other term for
the obstruction of truth in

00:34:59.922 --> 00:35:01.257
the hearing process by

00:35:01.261 --> 00:35:07.159
direction and by threat of its
employees than conspiracy.

00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:12.137
I think the evidence will show
that there is far more there

00:35:12.141 --> 00:35:17.217
than what has recently come to be
known as the Watergate scandals.

00:35:17.221 --> 00:35:19.679
With respect to the citizen,

00:35:20.820 --> 00:35:22.798
there I think is an unwritten law

00:35:22.802 --> 00:35:26.258
beyond things like the
Declaration of Independence

00:35:26.262 --> 00:35:29.057
which speak of our
inalienable rights to life,

00:35:29.061 --> 00:35:31.518
liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.

00:35:31.522 --> 00:35:33.398
I'd like to raise the question:

00:35:33.402 --> 00:35:37.717
when even a government
or even a majority vote

00:35:37.721 --> 00:35:41.518
does things that may
poison an individual,

00:35:41.522 --> 00:35:44.378
may poison his children and
his children's children,

00:35:44.382 --> 00:35:49.882
is he not entitled to some
effort to defend

00:35:49.999 --> 00:35:51.418
his rights to life,

00:35:51.422 --> 00:35:53.557
his children's rights
and their descendants,

00:35:53.561 --> 00:35:58.057
no matter what the democratic
majority has decided,

00:35:58.061 --> 00:36:02.737
particularly when the democratic
majority has made such a decision,

00:36:02.741 --> 00:36:06.898
if they have, based upon
the perversion of truth,

00:36:06.902 --> 00:36:09.097
the purchasing of truth with money

00:36:09.101 --> 00:36:11.349
and advertisement and
vested interests.

00:36:11.999 --> 00:36:15.838
- So my frustration at the concept
of recourse was paramount.

00:36:15.842 --> 00:36:17.840
There is no recourse.

00:36:18.380 --> 00:36:20.760
And so then I had to decide

00:36:21.900 --> 00:36:24.577
how to approach the
tower as the symbol

00:36:24.581 --> 00:36:29.398
in the most effective way to
communicate a giant political issue

00:36:29.402 --> 00:36:31.958
to the local residents of
the town and to the county

00:36:31.962 --> 00:36:35.038
and to the whole Connecticut
River Valley area,

00:36:35.042 --> 00:36:38.737
how I could communicate to them the
dangers, the issue of nuclear power

00:36:38.741 --> 00:36:43.298
and the dangers of nuclear power and
the whole problem of nuclear power

00:36:43.302 --> 00:36:46.958
as a giant political issue
when no one was looking at it.

00:36:46.962 --> 00:36:50.378
And so I decided that one, I
had to knock down the tower,

00:36:50.382 --> 00:36:53.758
and yet two, I had to realize
that the people around here,

00:36:53.762 --> 00:36:58.838
one, don't realize that
they do have recourse

00:36:58.842 --> 00:37:02.137
but the recourse isn't
necessarily through the

00:37:02.141 --> 00:37:03.177
established means

00:37:03.181 --> 00:37:05.998
because sometimes the
established means just don't work

00:37:06.002 --> 00:37:07.557
and the odds are totally
against you.

00:37:07.561 --> 00:37:10.018
Yet I did not want the
people in the area to get

00:37:10.022 --> 00:37:11.677
hung up on the property issue

00:37:11.681 --> 00:37:14.557
and the whole concept that
someone would destroy property

00:37:14.561 --> 00:37:20.597
in order to stop a nuclear
power plant or anything else.

00:37:20.601 --> 00:37:23.518
So what I wanted to do
was get these people

00:37:23.522 --> 00:37:27.557
to think about the issue itself,
nuclear power plants,

00:37:27.561 --> 00:37:30.418
and therefore I would put
my existence on the line

00:37:30.422 --> 00:37:32.998
and just turn myself in with
what I thought was

00:37:33.003 --> 00:37:34.360
a well-thought-out statement,

00:37:34.364 --> 00:37:38.398
and people would then realize
that I was being responsible.

00:37:38.402 --> 00:37:39.999
- I think he should've
been in jail.

00:37:40.099 --> 00:37:41.320
- Yeah?
- Why not?

00:37:41.324 --> 00:37:43.002
- With a rope around his neck.

00:37:43.959 --> 00:37:47.858
- Do you think that the power
plant should still be built?

00:37:47.862 --> 00:37:49.697
- That ain't got nothin' to do
with the goddamn power plant,

00:37:49.701 --> 00:37:53.057
it's the idea he spoiled $76,000

00:37:53.061 --> 00:37:56.438
that the goddamn townpeople
gotta pay for it.

00:37:56.442 --> 00:37:58.298
That's what you oughta
look at it.

00:37:58.302 --> 00:38:00.298
I know, I worked
up in Burnham.

00:38:00.302 --> 00:38:01.918
- That's been closed down too,
hasn't it?

00:38:01.922 --> 00:38:04.018
- Well, they're just
repairin' somethin'.

00:38:04.022 --> 00:38:06.758
They close it down,
they find flaws.

00:38:06.762 --> 00:38:09.057
You buy a new car,
you have trouble with it.

00:38:09.999 --> 00:38:11.878
- What did you do for them?

00:38:11.882 --> 00:38:13.896
- I was a steamfitter up there.

00:38:13.900 --> 00:38:14.900
- Excuse me, a what?

00:38:14.904 --> 00:38:16.539
- Steamfitter.

00:38:17.840 --> 00:38:20.858
- The problem was that people still
got hung up on the property issue,

00:38:20.862 --> 00:38:24.097
and I sort of kidded myself
into thinking that just by

00:38:24.101 --> 00:38:25.258
my writing a statement

00:38:25.262 --> 00:38:27.157
and turning myself
into the police,

00:38:27.161 --> 00:38:30.898
I would neutralize the
property destruction angle,

00:38:30.902 --> 00:38:35.157
and yet I just found out literally
how hung up people are

00:38:35.161 --> 00:38:37.197
on the whole issue of property,

00:38:37.201 --> 00:38:40.137
and they tend to protect
property more in many ways

00:38:40.141 --> 00:38:42.577
than they're willing to
protect liberty,

00:38:42.581 --> 00:38:46.760
and sometimes even more than
they're willing to protect life.

00:38:47.159 --> 00:38:49.178
- I felt it was unnecessary
destruction,

00:38:49.230 --> 00:38:51.230
but in a way he had a point.

00:38:51.282 --> 00:38:54.260
I'm not really against him,
I'm not really for him.

00:38:54.360 --> 00:38:56.258
- What was his point?

00:38:56.262 --> 00:39:01.458
- Well, to protect himself and
the natural environment from

00:39:01.462 --> 00:39:04.818
destruction and radiation and
things like that.

00:39:04.822 --> 00:39:07.197
- He destroyed the goddamn
thing that would tell us

00:39:07.201 --> 00:39:09.939
if the power plant was going
to be built here or not.

00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:14.778
That thing would tell you if the
air current was right or not.

00:39:14.782 --> 00:39:17.898
- I feel that he put a lot
of thought into what he did

00:39:17.902 --> 00:39:23.402
and that he was trying to
represent a lot of people.

00:39:23.559 --> 00:39:25.597
- I don't think it's right.
- You don't?

00:39:25.601 --> 00:39:27.780
Why don't you feel it's right?

00:39:29.120 --> 00:39:32.018
- Well, because I think he
did wrong by doin' it.

00:39:32.022 --> 00:39:35.059
- I was glad to hear it, myself.

00:39:35.539 --> 00:39:40.137
- Townsfolks, those that are
aware of what reactors can do,

00:39:40.141 --> 00:39:43.717
were sort of for his action morally.

00:39:43.721 --> 00:39:45.117
- I don't like 'em myself.

00:39:45.121 --> 00:39:47.878
I don't like 'em, but
that was nothin' to do.

00:39:47.882 --> 00:39:49.878
Just knock off that big tower.

00:39:49.882 --> 00:39:51.798
I don't like nuclear plants, myself.

00:39:51.802 --> 00:39:55.320
I hate 'em, but what are
you gonna to do?

00:39:55.719 --> 00:40:00.498
- On September 17, 1974, the
trial of Sam Lovejoy began

00:40:00.502 --> 00:40:03.117
before a jury and
Judge Kent B. Smith

00:40:03.121 --> 00:40:06.659
in Franklin County Superior Court.

00:40:07.219 --> 00:40:09.318
Admitting that he had
toppled the tower,

00:40:09.322 --> 00:40:12.278
he intended to present
evidence showing his right,

00:40:12.282 --> 00:40:16.179
in his words, his duty,
to take such action.

00:40:16.460 --> 00:40:19.958
- I had to lay out to them,
one, the health dangers.

00:40:19.962 --> 00:40:23.278
Two, the fact that I had
no recourse.

00:40:23.282 --> 00:40:26.077
And that three, therefore, the
only way that I could confront

00:40:26.081 --> 00:40:30.217
this society was to destroy
a certain kind of property,

00:40:30.221 --> 00:40:34.177
a very special kind of
property, this tower.

00:40:34.181 --> 00:40:37.858
And then I had to walk into
court and say to those people,

00:40:37.862 --> 00:40:40.657
this man is not
guilty of bad conduct.

00:40:40.661 --> 00:40:43.657
This man should be lauded
for trying to stop an

00:40:43.661 --> 00:40:45.318
infernal machine.

00:40:45.322 --> 00:40:47.378
And so in my opening
statement to the jury

00:40:47.382 --> 00:40:51.157
I said to the jury, look,
Sam Lovejoy does not care

00:40:51.161 --> 00:40:52.858
about his own existence,

00:40:52.999 --> 00:40:54.909
that the existence of Sam Lovejoy

00:40:54.961 --> 00:40:58.378
means nothing in comparison
to future generations

00:40:58.382 --> 00:41:00.878
and in comparison to
those real-live people

00:41:00.882 --> 00:41:03.597
sitting in that jury box who
had to confront themselves

00:41:03.601 --> 00:41:05.778
and say, "I have grandchildren,

00:41:05.782 --> 00:41:06.858
and I will have
great-grandchildren,

00:41:06.862 --> 00:41:08.998
and I might die, but I'll have

00:41:09.002 --> 00:41:10.998
great-great-great-great-great
grandchildren.

00:41:11.002 --> 00:41:15.458
And all those people are
gonna be hung under a cloud,

00:41:15.462 --> 00:41:17.237
a dismal cloud."

00:41:17.241 --> 00:41:20.378
And I just had to tell
people that the raw gamble

00:41:20.382 --> 00:41:23.318
that was being handed to the
citizens of Franklin County

00:41:23.322 --> 00:41:27.007
and ask them if they wanted
to send Sam Lovejoy

00:41:27.011 --> 00:41:29.637
to jail for five years.

00:41:29.641 --> 00:41:34.637
When they confront his act with
the nuclear power plant reality,

00:41:34.641 --> 00:41:38.920
the concept of jail,
should this person go to jail?

00:41:39.260 --> 00:41:42.778
- Lovejoy soon put himself on
the stand in his own defense.

00:41:42.782 --> 00:41:44.998
An attorney, Mr. Thomas Lesser,

00:41:45.003 --> 00:41:47.438
led him through the story
of his life,

00:41:47.442 --> 00:41:50.157
tracing the long road that
led Lovejoy to the

00:41:50.161 --> 00:41:52.420
Montague Plains that night.

00:41:53.740 --> 00:41:56.438
"Was there one single thing,
personally or in writing,

00:41:56.442 --> 00:41:59.999
that influenced you the most in your
decision to topple the tower?"

00:42:00.999 --> 00:42:01.999
"Yes."

00:42:02.380 --> 00:42:04.478
"Would you tell the ladies
and gentlemen of the jury

00:42:04.482 --> 00:42:06.440
what that was?"

00:42:07.059 --> 00:42:09.278
"A little four-year-old
girl named Sequoia.

00:42:09.982 --> 00:42:13.237
I mean, it's like an
existential question.

00:42:13.241 --> 00:42:15.518
I mean, who is Sam Lovejoy?

00:42:15.522 --> 00:42:19.480
Just Sam Lovejoy, a
27-year-old human being.

00:42:20.239 --> 00:42:24.418
Who is he to tip over a tower
and stop a plant and be outraged?

00:42:24.422 --> 00:42:28.398
I kept saying to myself,
is it me? Who am I?

00:42:28.402 --> 00:42:31.117
Do I have the strength,
the responsibility?

00:42:31.121 --> 00:42:32.760
Do I have the right?

00:42:32.807 --> 00:42:35.070
Going back and forth constantly.

00:42:35.380 --> 00:42:38.458
But it was impossible for me
not to tip over that tower

00:42:38.462 --> 00:42:41.217
and live in a house with two
young children who had no

00:42:41.221 --> 00:42:43.760
control over their own lives."

00:42:45.019 --> 00:42:46.858
As his first witness,
he called the author

00:42:46.862 --> 00:42:49.998
of "Poisoned Power,"
Dr. John Goffman.

00:42:50.002 --> 00:42:51.677
- I was quite interested
in his trial,

00:42:51.681 --> 00:42:56.077
and I felt that I have a
moral and social obligation

00:42:56.081 --> 00:42:59.478
to testify at his trial.

00:42:59.482 --> 00:43:04.097
The issue is one of the
greatest moral, social and

00:43:04.101 --> 00:43:07.657
ethical issues of our times
and of all times.

00:43:07.661 --> 00:43:11.758
That is why I felt it
imperative that I indicate

00:43:11.762 --> 00:43:14.518
my willingness to be here.

00:43:14.522 --> 00:43:16.597
- Although the judge listened
to hours of compelling

00:43:16.601 --> 00:43:19.018
testimony from Dr. Goffman,

00:43:19.022 --> 00:43:22.659
he decided to withhold the
testimony from the jury.

00:43:23.860 --> 00:43:25.898
Lovejoy next called
Dr. Howard Zinn,

00:43:25.902 --> 00:43:28.577
professor of political science
at Boston University,

00:43:28.581 --> 00:43:31.398
to testify on the history
of civil disobedience.

00:43:31.992 --> 00:43:36.237
- Well, if my trial testimony
had an essence,

00:43:36.241 --> 00:43:37.860
I like to think it did,

00:43:39.460 --> 00:43:44.197
it was about the necessity
of civil disobedience in

00:43:44.201 --> 00:43:49.701
times of danger to life
and liberty and health,

00:43:51.300 --> 00:43:55.597
and how historically in the
United States we have seen

00:43:55.601 --> 00:43:57.458
many, many times

00:43:57.462 --> 00:44:00.717
how the ordinary
institutions of government,

00:44:00.721 --> 00:44:03.418
those hallowed things
presented to us in the

00:44:03.422 --> 00:44:06.717
fourth grade as the three
branches of government,

00:44:06.721 --> 00:44:09.018
are really very inadequate
in protecting us,

00:44:09.022 --> 00:44:12.117
as we've seen from the number
of wars we've engaged in,

00:44:12.121 --> 00:44:15.318
from the number of people who
have died in industrial accidents,

00:44:15.322 --> 00:44:17.278
from the number of people
who have been exploited in

00:44:17.282 --> 00:44:19.679
this country by corporations.

00:44:20.239 --> 00:44:22.398
These governmental
institutions have not been

00:44:22.402 --> 00:44:24.217
very adequate to protect people,

00:44:24.221 --> 00:44:28.018
and from time to time when
grievances became too deep,

00:44:28.022 --> 00:44:31.938
groups of people had to go outside
the machinery of government,

00:44:31.942 --> 00:44:34.318
had to break the law, had
to commit civil disobedience

00:44:34.322 --> 00:44:38.298
in order to dramatize
something that was happening.

00:44:38.302 --> 00:44:42.137
This was done by the labor
movement, it was done by

00:44:42.141 --> 00:44:45.278
black people at various
points in our history

00:44:45.282 --> 00:44:48.097
and before the Civil War and
the Underground Railroad,

00:44:48.101 --> 00:44:50.197
in recent years in the
civil rights movement.

00:44:50.201 --> 00:44:54.197
It's been done by women in
protesting against inequality.

00:44:54.201 --> 00:44:59.036
And it seemed to me that after
the most recent acts

00:44:59.040 --> 00:45:01.998
of civil disobedience,
that is against the Vietnam War,

00:45:02.002 --> 00:45:07.278
maybe the time is right now for
people to look closer to home

00:45:07.282 --> 00:45:12.137
at the dangers to our lives
posed by corporate control

00:45:12.141 --> 00:45:14.219
of our lives.

00:45:14.340 --> 00:45:17.438
- Well, civil disobedience has been
with us for a great many centuries,

00:45:17.442 --> 00:45:22.942
and I think one could go
back into Christianity

00:45:23.179 --> 00:45:24.338
or other religions

00:45:24.342 --> 00:45:26.398
and find a great deal
of civil disobedience.

00:45:26.402 --> 00:45:29.557
The difficulty with it is
where you draw the line.

00:45:29.561 --> 00:45:33.938
What's right for you and what
you believe is right for mankind

00:45:33.942 --> 00:45:37.637
you may not share with me,
and I may not share with you.

00:45:37.641 --> 00:45:39.077
I may not like your lifestyle.

00:45:39.081 --> 00:45:42.458
I may decide that where
you live is endangering me,

00:45:42.462 --> 00:45:44.998
and I may go over and put a
match to it and say,

00:45:45.002 --> 00:45:45.920
"Burn it down."

00:45:45.924 --> 00:45:48.717
I'll be very careful to go
when there's no one home,

00:45:48.721 --> 00:45:54.057
but it would be, I think,
wrong of me to do that,

00:45:54.061 --> 00:45:58.958
and I think perhaps it's wrong
to destroy private property.

00:45:58.962 --> 00:46:01.838
I think there's plenty of
opportunity for a

00:46:01.842 --> 00:46:02.858
full airing of this plant

00:46:02.862 --> 00:46:04.518
without having toppled that tower.

00:46:04.522 --> 00:46:06.996
And I do want to say that
that is a very private opinion

00:46:07.000 --> 00:46:08.677
from an individual.

00:46:08.681 --> 00:46:11.538
My company has been very
careful to take no stand on this

00:46:11.542 --> 00:46:13.998
and did not prosecute Mr. Lovejoy

00:46:14.003 --> 00:46:16.318
and did not appear in court.

00:46:16.322 --> 00:46:18.577
This was an action with the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

00:46:18.581 --> 00:46:20.157
So, that is a private opinion.

00:46:20.161 --> 00:46:22.458
A very difficult line,
civil disobedience.

00:46:22.462 --> 00:46:24.378
Good for Gandhi,

00:46:24.382 --> 00:46:28.420
but perhaps not good for
an Adolf Hitler.

00:46:28.999 --> 00:46:33.557
- The process really has
gone on for a hundred years.

00:46:33.661 --> 00:46:36.858
That is, as soon as we began
to have in this country

00:46:36.862 --> 00:46:39.318
what you call an
industrial revolution,

00:46:39.322 --> 00:46:42.077
as soon as you began to have
mines and mills and steam,

00:46:42.081 --> 00:46:47.197
and as soon as the companies
began wiping out the forests,

00:46:47.201 --> 00:46:50.818
and as soon as they began
pouring wastes into the rivers,

00:46:50.822 --> 00:46:53.217
we began to have an
environmental problem,

00:46:53.221 --> 00:46:54.998
just the beginnings of it,

00:46:55.003 --> 00:46:57.818
but didn't pay much
attention to it,

00:46:57.822 --> 00:47:00.798
and civil disobedience was
directed at other things.

00:47:00.802 --> 00:47:05.998
Now, the enormity of what
they are doing to us,

00:47:06.002 --> 00:47:08.418
the very air we breathe,
the very water we drink,

00:47:08.422 --> 00:47:12.597
the very space we occupy, and
now with the special dangers

00:47:12.601 --> 00:47:17.579
of atomic radiation and our kids
and leukemia and all of that,

00:47:17.780 --> 00:47:23.999
the time is right for people
who are against this to

00:47:26.161 --> 00:47:31.067
really do their act of
protest for all of those people

00:47:31.081 --> 00:47:35.577
who in the past hundred years
were not able to feel the

00:47:35.581 --> 00:47:36.918
issue deeply enough

00:47:36.922 --> 00:47:40.077
or did not have the capacity
or the ability to do

00:47:40.081 --> 00:47:42.109
anything about it.

00:47:42.460 --> 00:47:47.157
- Civil disobedience or
justification or

00:47:47.161 --> 00:47:49.758
a strong belief in what
you are doing,

00:47:49.762 --> 00:47:54.577
therefore you're justified
in breaking the law,

00:47:54.581 --> 00:47:57.737
I don't think-- there's just
no basis for it in law,

00:47:57.741 --> 00:48:00.557
and there cannot be any
basis for it in law.

00:48:00.561 --> 00:48:03.418
And there are some who believe
that, "I have the right to do it

00:48:03.422 --> 00:48:05.617
and I should not be
penalized for doing it."

00:48:05.621 --> 00:48:09.798
Well, I think that
statement in and of itself

00:48:09.802 --> 00:48:13.460
shows that there's no place in
the law for that type of defense.

00:48:14.179 --> 00:48:15.458
- The law is not a holy thing.

00:48:15.462 --> 00:48:17.938
I remember when Dan
Berrigan broke the law

00:48:17.942 --> 00:48:19.958
and they interviewed
his 80-year-old mother

00:48:19.962 --> 00:48:23.039
and they said, "Oh, what do
you think about your son?

00:48:23.159 --> 00:48:25.498
What do you think about
him breaking the law?"

00:48:25.502 --> 00:48:27.157
I guess they thought
an 80-year-old woman

00:48:27.161 --> 00:48:29.858
would have 80 years of
respect for the law behind her,

00:48:29.862 --> 00:48:31.538
and she'd give them
the right answer.

00:48:31.542 --> 00:48:36.860
And Dan Berrigan's mother
said, "It's not God's law."

00:48:37.139 --> 00:48:38.577
And she had it there.

00:48:38.581 --> 00:48:43.677
The law is made by
very mortal people,

00:48:43.681 --> 00:48:47.117
very limited people,
very opinionated people,

00:48:47.121 --> 00:48:50.217
and people who have
very special interests.

00:48:50.221 --> 00:48:52.818
They make the law, they
tell us what the law is,

00:48:52.822 --> 00:48:55.420
and then they act as
if it's holy writ.

00:48:57.820 --> 00:49:00.878
So, it's not a terrible
thing to break the law.

00:49:00.882 --> 00:49:06.382
I'll make the statement
as simply as I can.

00:49:06.719 --> 00:49:12.637
Far more violence to human life
has been done in human history

00:49:12.641 --> 00:49:17.438
by people obeying the law than
by people breaking the law.

00:49:17.442 --> 00:49:22.637
The greatest acts of
damage to human beings

00:49:22.641 --> 00:49:25.637
have been done in
conformity with the law,

00:49:25.641 --> 00:49:28.697
in conformity with government
edicts and government decrees.

00:49:28.701 --> 00:49:32.237
The greatest harm to people
has been official harm,

00:49:32.241 --> 00:49:36.280
not the harm done by
ordinary citizens.

00:49:36.800 --> 00:49:39.418
- During the trial, Lovejoy
called several witnesses

00:49:39.422 --> 00:49:42.059
to testify to his character.

00:49:42.360 --> 00:49:45.557
Betty Bell, a retired librarian
from a nearby town,

00:49:45.561 --> 00:49:47.538
had known Lovejoy through
her work in the

00:49:47.542 --> 00:49:49.258
anti-nuclear movement.

00:49:49.262 --> 00:49:51.838
- Having been conditioned
for 65 years

00:49:51.842 --> 00:49:55.097
to a strict law-and-order thinking,

00:49:56.101 --> 00:49:59.758
it was very hard for me to
change my mind

00:49:59.762 --> 00:50:02.557
about the destruction
of property,

00:50:02.561 --> 00:50:07.538
which I've always been
led to believe was bad.

00:50:07.542 --> 00:50:10.679
But, I think it was a catalyst.

00:50:11.039 --> 00:50:13.557
I think that it stirred people

00:50:13.561 --> 00:50:16.438
and shook them out
of their apathy.

00:50:16.442 --> 00:50:22.442
And I also looked back and read

00:50:22.642 --> 00:50:24.007
about the Boston Tea Party,

00:50:24.011 --> 00:50:26.177
the Shays' Rebellion,

00:50:26.181 --> 00:50:28.758
and I thought a lot
about a black lady

00:50:28.762 --> 00:50:32.760
who refused to go
to the back of a bus

00:50:33.340 --> 00:50:37.998
and that that really started
the civil rights movement.

00:50:38.002 --> 00:50:41.898
And I came to realize that
it may be unfortunate,

00:50:41.902 --> 00:50:45.838
but in this country so
many good social changes

00:50:45.842 --> 00:50:50.157
have come out of rather
desperate, drastic actions.

00:50:50.661 --> 00:50:54.420
So it changed my whole thinking.

00:50:55.820 --> 00:50:59.038
- A police officer has to
look at civil disobedience

00:50:59.042 --> 00:51:01.838
as something that you
shouldn't do,

00:51:01.842 --> 00:51:04.858
because the law takes a dim view

00:51:04.862 --> 00:51:09.000
of particularly the
destruction of property.

00:51:09.380 --> 00:51:12.860
There are many cases of
where it has been destroyed

00:51:12.920 --> 00:51:17.057
with what people thought
was sufficient reason,

00:51:17.061 --> 00:51:22.561
but it has to be with reason
of something

00:51:24.559 --> 00:51:27.538
detrimental to other people,

00:51:27.542 --> 00:51:32.398
which is the idea that
Sam was carrying out.

00:51:32.402 --> 00:51:36.057
It was not necessarily
just detrimental to Sam,

00:51:36.061 --> 00:51:38.579
but to all mankind.

00:51:39.260 --> 00:51:44.760
I had a whole lot different
view of disobedience

00:51:44.900 --> 00:51:47.139
after the trial.

00:51:48.620 --> 00:51:54.620
I cannot say that, blanketly,
I agree with it,

00:51:56.260 --> 00:51:59.679
but I don't blanketly
disagree with it.

00:51:59.880 --> 00:52:03.217
- Judge Smith had gone to great
lengths to ensure a fair trial,

00:52:03.221 --> 00:52:05.998
partly because, as he
noted at one point,

00:52:06.002 --> 00:52:08.938
"This is probably one of the
strangest trials ever held

00:52:08.942 --> 00:52:10.940
in Franklin County."

00:52:11.500 --> 00:52:13.217
One of the minor issues
of the trial

00:52:13.221 --> 00:52:16.739
set Lovejoy free at
an unexpected moment.

00:52:17.940 --> 00:52:20.998
He was judged specifically
with the destruction of

00:52:21.002 --> 00:52:22.137
personal property,

00:52:22.141 --> 00:52:24.157
yet he had found and shown in court

00:52:24.161 --> 00:52:27.197
that the tower had been taxed
and the bill had been paid

00:52:27.201 --> 00:52:31.159
as if the tower were real
property or real estate.

00:52:31.219 --> 00:52:33.157
On the seventh day of the trial,

00:52:33.161 --> 00:52:35.737
the judge indicated that he
might throw the case out of court

00:52:35.741 --> 00:52:38.539
because of this flaw
in the indictment.

00:52:38.579 --> 00:52:41.758
The first person to argue
against this was Lovejoy himself.

00:52:42.262 --> 00:52:45.597
The judge, however, was
insistent in his desire to

00:52:45.601 --> 00:52:47.519
dismiss the case.

00:52:47.880 --> 00:52:50.798
At 2:50 p.m., Judge Smith
called the jury in

00:52:50.802 --> 00:52:55.840
and instructed them to find
Samuel Holden Lovejoy not guilty.

00:52:56.119 --> 00:52:58.478
In the days that followed the trial,

00:52:58.482 --> 00:53:01.539
the jury was polled by
the local newspaper.

00:53:01.679 --> 00:53:05.697
They not only approved, by and
large, of Judge Smith's decision,

00:53:05.701 --> 00:53:08.538
they also indicated that
they thought the prosecution

00:53:08.542 --> 00:53:12.280
had failed to prove malice
on Lovejoy's part.

00:53:12.440 --> 00:53:15.038
- Did you feel that the
Commonwealth proved

00:53:15.042 --> 00:53:17.197
malicious intent?

00:53:17.201 --> 00:53:19.999
- They did not prove the point, no.

00:53:20.739 --> 00:53:24.038
That's the reason why I
think that the jury would

00:53:24.042 --> 00:53:25.657
have acquitted him.

00:53:25.661 --> 00:53:27.318
The Commonwealth
didn't prove the point

00:53:27.322 --> 00:53:30.237
that he was malicious
when he did it.

00:53:30.241 --> 00:53:31.778
And I don't think he was.

00:53:31.782 --> 00:53:33.798
I don't think he's that type of man.

00:53:34.802 --> 00:53:37.938
In other words, he figured
he'd sacrifice his whole life,

00:53:37.942 --> 00:53:40.398
you know what I mean?
- Right.

00:53:40.402 --> 00:53:44.316
For the existence of the
community in this area.

00:53:44.320 --> 00:53:45.320
- Right.

00:53:45.324 --> 00:53:47.998
In other words, he was gonna
be the sacrificial lamb.

00:53:48.003 --> 00:53:50.030
Understand what I mean?
- Yeah.

00:53:50.061 --> 00:53:51.818
- He didn't care what
happened to him.

00:53:51.822 --> 00:53:55.637
All he cared about was just
the community at large,

00:53:55.641 --> 00:54:00.597
the generation and the
generation to come.

00:54:00.601 --> 00:54:02.617
I figure he should
have been acquitted

00:54:02.621 --> 00:54:08.121
because the Commonwealth
failed to prove that point.

00:54:09.519 --> 00:54:11.516
When you-- on a case like that,

00:54:11.520 --> 00:54:15.177
you can't just acquit a man
through sympathy.

00:54:15.181 --> 00:54:16.838
You can't do that.

00:54:16.842 --> 00:54:20.958
You have to weigh the
balance of the law

00:54:20.962 --> 00:54:22.898
and the way the law goes.

00:54:23.802 --> 00:54:26.639
And then you have to
abide by that law.

00:54:26.679 --> 00:54:30.679
So the judge abided by that law.

00:54:31.199 --> 00:54:36.137
And I was really glad
that he did what he did.

00:54:36.141 --> 00:54:39.398
- I always think that behind
technical reasons in the court

00:54:39.402 --> 00:54:41.697
are substantial human reasons.

00:54:41.701 --> 00:54:44.137
And behind that technical
decision of the judge based

00:54:44.141 --> 00:54:47.057
on is it real property,
is it personal property,

00:54:47.061 --> 00:54:49.998
was a kind of moral pressure that

00:54:50.003 --> 00:54:52.100
that the judge felt in the
course of the trial

00:54:52.201 --> 00:54:55.878
put on him by the defendant and
all the friends of the defendant

00:54:55.882 --> 00:54:58.597
and the atmosphere of the
courtroom and the feeling

00:54:58.601 --> 00:55:02.599
was that by God, this was
the right thing to do.

00:55:02.940 --> 00:55:07.978
- The environment must be protected
and life must be protected

00:55:07.982 --> 00:55:11.298
and somehow we've got to be
able to confront this

00:55:11.302 --> 00:55:12.697
all-pervading technology

00:55:12.701 --> 00:55:17.458
that's beginning to drown
us with some counterbalance.

00:55:17.462 --> 00:55:19.438
And the judge kept
saying to himself,

00:55:19.442 --> 00:55:21.858
"My God, I've got an
issue here so huge.

00:55:21.862 --> 00:55:24.018
How am I gonna allow in
this evidence?

00:55:24.022 --> 00:55:26.998
How am I gonna confront
these huge issues when this

00:55:27.002 --> 00:55:28.637
man's life is at stake?"

00:55:28.641 --> 00:55:31.798
So, he was trying to protect
my rights as an individual

00:55:31.802 --> 00:55:35.077
and yet try and get this
whole issue of nuclear power

00:55:35.081 --> 00:55:38.057
somehow digested in his mind.

00:55:38.061 --> 00:55:40.818
And that confrontation in
the judge was, I think,

00:55:40.822 --> 00:55:42.177
where we really won the trial,

00:55:42.181 --> 00:55:46.097
because he became convinced
that not only was I sincere

00:55:46.101 --> 00:55:48.958
in my belief that nuclear
power plants were bad,

00:55:48.962 --> 00:55:54.139
but that maybe even I was right
in doing the act that I did.

00:55:54.539 --> 00:56:01.197
- People forget that when we fought
that revolution 200 years ago,

00:56:01.201 --> 00:56:03.758
we fought it in the name of the
Declaration of Independence,

00:56:03.762 --> 00:56:05.938
and the Declaration
of Independence said

00:56:05.942 --> 00:56:09.458
governments are instituted

00:56:09.462 --> 00:56:14.137
for the purpose of
protecting life, liberty,

00:56:14.141 --> 00:56:16.097
and the pursuit of happiness.

00:56:16.191 --> 00:56:17.389
That was the phrase,

00:56:17.393 --> 00:56:18.999
"life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness."

00:56:19.003 --> 00:56:21.498
Then when the revolution was over
and they set up a new government

00:56:21.502 --> 00:56:24.007
and they wrote the Constitution,

00:56:24.011 --> 00:56:25.838
they did not use that phrase in
the Constitution.

00:56:25.842 --> 00:56:27.597
They didn't say "life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness."

00:56:27.601 --> 00:56:29.577
They said "life, liberty,
and property."

00:56:29.581 --> 00:56:32.157
That tells you a little
about the founding fathers

00:56:32.161 --> 00:56:34.039
and their interests.

00:56:36.539 --> 00:56:40.478
And in a sense, what we have
to do in this country,

00:56:40.482 --> 00:56:44.340
of which this environmental
action is part,

00:56:44.500 --> 00:56:49.117
we have to move that
enormous distance,

00:56:49.121 --> 00:56:50.918
and also that short distance,

00:56:50.922 --> 00:56:55.117
from the Constitution to the
Declaration of Independence.

00:56:55.121 --> 00:57:00.057
You could almost define where
this country has to go by saying

00:57:00.061 --> 00:57:02.338
we have to move from life,
liberty and property to

00:57:02.342 --> 00:57:04.900
life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.

00:57:05.340 --> 00:57:09.338
- I mean, politics in America
means freedom, liberty,

00:57:09.342 --> 00:57:10.958
life, and then property.

00:57:10.962 --> 00:57:15.538
Politics means people
taking a political stand.

00:57:15.542 --> 00:57:17.338
It means a yes or no.

00:57:17.342 --> 00:57:20.298
It doesn't mean a bunch
of fufu lobbying saying,

00:57:20.302 --> 00:57:22.498
"No, I don't want this and
I'll counterbalance this."

00:57:22.502 --> 00:57:23.918
There's no negotiation here.

00:57:23.922 --> 00:57:25.057
That's politics.

00:57:25.061 --> 00:57:28.778
That's saying there's no way
that they can be built safely

00:57:28.782 --> 00:57:31.197
and therefore there's no way
they're gonna be built.

00:57:31.201 --> 00:57:33.518
It's like saying we're
going to have a safe war.

00:57:33.522 --> 00:57:35.358
I'm saying, there's no safe wars.

00:57:35.362 --> 00:57:38.077
I'm saying there's no safe
nuclear power plants, either.

00:57:38.081 --> 00:57:40.438
These people are gonna start
to realize that.

00:57:40.442 --> 00:57:45.278
And when you take a concrete
position, that's politics.

00:57:45.282 --> 00:57:47.398
When you take a social
position and start to

00:57:47.402 --> 00:57:50.077
develop yourself as
a social creature,

00:57:50.081 --> 00:57:51.958
that's when you get political.

00:57:51.962 --> 00:57:53.878
You're not a lobbyist anymore.

00:57:53.882 --> 00:57:56.358
You're not taking little
negotiatory stands.

00:57:56.362 --> 00:57:58.500
You're saying, "No."

00:57:58.619 --> 00:58:02.918
- I think Sam was purely and
simply concerned with what

00:58:02.922 --> 00:58:05.097
it would do to people

00:58:05.101 --> 00:58:10.798
in the final analysis if a
plant is built on those plains.

00:58:10.802 --> 00:58:13.938
- And if the tower was toppled,
it would give us a

00:58:13.942 --> 00:58:16.737
year to think it over,

00:58:16.741 --> 00:58:20.599
to learn and educate ourselves,

00:58:20.603 --> 00:58:24.637
and have our eyes opened
as to what the dangers were.

00:58:24.641 --> 00:58:27.918
- The time was awfully short
in what we should decide

00:58:27.922 --> 00:58:32.597
as whether it was good
for us or not good for us,

00:58:32.601 --> 00:58:35.177
whether it would bother us or not.

00:58:35.181 --> 00:58:39.018
The power companies had
had years of research in this.

00:58:39.022 --> 00:58:42.019
They knew where they were
going and what they were doing.

00:58:42.119 --> 00:58:44.978
We had not that
background of knowledge.

00:58:44.982 --> 00:58:47.840
Therefore, we had to gain time.

00:58:47.920 --> 00:58:53.420
And I do believe in time
that people will believe

00:58:54.360 --> 00:58:56.697
in this whole spectrum,

00:58:56.701 --> 00:59:02.201
the same as Sam does,
and it will not be built.

00:59:04.320 --> 00:59:06.960
I firmly believe that.

00:59:08.700 --> 00:59:12.418
- On December 31, 1980,
Northeast Utilities

00:59:12.422 --> 00:59:13.858
announced the cancellation

00:59:13.862 --> 00:59:17.798
of the Montague twin
nuclear power stations.

00:59:17.802 --> 00:59:21.298
In January 1982, the
replacement tower was

00:59:21.302 --> 00:59:23.639
dismantled by the company.

00:59:29.800 --> 00:59:31.997
♪ A light is not a bulb ♪

00:59:32.001 --> 00:59:34.409
♪ A bird is not a plane ♪

00:59:34.413 --> 00:59:37.108
♪ Sometimes things get so tangled ♪

00:59:37.112 --> 00:59:39.998
♪ That they need some dumb refrain ♪

00:59:40.003 --> 00:59:43.108
♪ Such as a light is not a bulb ♪

00:59:43.112 --> 00:59:47.108
♪ A bird is not a plane ♪

00:59:47.112 --> 00:59:50.509
♪ And if it's wet,
it might be rain ♪

00:59:58.003 --> 01:00:00.998
♪  It's the same stuff that
you're made of ♪

01:00:01.003 --> 01:00:03.999
♪ You don't have to pull no lever ♪

01:00:15.299 --> 01:00:18.299
♪ Energy, energy ♪

01:00:18.302 --> 01:00:21.399
♪ Oh my god, why can't they see ♪

01:00:22.002 --> 01:00:26.001
♪ They just wrap it up and
sell it like their souls ♪

01:00:27.999 --> 01:00:30.002
♪ When there's no more
to be stolen ♪

01:00:30.005 --> 01:00:33.002
♪ Think might once again
start rollin' ♪

01:00:33.005 --> 01:00:38.002
♪ And we'll end up where we
always thought we'd be ♪