What has happened to Durham, NH?

Forty-eight years ago, Durham, NH got famous for defeating Aristotle Onassis and his oil refinery plan on the basis of the potential damage to the environment and local water resources.

Yet today, many of those same people, including several of the leaders of the battle with Onassis, are now trying to retain the Mill Pond Dam – a decision that The Nature Conservancy-NH, Conservation Law Foundation, Great Bay Stewards, Coastal Conservation Association, the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People and the NH Indigenous Collaborative Collective have all come out against.

This stunning reversal of priorities puzzles me. What happened in the town in those 40 years, that made those early environmentalists switch sides? Is nostalgia more potent than the health of the local ecosystem? When did childhood memories become more powerful than future sustainability? And most importantly, how did  a well-educated  democratic town become so divided by a Town Council decision made after years of study, dozens of  hours of testimony and a careful review of hundreds of pages of scientific and financial data. How did this notoriously liberal community decide that their version of colonial history was more important than the wishes and rights of the local indigenous groups that want the dam removed to honor their 12,500-year history.

We may never know, but we do know that on March 8, 2022 almost exactly 48 years after voting down the oil refinery, Durham voters will again take to the polls to vote on an existential issue, one that will define the health and welfare of all future generations.  Let’s hope that once again they will chose a safer, more sustainable future.