Title: Paris Township Preservation Committee Records
Inclusive Dates: 1970-1975

Creator:

• Paris Township Preservation Committee (Kenosha County, Wis.)

Call Number: Parkside Mss 61

Quantity: 1.4 c.f. (4 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the Archives & Area Research Center, Library/Learning Center, University of Wisconsin-Parkside; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Parkside Library / Parkside Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Records of a group of citizens in Paris Township, Kenosha County, Wisconsin, protesting designation of the township as a possible site for the location of a projected nuclear power plant by the Wisconsin Electric Power Company. From January 1973 to June 1974 the group engaged in activities to demonstrate the community's united opposition to the proposed facility, and to have Paris Township removed from consideration for the site. The records include the Committee's membership list, petitions, correspondence with the Wisconsin Electric Power Company, public officials, and others, copies of press releases and other public communications, newspaper clippings, and materials related to lobbying for state power plant-siting legislation. The collection also includes miscellaneous literature related to nuclear power issues generally, originating from anti-nuclear groups operating at the national or regional as well as the state or local levels.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-pks0061

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The Paris Township Preservation Committee was formed at a meeting on January 14, 1973, called in response to announcements by the Wisconsin Electric Power Company that Paris Township, a small agricultural community in Kenosha County, was one of four sites in Wisconsin under consideration for the location of a nuclear power plant. The committee, initially a group of thirteen Paris Township residents, had as its stated purpose the preservation of Paris Township “in its present agricultural state.” Its self-appointed task was to focus and lead community opposition to the displacement of families and homes and other transformations necessarily consequent to the location in Paris of a nuclear power facility.

Under the leadership of Robert M. Kueny, a local architect, committee members embarked upon a wide range of activities--petitioning, lobbying, letter writing, public speaking, and more--designed to demonstrate and articulate the opposition of Paris Township residents to the location of a plant in their community. They affiliated with a regional group with environmental/anti-nuclear concerns, the Lake Michigan Federation, made contacts with other anti-nuclear groups in Wisconsin and elsewhere, and began to accumulate information about the safety risks of nuclear power in general. While their primary concern was always to keep a nuclear plant out of Paris, the group also engaged in related activities of broader scope such as actively lobbying for passage of 1973 Assembly Bill 814 pertaining to selection of power plant sites.

On June 19, 1974 the Wisconsin Electric Power Company announced that it was dropping consideration of a nuclear power facility in Paris at least “for the balance of the 1980's” in favor of a coal-fired electric generating plant to be built in Pleasant Prairie, Kenosha County. As this decision removed the immediate need for the committee, it ceased its active functions.

The records of the Paris Township Preservation Committee are organized into two parts. The materials received in the archives originally, in 1981, make up the first two boxes. Part two, in boxes 3 and 4, consists of additions received in 1998.

Part 1, Original Collection, 1970-1975

This part of the records is divided into two categories. The first documents the specific actions and concerns of the committee during the term of its activity. The second consists of items of a more general nature: miscellaneous literature relating to the issue of nuclear power itself, or to the activities of environmental and anti-nuclear groups elsewhere in the state, region or nation.

The files on Committee Activities is the heart of the collection. They consist of materials produced by the activities of the committee itself, as well as other items directly related to the issue of locating a nuclear power facility in Paris or reflecting the efforts of Paris residents to prevent that from happening.

Nuclear Power - Miscellaneous Literature constitutes the rest of Part 1. Materials dealing with aspects of the nuclear energy debate generally, but not with the proposed Paris Township plant specifically, when received or gathered by the Paris Committee were placed into one large “miscellaneous literature” research file. Materials dealing with the activities of other groups with concerns related to those of the Paris Committee were also placed here. It remains unorganized beyond a rudimentary geographical division.

Part 2, 1998 Additions, 1970-1975

The additions, spanning the same dates as Part 1, consist of a continuation of the committee activities files and subject files primarily containing the miscellaneous literature types of materials .

Acquisition Information

Presented by Robert M. Kueny, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1981 and 1998. Accession Number: M81-500, M99-109

Processing Information

Original accession processed by Eric Hillemann and Joanne Hohler, February, 1984. Addition processed by Natalie Rubocki (Kyle Krause), November, 1999.

	Part 1, Original Accessions, 1970-1975
	Subseries: Committee Activities
Box   1 Folder   1	Paris Committee--General, 1973; undated Scope and Content Note: Includes the committee's membership list, as well as copies of local mailings and newsletters dating from January 1973 to at least July 1973.
Box   1 Folder   2	Petitions, January - February, 1973 Scope and Content Note: Petitions presented to the Paris Town Board containing over 600 signatures.
Box   1 Folder   3	Press Releases, February, 1973 - May, 1974; undated Scope and Content Note: Releases are arranged chronologically when dated (the earlier releases are not always dated), and are accompanied by a list of addresses of persons and media outside outlets for distribution of releases.
Box   1 Folder   4-5	Correspondence, January, 1973 - March, 1975; undated Scope and Content Note: The bulk of letters are of Robert Kueny, Paris Committee Chairman. Correspondents include the Wisconsin Electric Power Company, public officials (e.g. Les Aspin, Douglas LaFollette, Gaylord Nelson), and related environmental/ anti-nuclear groups.
Box   1 Folder   6	Assembly Bill 814, 1973-1974 Scope and Content Note: Materials related to lobbying for 1973 Assembly Bill 814. Included are letters, printed literature, and a copy of the bill and proposed amendments.
Box   1 Folder   7	Newspaper Clippings, February, 1973 - June, 1974 Scope and Content Note: Clippings pertaining to the issue of a nuclear power facility in Paris Township and/or the activities of the Paris Township Preservation Committee. The original clippings have been xeroxed and arranged chronologically.
	Subseries: Nuclear Power - Miscellaneous Literature, circa 1970s	⇧
Box   2 Folder   1	National
Box   2 Folder   2	Wisconsin
Box   2 Folder   3	Lake Michigan Federation
	Series: Part 2, Additions, 1970-1975	⇧
	Subseries: Committee Activities
Box   3 Folder   1	Assembly Bill 814 (power plant siting), 1973
Box   3 Folder   2	Assembly Bill 999 (utility tax), 1973
	Correspondence
Box   3 Folder   3	Anti-nuclear groups 8 experts, 1973
Box   3 Folder   4	Wisconsin politicians, 1973
Box   3 Folder   5	General
Box   3 Folder   6	Goodhall, Regina (notebook)
Box   3 Folder   7	Newsclippings
	Subseries: Subject Files	⇧
Box   3 Folder   8	Alternative energy, 1972-1973
Box   3 Folder   9	Another Mother for Peace, 1972-1973
Box   3 Folder   10	Atomic Energy Commission, 1971-1973
Box   3 Folder   11	Businessmen for the Public Interest
Box   3 Folder   12	Citizens Committee for Environmental Concern (PA), 1970-73
Box   3 Folder   13	Citizens Energy Council, 1973
Box   3 Folder   14	Committee to End Radiological Hazards (NY), 1973
Box   3 Folder   15	Eugene Future Power Committee, Inc. (OR), 1970-73
Box   3 Folder   16	Dr. Gofman, John W. 8 Committee for Nuclear Responsibility, Inc., 1970-73
Box   3 Folder   17	Senator Mike Gravel, 1972-73
Box   3 Folder   18	Dr. Charles W. Huver, 1970-71
Box   3 Folder   19	Impact Films (NY), 1973
Box   4 Folder   1	Independent Phi Beta Kappa Environmental Study Group, 1973
Box   4 Folder   2	Intellectual Digest, 1972-73
Box   4 Folder   3	Lake Koshkonong Power Plant, 1973
Box   4 Folder   4	Lake Michigan Federation, 1972-1973
Box   4 Folder   5	League Against Nuclear Dangers, 1973
Box   4 Folder   6	Magazine articles, 1972-73
Box   4 Folder   7	Miscellaneous
Box   4 Folder   8	National Intervenors, 1971-73
Box   4 Folder   9	North Anna Environmental Coalition (VA), 1973
Box   4 Folder   10	Point Beach Nuclear Power Plant, 1973
Box   4 Folder   11	Public Service Commission, 1973
Box   4 Folder   12	Senate Records, 1970-73
Box   4 Folder   13	Dr. Ernest J. Sternglass, 1970-73
Box   4 Folder   14	Task Force Against Nuclear Pollution (NJ), 1973-74
Box   4 Folder   15	Union of Concerned Scientists, 1971-73
Box   4 Folder   16	Wisconsin Electric Power Company, 1973