AA Clearinghouse & Allies Speak Out/Sing Out Against Nuclear Energy

The AA Clearinghouse and allied organizations held a speak-out and open mic at the new Federal Building at 7th and Mission Streets in San Francisco today.

The event started at noon with signs and banners carrying the "shut 'em down" message as people gathered to remember the Chernobyl disaster 25 years ago. Protesters said that the accident going on now at Fukushima Dai-ichi should be enough to bring down the entire nuclear industry.

The "AA" in AA Clearinghouse stands for Abalone Alliance. Abalone Alliance was formed in 1977 as a nonviolent civil disobedience group to shut down the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County. They modeled their affinity group-based organizational structure after the Clamshell Alliance which was, at that time, protesting the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant in coastal New Hampshire. The name "Abalone Alliance" was adopted in reference to the tens of thousands of wild California Red Abalone that were killed in 1974.

The Abalone Alliance itself was closed in 1985 with the Clearinghouse taking on the responsibility of holding onto the history and resources of the Alliance in the Bay Area.