Become a Member! (click here) Progressive NH Profile Dudley Dudley, Phyllis Bennett, and Nancy Sandberg - Dudley Dudley was the freshman New Hampshire legislator who led the charge in Concord. Phyllis Bennett was a founder of Publick Occurrences, the newspaper that broke the story. And Nancy Sandberg was the young mother who committed her time and energy to form Save Our Shores (SOS), a grassroots citizen advocacy organization. Together, these New Hampshire Seacoast residents created a grassroots coalition that defeated one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world. In 1973, Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis, with the backing of then-Governor Meldrim Thomson and the Manchester Union Leader, proposed to build the world's largest oil refinery on Durham Point. Utilizing Saudi Arabian crude oil, the Onassis refinery would have produced 400,000 barrels of oil per day to be transhipped to a supertanker terminal at the Isles of Shoals. Standing in Onassis's way were these three women and SOS, their grassroots organization. For seven months, they fought to preserve a way of life on the New Hampshire seacoast, where a healthy economy based on tourism, fishing, and small business could work in harmony with the region's spectacular natural resources. Dudley sponsored and helped to enact into law House Bill 18, which in addition to meeting state and federal guidelines, required approval by the town to site an oil refinery (Now RSA 31:109, Local Option for Siting in Towns). Meanwhile, Sandberg, Bennett, and SOS led the fight in the affected communities to reject Onassis's proposal, by educating seacoast residents about the negative impacts of BIG OIL on the region's economy, environment, social and political life. In Rye and Durham, motions to allow oil refineries failed by a vote of 1,073 to 194 in Rye and in Durham, the vote was 1,254 to 144. Onassis had lost and his refinery would never be built. Small town New Hampshire had not only beaten Onassis, but also the powerful Union Leader and Governor Thomson.