Paul Gunter Wins Prestigious Jane Bagley Lehman Award
For Immediate Release: January 25, 2008
Contact: Linda Gunter, 301.455.5655
Gunter, walking tall… on track …. 1976
Takoma Park, MD – Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear, whose service to the cause of anti-nuclear activism spans three decades, has been named a recipient of the prestigious Jane Bagley Lehman (JBL) Award. Ms. Bagley Lehman was a founder of the Tides Foundation which will present the award in March.
Gunter joins fellow award winners – physicist Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, and Georgia activist, Glenn Carroll of Nuclear Watch South.
The JBL awards seek to recognize individuals who have exhibited a deep commitment to the public interest and whose work demonstrates innovative approaches to social change. The 2007 awards specifically sought individuals whose anti-nuclear work reaches wide audiences and successfully bridges the gap between grassroots activists and decision-makers.
“It’s an honor to be recognized and I truly appreciate the support I received from my fellow activists, all of whom deserve to share this award,” Gunter said. “I especially appreciate the decision of the Tides Foundation to recognize the importance of this issue today. We face a tsunami of well-funded propaganda from the nuclear power industry, all of it misleading and counter-productive to addressing climate change. The Tides Foundation has done enormous service in shining a spotlight not only on the contribution of three individuals but on all the incredible work that this movement, collectively, has contributed over the decades.”
Gunter began his anti-nuclear activism in the 1970s as co-founder of the country’s first opposition movement to nuclear power – the Clamshell Alliance – which fought construction of the Seabrook reactor in New Hampshire. Since then he has developed expertise as a meticulous watchdog over the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, exposing the agency’s persistent prioritizing of industry profit margins over public safety.
Jane Bagley Lehman co-founded the Tides Foundation in 1976 and was the Chair of the Board until her death in 1988.