Bodega Head’s Unbuilt Power Plant: Reading a Coastal Landmark Through the Archives

By Matthew Martinez, Founder, CEO & Managing Broker, Diamond Real Estate Group. California DRE #01869679.

A water-filled excavation can be a record of something that never happened. At Bodega Head, the place known as the Hole in the Head recalls a proposed nuclear power plant and the controversy that prevented its completion.

The story becomes more substantial when read through different kinds of evidence. Personal recollections, institutional records and technical studies each explain part of how a coastal proposal became a landmark conservation campaign.

The proposal entered a landscape with competing ambitions

A UC Berkeley account of marine scientist Cadet Hand’s career records the search for a coastal research site and PG&E’s 1958 announcement of a power-plant proposal at Bodega Head.

The University eventually developed its marine laboratory nearby, completing the first building in 1966. The proposed power plant and the laboratory therefore belong to overlapping histories of how the headland might be used.

This context makes the controversy more specific than a general debate about development. Different institutions saw different possibilities in the same coastal setting.

Participants left accounts of the organizing effort

The Berkeley Library’s release of Doris Sloan’s oral history describes her participation in the multi-year campaign that ended in 1964.

The account identifies a coalition of residents, scientists, landowners and others, rather than one uniform group. It also records Sloan’s collaboration with geologist Pierre Saint-Amand.

An oral history preserves how a participant understood the sequence and her own role within it. That perspective adds motivations, relationships and remembered decisions to the formal record.

The Library also preserves David Pesonen’s interviews about his environmental work, including opposition to the Bodega proposal. Reading more than one participant’s account helps reveal the campaign as a network of people and actions.

Geology became a formal subject of investigation

A September 1963 U.S. Geological Survey report examined the proposed site’s position relative to the San Andreas fault zone, possible subsidiary faults and seismic hazards.

A December 1963 report addressed the excavated reactor shaft and related geological features.

These documents show how a public dispute generated a specific technical record. The discussion moved beyond a general image of the headland into questions about rock, faults and an actual excavation.

The reports are historical evidence about the proposed facility. Their significance here is the role that investigation played in the decision-making story.

The archive also preserves institutional tensions

A contemporary University document discusses the administration’s neutrality during the controversy and the relationship between the laboratory proposal and the neighboring power project.

Its criticism is part of the historical record, showing that participants debated institutional behavior as well as the proposal itself.

This adds another layer to the landscape. A physical site can preserve the outcome of arguments about authority, evidence and the responsibilities of public institutions.

A coastal place with a visible alternative history

For someone learning Bodega Bay, the Hole in the Head gives a particular form to an unbuilt future. The excavation remains as evidence that the headland’s present character followed consequential decisions.

The archives make that evidence readable. They connect a familiar coastal landmark with the people, studies and competing ambitions that helped shape the place visitors encounter today.

It also shows why different records should be kept in conversation. A participant can explain an organizing decision, while a dated report establishes what investigators were examining. Together, those sources make the sequence clearer than a single retrospective summary or an unexplained view of the excavation.

Explore real estate and home for sale in Bodega Bay, or contact Diamond to discuss a location that fits your plans.

Sources checked October 28, 2026. Historical details are attributed to the linked primary records and site operators. Check the operator for current visiting arrangements.