The Maine Nuclear Referendum Committee printed “No Radiation without Representation” and “Don’t poison the natives” t-shirts to promote a 1985 ballot measure to require any proposal to dump low-level radioactive waste in the state of Maine be put to a statewide vote.

The image on the t-shirt is a 55-gallon radioactive waste drum, referencing the waste product of Maine Yankee, a nuclear power plant in Wiscasset, Maine.

Starting in 1980, a citizen initiative drew 40 percent of the vote, not enough to close Maine Yankee, but enough to raise awareness. They kept the pressure on, asking for information on safety and pushing officials carefully monitor the plant. The 1985 referendum passed, and Maine Yankee closed in 1996, twelve years prior to its 2008 obsolescence date.