Oral history interview with Nina Bell

Collection

Identifier: SR 2713

Staff Only

Transcript and digitized audio recording of interview

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Scope and Contents

Audio recording and transcript of an oral history interview with Nina Bell that was conducted by Clark Hansen in two sessions, on June 1, 1999, and July 26, 1999, in her office at Northwest Environmental Advocates in Portland, Oregon, as part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series.

In the first interview session, Bell discusses her family background and early life, and describes how her family came to live in Seattle, Washington, in the late 1960s. She talks about her involvement in environmental activism from an early age, and about how she became involved in the movement against nuclear power while studying at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, during the 1970s. She speaks about her involvement with the Trojan Decommissioning Alliance, and about the goals of the organization. She discusses the effects of nuclear power plants and dams on the Columbia River Basin, and describes how the passage of the Clean Water Act improved the condition of rivers and estuaries in the Pacific Northwest. She talks about proposals to designate the Willamette River as a Superfund site.

In the second session, Bell discusses the work her organization, Northwest Environmental Advocates, does to reduce pollution in the Willamette River, and speaks extensively about the issue of raw sewage in the river and about possible solutions. She discusses Portland’s inclusion in the National Estuary Program, describes how the Environmental Protection Agency determines acceptable levels of pollutants in water, and talks about her experience working for non-profits focused on environmental issues, and their limited funding. She describes how NWEA accomplishes its clean-water goals through litigation, and shares her thoughts about the progress the organization has made. She closes the interview by talking about climate change and NWEA’s plans for the future.

Dates

Creation: 1999 June 1-July 26

Creator

Bell, Nina, 1957- (Interviewee, Person)
Hansen, Clark (Interviewer, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Biographical note

Nina Bell was born to American parents in Venezuela in 1957. During her childhood, the family moved frequently, living in multiple locations in Europe and the United States before settling in Seattle, Washington, in the late 1960s. Bell attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but left in 1977 to become involved in the movement against nuclear power. She completed her bachelor’s degree in 1986 at Antioch University in Seattle, and in 1991, she earned a law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland. In 1988, she became executive director of Northwest Environmental Advocates in Portland, which, among other efforts, specialized in using litigation to implement and enforce the Clean Water Act in Oregon.

Sources: Information provided by Bell in her interview; Bell’s LinkedIn profile; "Our History: 1969 to today," Northwest Environmental Advocates website, (accessed February 2026), https://northwestenvironmentaladvocates.org/about-us/our-history

Historical note

In 1990, the Washington State Historical Society, Portland State University, and Washington State University Vancouver formed the Center for Columbia River History (CCRH) to promote research, education, and public programs about the Columbia River Basin. The center operated for more than 20 years. Among its work was the Columbia River Basin Project (CRBP), an umbrella project supported by a 1997 grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The CRBP included online exhibits, oral histories, and high school curricula about the history of the region's land, wildlife, and people.

As part of the project, CCRH partnered with the Oregon Historical Society Research Library’s oral history program, headed by Jim Strassmaier, to gather interviews. Oral Historian Michael O’Rourke spearheaded the Northwest Power Planning Council Oral History Series, while Oral Historian Clark Hansen oversaw the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series, with aid from two Portland State University research assistants, Dannette Rowe and Tania Hyatt. In addition, CCRH conducted oral history interviews for a third project, Columbia Communities, and later donated the interview recordings and transcripts to the OHS Research Library, where they are designated SRC 1.

The Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series culminated in 59 interviews (approximately 184 recorded hours) conducted between 1998 and 2001. Interviewees included Native people, activists, farmers, conservationists, fishers, and others who contributed to the shaping of policies that have had, and continue to have, significant impacts on the Columbia River Basin in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia. The interviewees opposed policies by agencies such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bonneville Power Administration, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and advocated for alternative visions of management and use of the Columbia River.

Sources: “Voices of the Columbia,” by Bryan White, PSU Magazine, Fall 1998, Page 17; Center for Columbia River History brochure, undated (circa 2000); Center for Columbia River History website (accessed July 10, 2025), https://columbiariverhistory.org/; email correspondence with Donna Sinclair, 2025; email correspondence with Tania Hyatt, 2025; Oregon Historical Society Research Library internal documentation.

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (5 audiocassettes (3 hr., 58 min., 49 sec.) + transcript (92 pages))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Nina Bell, conducted by Clark Hansen in two sessions, on June 1, 1999, and July 26, 1999, as part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series. Bell discusses her history of environmental activism, including her participation in advocacy to decommission Trojan Nuclear Power Plant in Oregon, and her work as a lawyer with Northwest Environmental Advocates to implement the Clean Water Act in Oregon, particularly in relation to the Willamette River.

Existence and Location of Copies

Audio and transcript available online in OHS Digital Collections.

General

Forms part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series.

Processing Information

This interview was previously cataloged as part of SR 2700.1, the Center for Columbia River History Oral Histories. SR 2700.1 included oral histories gathered for two separate projects: those conducted by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library for the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series, and those collected by the Center for Columbia River History for its Columbia Communities Project. In 2024-2025, as part of digitization of the Dissenters interviews, the collection was reprocessed to separate the two sets of interviews for improved access. Each of the 59 Columbia River Dissenters interviews was cataloged individually under the name of the interviewee. The interviews for the Communities project were kept together as a single collection that was redesignated as SRC 1, Columbia Communities Project oral histories.