Forms part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series.
Collection is open for research.
Eugene Rosolie was born in New York, New York, in 1949, and grew up in the Brooklyn and Queens boroughs of New York City. From 1967 to 1970, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He attended Mount Angel College in Oregon for a year, and later earned a bachelor's degree at Portland State University. He was active with the Coalition for Safe Power and Northwest Environmental Advocates (NWEA), and campaigned against the use of nuclear power. He married Nina Bell in 1982; she later became the director of NWEA, and Rosolie served as director of NWEA's green power program.
Sources: Vital records on Ancestry.com; information provided by Rosolie in his interview; "About Us," Northwest Environmental Advocates website (accessed November 2025),
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,
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),
Forms part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series.
Oral history interview with Eugene Rosolie, by Clark Hansen, SR 2709, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
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
Audio recording and transcript of an oral history interview with Eugene Rosolie that was conducted by Clark Hansen in three sessions, from February 27 to March 17, 1999, at the offices of Northwest Environmental Advocates in Portland, Oregon, as part of the Columbia River Dissenters Oral History Series.
In this interview, Rosolie discusses his family background and early life in Brooklyn and Queens, New York, his service in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1967 to 1970, and his reasons for moving across the country to Oregon. He talks about his involvement in the Coalition for Safe Power and his opposition to the construction of nuclear power plants along the Columbia River, particularly Portland General Electric's Trojan Nuclear Power Plant and the N reactor in Hanford, Washington. He speaks about his work with Northwest Environmental Advocates to oppose pollution of the Columbia River and nearby estuaries. He also talks about lobbying utility companies to move to renewable energy sources. He discusses the official designation of salmon and other fish in the Columbia River Basin as endangered, and speaks about the importance of clean rivers and estuaries to fish population recovery efforts. He closes the interview by sharing his thoughts about the management of the Columbia River Basin.
Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA,
Tape 1, Side 1, through Tape 2, Side 1. In the first interview session, conducted on February 27, 1999, Rosolie discusses his family background and early life in Brooklyn and Queens, New York, including his parents' jobs, his experience growing up in subsidized housing, and his early education in Catholic schools. He also talks about discrimination his mother experienced due to her Italian ancestry. He discusses serving in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1967 to 1970, during the Vietnam War, talks about how the death of his older brother in combat affected his family, and speaks about how his experience influenced his views on the war. He shares his reasons for moving across the country to attend Mount Angel College in Oregon, and talks about completing his college education at Portland State University.
Tape 2, Side 1, through Tape 4, Side 1. In the second interview session, conducted on March 2, 1999, Rosolie discusses his involvement in the Coalition for Safe Power and his opposition to the construction of nuclear power plants along the Columbia River, particularly Portland General Electric's Trojan Nuclear Power Plant and the N reactor in Hanford, Washington. He speaks about working to get the Trojan plant decommissioned, and discusses what he felt upon learning that the plant would close in 1992. He then talks about his work with Northwest Environmental Advocates against pollution of the Columbia River and nearby estuaries. He also talks about lobbying utility companies to move to renewable energy sources.
Tape 5. In the third interview session, conducted on March 17, 1999, Rosolie discusses the official designation of salmon and other fish in the Columbia River Basin as endangered. He speaks about the importance of clean rivers and estuaries to fish population recovery efforts. He discusses the energy needs of businesses along the Columbia River, particularly aluminum factories, as well as the pollution they produce, and shares ideas for curbing the emission of pollutants worldwide. He speaks about the amount of irrigation needed for farms and cattle, and about the cost of that water. He closes the interview by sharing his thoughts about the management of the Columbia River Basin.