Weyerhaeuser's Longview lumber mill gets another big fine for stormwater pollution

State Department of Ecology also announces large fine for Kelso-Longview industrial painting company

For the second time this decade, Weyerhaeuser Co.’s Longview lumber mill has been hit with a serious state fine for violating state stormwater control regulations.

On Monday, the state Department of Ecology announced it has fined the company $145,000 for 36 stormwater discharge violations, 15 monitoring requirements violations, and 16 reporting requirement violations, all of which occurred between July 2022 and May 2024.

Weyerhaeuser’a mill stormwater — rain runoff — contained low dissolved oxygen levels, which can harm aquatic plants and animals. The stormwater also had solids (which could include copper and other metals) above permitted limits.

The Longview mill’s stormwater flows into a ditch leading to the Columbia River. Improperly managed stormwater can damage human health, salmon and other aquatic life.

Ecology Solid Waste Program Manager Peter Lyon said the company self-reported the violations, but it did not do so within the time that the permit required.

“Stormwater permits contain strict limits on toxic chemicals and contaminants that are designed to protect our environment,” Lyon said in a press release. “Although Weyerhaeuser has been working to improve its stormwater management at its Longview mill, it needs to abide by its discharge limits and other permit requirements.”

Other violations stemmed from significant changes Weyerhaeuser made to its stormwater collection and treatment system between April and August 2022, which were intended to fix potential problems. However, the company didn’t get required approvals from Ecology, and the changes have the potential to worsen pollution problems at the mill, the agency said.

“We believe strongly in permit compliance and invest significant time and resources to ensure we are meeting all environmental standards,” Weyerhaeuser Co. spokeswoman Mary Catherine McAleer said in an e-mailed statement Thursday.

“The Washington Department of Ecology has recognized that industrial activities at neighboring facilities — we are one of three separate companies operating at the Longview site — may have contributed to or caused exceedances of stormwater limits in Weyerhaeuser’s permit. We have been working cooperatively with the Department of Ecology to address these concerns and are involved in an ongoing process to set appropriate permit conditions and standards for all facilities.”

The latest penalty follows another related to stormwater that Ecology issued to Weyerhaeuser‘s Longview lumber mill in 2022, when the agency fined the facility $40,000 for repeated water quality violations. That fine was for water pollution and failing to adequately monitor its stormwater and wastewater.

Between October 2020 and November 2021, the company failed 42 times to meet pollution limits at two stormwater outfalls.

Ecology spokeswoman Colleen Keltz said Weyerhaeuser has appealed the latest fine to the state Pollution Control Hearings Board. It also appealed the previous stormwater fine all the way to the state Court of Appeals, which largely upheld the agency’s actions, Keltz said.

Water quality penalty payments to Ecology are placed into the state’s Coastal Protection Fund, which provides grants to public agencies and Indian tribes for water quality restoration projects.

The Longview sawmill is one of eight sawmills that Weyerhaeuser owns in the western U.S. and western Canada.

(I asked Weyerhaeuser last week how much is has spent on stormwater controls in recent years and for it to define the scope of the challenge, which is considerable given this area’s quantity of rainfall, the size of the site and the amount of trucks, heavy machinery and logs handled at the site. I will add to this story whenever the company discloses that information.)

Ecology also this week announced two fines against Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co.— one for $2,000 for discharging excess solids in its wastewater and $4,500 for releasing excess sulfur dioxide emissions to the air.

Ecology also announced last week that it has fined Steel Painters Inc, which has shops in both Kelso and Longview, $49,000 for hazardous waste labeling and documentation failures.

Ecology said it inspected both locations in 2023 and found instances of improperly labeled containers of paint and solvent waste, open hazardous waste containers, inadequate hazardous waste training of staff and incomplete or missing records. The agency said it found similar problems during a 2019 inspection.

“Unfortunately, this company hasn’t taken enough steps or action to solve (its) compliance issues,” Katrina Lassiter, Ecology’s hazardous waste and toxics reduction program manager, said in a press release.

“Some of these problem are as simple as labelling your hazardous waste properly and closing the lids on waste containers,” she wrote.

Doug Moore, Steel Painters’ general manager, said in an August letter to Ecology that all containers of waste solvents and paints are stored on containment pallets to prevent any spills from spreading. Onsite infiltration systems serve as a secondary backstop and are another defense against wastes entering rivers ory other waterways.

Moore said the staff gets regular training.

“Steel Painters Inc. handles and disposes of all hazardous waste properly,” he wrote, acknowledging, however, that while the companykeeps records on file, it did not do so in a format requested by Ecology.

In a phone interview, Moore said part of the the company’s fallout with Ecology was due to a worker who failed to report the agency’s earlier concerns to senior management.