The Seattle Times is covering the story of the Washington State Dept. of Ecology (DOE) issuing the largest fine ever to the Port Townsend Paper Company (PTPC) for it’s Glen Cove paper mill. The violations that occurred related to the aeration ponds malfunctioning and the actual removal of some of the aeration equipment comes in the wake of the disasterous rupture of a badly maintained tank at a Longview mill that killed 11 and injured more.
This could be the reason for the increasing reports of excessive mill odor reported on Next Door for many months by local residents around the Port Townsend neighborhoods.
After decades of local complaints to DOE it appears that the cozy relationship with the mill owners may be over. As usual that took a disaster with deaths and serious injuries. The Mill<>DOE relationship led to one event in which the mill was given advanced notice of State air quality monitoring, which not surprisingly allowed it to shut down for “maintainence” the week of the monitoring . While Mill shutdowns are scheduled long in advance, the timing of this by both parties was suspect.
The inspections that led to the fines happened almost a year ago, which makes one wonder how long a pollution violation may go before DOE actually does something about it.
The Times quotes DOE as saying, “Other portions of the aeration system were malfunctioning or had been removed.”
These aeration systems are critical to reducing the smell that permeates the area. During periods of calm winds the smell can move into large areas of Port Townsend, causing many people to report headaches and other unusual ailments that were not present prior to the air pollution cloud moving uptown. The pollution is also highly variable to the prevailing winds, which usually blow the smell out to the Bay. When the winds shift from the South or simply stop altogether the reports of the smell increase.
The mill is important to the town and county due to the hundreds of jobs at stake. Paper mills have been shutting down for decades, leaving a legacy of highly toxic soils. Many are Superfund sites. In Port Angeles, the Federal government has simply been up fences and cleanup is just in the discussion phase as it has been for over a decade.
The full article can be found on the Seattle Times web site. Please support the Times with your subscriptions as it remains one of the only local independent newspapers in the Pacific Northwest.
WA fines Port Townsend paper mill for chemical spill, poor maintenance
Filed under: Environmental Protection, Jefferson County, Port Townsend |
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