Dive Brief:
- The Washington state attorney general’s office announced July 1 that it’s investigating whether any criminal activity contributed to the May 26 white liquor tank implosion at Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview that killed 11 people and injured eight others.
- Futhermore, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries announced July 2 that in addition to its ongoing investigation of the disaster, it opened new inspections at two other kraft pulp and paper mills in the state: at Smurfit Westrock’s Longview plant down the road from NDP, and at Port Townsend Paper Co. in Port Townsend.
- This follows the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board’s disclosure during a June 18 meeting that the federal investigation would focus on four areas: mechanisms that led to the tank failure; facility siting; maintenance and mechanical integrity; and relevant facility, corporate and industry standards. CSB expects to release an update on the investigation by the end of September and a full report sometime next spring.
Dive Insight:
Production at NDP’s site remained suspended as of parent company Nippon Paper’s most recent update on June 24. It said the financial impact is still being assessed.
Since the NDP disaster, agencies at the local, state and federal levels have collaborated on emergency response, cleanup and investigations. The U.S. EPA continues to coordinate with the investigating agencies to determine possible next steps.
The state’s Labor & Industries agency aims for its investigation to determine what happened, find any workplace safety violations and help to prevent such incidents in the future. By law, L&I has 180 days to complete an investigation, with the deadline for this one set at Nov. 22. After results are released, the agency will hold a conference with the employer and worker representatives; it will share findings and what the employer must do to correct any issues. The employer then has 15 work days to appeal any violations.
L&I’s new inspections at the other two mills also are expected to take up to six months, followed by publishing the findings. It will focus on whether the other employers are following state laws regarding work site hazards, such as for storage tanks and hazardous material handling, including:
- tank maintenance, inspection, testing, and open repair items
- relevant U.S. EPA or Washington Dept. of Ecology reports including records of any spills or breaches that impact workers
- written procedures for the operation and maintenance of the tanks to ensure worker safety
- injuries or near misses for employees and contractors working around the tanks
“These investigations and our targeted enforcement program are precautionary, proactive steps for worker safety at Washington’s paper mills,” said L&I Director Joel Sacks in a statement.
L&I said it’s also starting a targeted enforcement program to conduct similar inspections into chemical use and storage at Washington’s seven pulp and paper mills that don’t use the kraft process. That enforcement program will run through February 2027.
The Washington AG’s office explained in a news release that it can only take on criminal prosecutions at the request of the governor or a county prosecuting attorney. Because of the scale of the NDP disaster, the AG’s office reached out to the office of the Cowlitz County prosecutor and offered assistance with the investigation. The prosecutor accepted the offer and granted the AG’s office concurrent authority.
The AG’s office says it has significant expertise in cases involving industrial and environmental incidents and the “specialized resources needed to conduct a complex legal investigation.” The statement did not indicate how long the AG’s office expects this investigation to last. It noted the investigation is only beginning and at this time the office has not raised any allegations or presumptions of wrongdoing related to the disaster. Should it determine any criminal activity occurred, the AG will initiate legal action.
On the federal side, the CSB deployed a team to Longview the day of the incident and has been on site since, said Mark Wingard, supervisory chemical incident investigator, during the June 18 meeting. CSB classifies the NDP disaster as an “accidental release event.” The agency has tracked 651 such incidents from March 2020 through May 2026 that resulted in 103 deaths and 355 serious injuries.
“This data is very important for companies to recognize that these events are still occurring” and the efforts needed to prevent them, said Stephen Klejst, executive director of investigations and recommendations at CSB, during the meeting.
The Washington Department of Ecology announced that unified command for the NDP incident decided to disband on July 1, the day crews removed the last of the liquid — approximately 12,000 gallons — from the failed white liquor tank.
The Department of Ecology said that, separately from the other ongoing investigations, its staff will examine if the NDP incident involved violations of state or federal rules or laws regarding water quality, air quality or dangerous waste management. The agency also will issue an order for reimbursement of state expenses incurred during the incident response, including salary and benefits, travel and lab costs.
