WA to bill Nippon Dynawave for chemical spill response

The state will bill Nippon Dynawave for the costs environmental officials incurred responding to the Longview chemical spill, while a federal investigative board plans to release findings sooner than previously estimated.

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Some 37 days after the site's white liquor tank collapsed and killed 11 workers, cleanup crews also recently crossed a significant milestone toward its demolition by removing the remaining chemicals inside.

Meanwhile, crews will keep monitoring the air until the white liquor tank that catastrophically collapsed on May 26 is finally dismantled and removed, according to a final release issued by the multi-agency Unified Command Joint Information Center, which is comprised of the Washington State Department of Ecology, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others.

Ecology to issue order for reimbursement

The state Department of Ecology will issue what's known as an order for reimbursement to cover the expenses the state made while responding to the spill.

The agency is separately investigating whether the company violated any permits with Ecology, state laws or other federal requirements related to water quality, air quality or dangerous wastes, according to the release. Ecology investigators review written reports, interview personnel and conduct site visits, and in most cases have a statute of limitations up to two years from the date of the incident.

The order for reimbursement, however, focuses on direct costs involved in the cleanup, such as the salary and benefits of responding state workers, their travel costs and expenses incurred with any lab work. Ecology typically issues orders for reimbursement alongside the penalties it imposes.

A look ahead at other investigations

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board's investigation is expected to take longer than a state investigation, as the federal agency works to pinpoint exact causes to help the pulp and paper industry avoid future catastrophes.

According to the update, CSB hopes to have an update on their investigation "before the end of September" and a full report next spring, around the one-year anniversary of the tank collapse.

The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries is conducting its own investigation to determine whether any worker-safety laws were violated leading up to the incident. By law, the agency must complete its investigation within 180 days of the incident, which the release puts the deadline at Nov. 22.

White liquor tank now empty

On Wednesday, crews removed the final 12,000 gallons of liquid from the million-gallon tank, known at the plant as the "G tank," and disposed of the chemicals at the plant's on-site water treatment facility.

Crews have reported finding solid chemical residues inside the tank, but it can now be disassembled without the risk of unexpected spills.

Tank

Liquid pools in a puddle in front of the failed tank on Saturday, June 6, at Nippon in Longview. Crews have removed the remaining 12,000 gallons of white liquor in the tank as of Wednesday.

The company estimates that between 550,000 and 570,000 gallons of the superheated and caustic lye papermaking chemical known as white liquor had spilled from the tank.

Since the spill, crews have also removed a papermaking material known as black liquor from another tank that shared pipework with the collapsed G tank, and environmental officials say they have made significant progress decontaminating most areas and equipment at the plant except for the courtyard area closest to the tank collapse.

The priority was to focus on "areas and equipment critical to restoring safety systems and operations at adjacent facilities with shared infrastructure," the joint release states.

Nippon's wastewater treatment plant is shared by other facilities in the area, including Weyerhaeuser's lumber and sawmill, the Mint Farm, Solvay Chemicals, the Mint Farm and the North Pacific Paper Company or NORPAC among other neighboring industrial facilities. It also pipes in pulp to NORPAC.

Crews have also decontaminated employee vehicles that had been parked near the courtyard at the time of the spill. Nippon is working to return personal items in the vehicles to the workers or their family members.

Environmental monitoring continues

State and federal environmental officials have engaged in tens of thousands of air quality samples and dozens of water quality tests in the nearly month and a half since the chemical spill occurred.

While water quality tests ceased after June 22, officials say they will continue to monitor the air until the G tank is dismantled and removed.

For the first 10 days after the incident, the EPA conducted 24-hour air quality monitoring from roving handheld monitors and fixed monitoring stations testing for hydrogen sulfide - a byproduct of white liquor making contact with water.

Starting June 4, monitoring was downgraded to only testing from 24/7 fixed monitors installed along a fence line at the plant. The chemical has what's known as an "extremely low odor threshold" making the rotten egg smell the chemical produces noticeable at extremely low levels. All air quality tests, however, were low enough to be considered "zero detections" by monitors.

Between June 4 and June 30, the agency conducted 161,424 tests from the fence "with zero detection of hydrogen sulfide."

The last water test was conducted June 22, after weeks of testing showing no elevated pH levels in the aftermath of the chemical spill.

In the immediate aftermath, the chemical spill briefly reached the Columbia River before the diking district pumps could be shut down, according to earlier news reports. Cowlitz County Consolidated Diking District 1 coordinated with the city of Longview and environmental officials to mitigate impacts from the spill by having the city open fire hydrants and at one point drawing down the water level of Lake Sacajawea.

After June 3, the water had been diluted enough to safely discharge it from the system. The next three days showed no elevated pH testing, and another 44 water samples taken between June 6 and June 22 "continued to show no elevated levels."

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