Hazardous emergency at mill would require specialized responders

The Port Townsend Paper Co. weathers the first storm of the season. Leader photo by Jon Decker In the wake of the Port Townsend Paper Corporation’s $734,000 Department of Ecology fine, ongoing investigations into recent whistleblower claims of sludge being discharged directly into the ocean and the May 2026 fatal chemical disaster at the Nippon Dynawave paper mill in Longview, Washington, concerns are rising about the community’s ability to properly respond to a disaster at the local mill. In a written statement from local watchdog group Citizens for Safe Water and Air – Port Townsend, spokesperson Eve Epstein expressed concern about what would happen in the immediate aftermath of a similar disaster at the Port Townsend paper mill. “Our primary resource for hazmat response is through the Department of Ecology,” Epstein wrote. “And their nearest spill response team is based in Olympia, which means their response time for a disaster at the Port Townsend Paper Co.

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