After an Explosion at a Washington Paper Mill, Mourning Mixes With Dread

Paper mills along the Columbia River depend on timber, cheap hydropower, and ocean access, but rely on dangerous, expensive-to-maintain technology and potentially toxic chemicals. Companies face pressure to cut costs amid rising prices and global economic uncertainty. A tank failure at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility killed at least two people and left nine missing and presumed dead. The community’s concern extends beyond the immediate tragedy to what will happen to the plant and its 550 employees. The area’s mill jobs are often multigenerational, and the towns of Longview and Kelso are closely connected. The incident is seen as part of broader systemic strain from stretched resources and maintenance demands.

"People in Longview, Wash., have been waiting for what feels like forever for something to go terribly wrong in one of the paper mills that line the Columbia River. The plants that fuel the economy in southwest Washington came for the ample timber in the Pacific Northwest's mountains, the cheap electricity powered by the region's mighty rivers and the ocean access at the Columbia's mouth. But they rely on technology that is dangerous, expensive to maintain and dependent on potentially toxic chemicals."

"They also belong to companies pressed to cut costs in response to rising prices and economic uncertainty in global markets. So the tank failure at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility that killed at least two people Tuesday and left another nine missing and presumed dead saddened this community far more than it shocked them. Now they have a new worry what will become of the plant and its 550 employees?"

"Everything is stretched so thin, of course it's going to break, said Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat whose district includes the plant. This is systemic. Longview, 45 miles north of Portland and about 120 miles south of Seattle, was founded as a company town by the timber baron R.A. Long during the logging boom of the early 20th century."

"Longview and Kelso next door are tight-knit, small communities. Many mill jobs are multigenerational. At least one of the people killed in the explosion, Gilbert Bernal, had a son who also worked at the plant."

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