Legal

The widow of an electrician who died in the May 26 spill at the Nippon pulp and paper mill in Longview is suing the company in Cowlitz County Superior Court.

A judge has denied individual and joint motions by North American containerboard producers to dismiss a price-fixing lawsuit brought against them in July 2025. In October, numerous defendants collectively filed a motion to dismiss the case, while Pratt and Packaging Corporation of America also filed individually.

Before the accident, the state Department of Ecology had issued 54 environmental violation notices against the company since 2016 and fined them $41,500 for eight serious violations.

Sheri Lynn King, the mother of two young men killed at the mill in May, filed her case on behalf of family members of Tyler Covington, 29, and Bradley Covington, 27.

The case is now before the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, an independent agency that reviews and adjudicates contested OSHA citations.

The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals will allow a North Carolina woman to pursue a religious discrimination claim against the employer who fired her in 2021 for refusing vaccination against COVID-19.

The body of a man who was on his way to deliver food to a family near Kalama River on Aug. 7 but never showed up was found in timberland owned by Weyerhaeuser on Sunday, Aug. 30, in Cowlitz County, the sheriff's office said.

CSB Discovers that Nippon Dynawave Packaging Company Was Told in July 2025 that the Tank Was Not Fit for Continued Service and Could Fail

The Washington Department of Ecology has issued an administrative notice of violation to Nippon Dynawave Packaging following a May 26 storage tank failure at its Longview pulp and paper mill.

In addition, the new case names as defendants current CEO Robbert Rietbroek and all eight of the other sitting board members, plus one board member who retired in June.

A union leader at Woodland Pulp in Baileyville says he lobbied four different superintendents for personal monitors that could have detected the deadly hydrogen sulfide leak that killed 20-year-old intern Kasie Malcolm and 26-year-old engineer Allen Hornberger on January 27.

The settlements resolve the State's claims in years-long litigation against E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Co. (now known as EIDP, Inc.) and other DuPont-related entities, and separate litigation against 3M.

Since the May 26 accident, new scrutiny of Nippon Dynawave shows Washington state and federal authorities could have required the mill to fix known problems that instead languished, and done more to ensure dangerous chemicals did not put workers at risk.

Domtar has agreed to pay a $1.5 million civil penalty and invest at least $2.6 million in environmental improvements at its Ashdown pulp and paper mill under a proposed settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment.

OSHA announced its proposed penalties against Woodland Pulp for a January gas leak and March chemical fire.

The DOJ filed a consent decree with the proposed settlement Friday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Arkansas Division of Environmental Quality. The decree is subject to a 30-day public comment period. If approved by the court, the decree would go into effect immediately.

The companies reached a mutual agreement on a patent dispute. Borregaard has been granted a contractual license which includes GranBio's European Patent EP/NO 3089998, pertaining to sulfite-based nanocellulose production.

More than 500 people gathered Saturday, July 11, to pay their respects to two brothers who grew up together, graduated from the same technical school, worked together at Nippon Dynawave Packaging, and died there in May in the worst industrial accident in modern state history.

U.S. Chemical Safety Board Issues Investigation Update on Fatal January 2026 Toxic Hydrogen Sulfide Release at the Woodland Pulp Mill in Baileyville, Maine

A shareholder initially filed the lawsuit in May against Graphic Packaging International as well as former CEO Mike Doss and former CFO Stephen Scherger. The suit alleges the defendants violated federal securities laws by misleading investors with certain statements, or by failing to make disclosures, about the company's financial health and operations.

The documents, obtained through a public records request, show the Washington Department of Ecology conducted a "dangerous waste compliance evaluation inspection" on April 16, just 40 days before the G Tank collapsed at the Longview pulp mill.

A spokesperson for the Washington Department of Ecology confirmed Monday that it plans to issue an Order for Reimbursement to Nippon Dynawave for all necessary state expenses incurred as part of the response to the tank failure, which killed 11 people and injured 8.

The other mills are Smurfit Westrock, which is also in Longview, and Port Townsend Paper Company in Port Townsend.

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown's office has been granted authority to help investigate whether any criminal activity contributed to last month's deadly disaster at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging paper mill in Longview.

Federal investigators have embarked on the monthslong probe into the fatal disaster at Nippon Dynawave Packaging, interviewing workers and reviewing company records as they seek to answer why a 900,000-gallon tank containing a caustic chemical failed so catastrophically.