Another person who was taken from the scene of Tuesday’s 900,000-gallon caustic chemical tank rupture at a Longview, Washington, paper mill has died from their injuries, bringing the confirmed death toll to two, officials said Wednesday. Nine workers remain missing.
Recovery efforts began Wednesday at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility after an inspection found the damaged tank was stable enough for crews to proceed. Officials said the tank held about 600,000 gallons of white liquor, a caustic chemical used in papermaking, at the time of the rupture and an estimated 550,000 to 570,000 gallons spilled.
Federal and state records show the facility has a history of environmental and workplace safety issues, including significant noncompliance under the Clean Water Act in 12 of the past 12 quarters evaluated. The records also show recent Clean Air Act penalties, previous workplace safety citations and two ongoing workplace safety inspections unrelated to the tank rupture.
At a joint news conference Tuesday led by Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue and the Longview Fire Department, officials said 10 people were taken to hospitals in Longview and Vancouver after the 7:15 a.m. rupture. Updated figures released Wednesday listed seven injured employees, one injured firefighter and two confirmed fatalities, both among those initially taken to hospitals.
Officials said the bodies of any workers recovered from the site will be decontaminated before being taken to the Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office for identification. Names will be released after all workers have been recovered and their families have been notified.
The Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, the union representing workers at the mill, said it is focused on supporting affected workers and families. AWPPW spokesperson Josh Estes said the union would cooperate with investigators but was not prepared to comment on specific grievances, complaints, inspections or pending matters while investigations remain active.
Nippon Dynawave President Matt Peerboom did not respond to three emails and a voicemail seeking comment by Wednesday afternoon about the company’s safety culture, regulatory history and recovery efforts.
Recovery begins
Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said crews wearing firefighting and hazardous materials gear searched affected areas with help from drones.
He said the initial response was hindered by white liquor, a caustic chemical mixture of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide and sodium carbonate used in papermaking. Longview Fire Battalion Chief Matt Amos said the chemical has a pH of about 13 to 14 and damaged responders’ protective gear so severely that it could no longer be used.
Goldstein said the spilled white liquor mixed with water from a failed on-site water main. He said the infrastructure shutdown is expected to limit production for a couple of other businesses at the Longview campus, which includes six or seven companies.
Authorities initially estimated about 90,000 gallons remained inside the collapsed tank. Goldstein said a closer inspection Wednesday found no more than 25,000 gallons left inside, and officials now consider the tank stable in its position.
Recovery crews are working in waist-deep to chest-deep water in the blast area. Officials said crews plan to pump out remaining water to reach all areas where the nine missing workers may be.
Goldstein said there is no recorded video of the rupture.
State and federal response
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said Wednesday that 46 Washington National Guard members are on site. They include 10 Civil Support Team members assisting with air monitoring, 20 Homeland Response Force members assisting with decontamination and an eight-member Fatality Search and Rescue team.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard are also at the facility. The state Department of Labor and Industries is preparing to launch a formal investigation.
Environmental monitoring and mitigation efforts continue. The Washington Department of Ecology and the EPA are assisting with air and water quality monitoring and overseeing operations related to potential environmental impacts.
Officials said Wednesday there were no negative health impacts to air quality or Longview’s drinking water system, but asked the public to stay away from ditches and dikes while water testing continues.
Goldstein said testing showed high-pH material reached the Columbia River. Nippon Dynawave Director of Support Services Brian Wood said monitoring at the facility’s outfalls showed high-pH spikes entering the river at the time of the initial incident, followed by two more spikes two or three hours later.
Officials also said high-pH material killed fish in local dikes. About a dozen dead carp have been recovered.
Ferguson said the state is bracing for the incident to become “the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history.”
Regulatory records
Washington Department of Ecology enforcement records show the mill has, in the past, exceeded wastewater discharge limits for biochemical oxygen demand, with monthly averages reaching as high as 770% above the legal limit.
In August 2024, Nippon paid a $2,000 civil penalty for exceeding the daily limit for total suspended solids during a March 2023 discharge.
EPA civil enforcement records show a history of Clean Air Act violations. Nippon paid a $5,500 civil penalty on March 18, 2026, for violations involving the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. It also resolved a $4,500 penalty in August 2024 for violations of sulfur dioxide limits. Those followed prior formal penalties of $9,000, $8,200, $5,000 and $2,500 assessed by state and local agencies between 2017 and 2019.
The EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory is an annual reporting database, not a record of illegal releases or permit violations. In 2024, Nippon reported 564,868 pounds of on-site releases of toxic chemicals, including 151,000 pounds of hydrochloric acid, 127,690 pounds of methanol, 105,800 pounds of ammonia and more than 113,000 pounds of manganese compounds. The filing also listed releases of zinc, lead and mercury, along with 12,744 pounds of formaldehyde and 15 grams of dioxin and furan compounds.
EPA facility records show that 5,702 people live within 1 mile of the facility, 25% of whom are classified as low income.
Ecology records also document recent releases of chemicals and wastewater. In May 2025, a safety valve released a mist of hazardous “black liquor” during a process startup. Regulators said the valve worked as intended and the company recovered the material. The facility also self-reported two wastewater discharges into the ground in mid-2025: one involving gaps in concrete pipe gaskets and another involving a car wash sump that overflowed due to a faulty sensor.
In March 2025, regulators issued the facility a warning letter after a diesel spill reached one of its wastewater discharge points.
Legal and safety issues
The Washington Department of Labor and Industries has two ongoing health and safety inspections at the facility that are unrelated to the tank rupture. The inspections were initiated after complaints in March and May 2026. The March inspection, focused on health, involves a valve on an aqua ammonia clarifier tank. The May inspection, focused on safety, involves a sinkhole caused by a failed drain.
L&I cited the company in June 2025 after rigging equipment tied to a work-related finger amputation was moved before labor investigators cleared the scene. Records show four workers were exposed in the accident, and no penalty was assessed.
Since the start of 2021, L&I has cited the facility for three health and safety violations, resulting in $3,400 in fines. The citations included a 2021 “serious” violation and a $700 penalty after a worker was exposed to a fall hazard on an unprotected platform more than 4 feet above the ground. Another 2021 “serious” violation involved employees failing to wear required face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A federal lawsuit filed by former employee Andrew D. Headley was dismissed with prejudice in April 2025 after the parties reached an undisclosed settlement. Headley sued Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. in late 2023, alleging the company fired him wrongfully and retaliated against him after a December 2021 workplace injury. The lawsuit also alleged disability discrimination and interference with the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Last Updated on May 27, 2026 by Joe Douglass
