Six weeks after a tragic chemical spill at the Nippon Dynawave pulp and paper mill in Longview, the incident has transitioned out of emergency status. The unified command of federal and state officials that set up shop in Longview has packed up and gone home.
But other officials continue to investigate the cause of the accident.
Anna Izenman was part of that command, which joined forces with local representatives to respond to the accident. The communications manager for the spill program at the Washington State Department of Ecology, Izenman's duties included producing videos of the destruction amidst dangerous chemicals. On those first days after the implosion, first responders told her that the chemicals were corroding their boots, and they had to wait for the right equipment to start work again.
“It was a very emotional and upsetting scene to be in, especially those first few days. But I have felt very supported,” she said.
The implosion killed 11 workers and badly injured several more. Both the mill and the state have provided counseling. But Izenman said it is hard to let go of such an incident.
“This has been my life for the last 37 days, along with many other people,” she said. The intense situations and round-the-clock need for everyone’s focus made it difficult to go home and rest for even a day or two, especially in the first week after the accident.
“I am glad that this is no longer an emergency, that we’ve met those milestones, and we are in a place where things can progress safely and smoothly, and we can start working toward getting answers and closure,” she said.
Three major investigations — one federal and two from the state — are still working to determine the cause of the accident and what kind of damages and fines the mill’s owners will likely have to pay.
U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat representing Washington's 3rd District, has pledged to protect the workforce and push for answers as those investigations move forward.
Andrew Wineke, a spokesperson at the Department of Ecology, said their work is ongoing.
"We are beginning our compliance investigation, and we'll be looking at potential violations of the facility’s permits and of state and federal environmental laws," he said.
While the cause of the tank’s collapse is not yet known, human contact with a highly corrosive chemical mixture known as “white liquor” proved fatal. The chemicals are combined with heat and pressure to break down wood chips.
"This was one of the largest losses of life in an industrial incident in Washington state’s history,” Wineke said. “You can’t overlook the human impact.”
The accident also killed thousands of fish in the adjacent system of dikes. Those man-made waterways were used to contain and flush the chemicals away from the city’s drinking water supply in the immediate aftermath of the spill. The Department of Ecology has up to two years to conclude its investigations and issue penalties. Additional investigations are forthcoming from the state department of Labor and Industries and from the independent federal Chemical Safety Board.
