Public comments help guide cleanup of former Longview wood treatment plant

Looking north from Oregon, the former International Paper facility in Longview awaits cleanup. For decades, International Paper conducted creosote wood treatment at the site. The Lewis and Clark Bridge is at the left.

The Washington Department of Ecology is committed to providing the public with opportunities to voice their opinions about actions and activities it regulates.

A recent example of this is Ecology’s response to comments about the cleanup of the former International Paper facility in Longview. For decades, International Paper conducted creosote wood treatment at the site and the soil and groundwater near what is now the Port of Longview’s maintenance building are contaminated from past releases of wastewater.

In 2017, Ecology held a public comment period on draft environmental cleanup documents relating to the site. This included a report that described where potentially harmful contaminants are located, the human and environmental effects of those contaminants, and different cleanup options presented by the liable party, International Paper, and the Port of Longview, the new owner of the property.

This site map shows the location of buildings

and other landmarks at the former International 

Paper facility in Longview.

A new document summarizing Ecology’s responses to the 24 comments written during the public period and voiced during a Sept. 28 meeting held at the Cowlitz County Events Center in Kelso is now available online.

Many people commented in support of the Port’s preferred cleanup alternative and the property’s role in economic development. Other comments focused on financial responsibility, long-term monitoring and responsibility, and ensuring the cleanup is as protective and permanent as possible.

“The comments gave us a better idea how the public and stakeholders feel about the contamination and cleanup options that were presented,” said Ava Edmonson, Southwest Region section manager for Ecology’s Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction program. “One result is that we have conditionally approved the report so that drafting a cleanup action plan for the maintenance facility area can begin immediately.”

Ecology will also use these public comments, in part, to produce a report that lays out the agency’s cleanup proposal for the site, as well as a revised cost analysis that reexamines the difference in price tags between the different cleanup options, including those presented by International Paper and the Port.

This report is expected to be published in late 2018, and the public will also have a chance to comment on it.