Ecology Fines Longview Fibre for Creek Washout and Resulting Fish Kill

Washington State Department of Ecology

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 5, 1997

97-152

CONTACT: Marilou Pivirotto (360) 407-6283
Mary Getchell (360) 407-6157, Pager (360) 534-8590

Ecology Fines Longview Fibre for Creek Washout and Resulting Fish Kill

Olympia, WA - The Washington State Department of Ecology recently issued a $10,000 penalty to Longview Fibre Company for discharging large amounts of sediment to Wild Boy Creek which killed about 500 fish earlier this year. In May, contractors working for the Longview Fibre Company drained nearly all of the water out of the Camp Kwaneesum Reservoir, a Girl Scout Camp in Skamania County.

"The contractor was conducting dam maintenance work and was planning to lower the water about two feet. Instead, contractors drained nearly all of the water out of the reservoir into the creek and the Washougal River," said Megan White, Ecology's Water Quality Program manager. "The error was huge. Thirty years worth of sediment had built up in the reservoir, and it just washed into Wild Boy Creek -- a pristine, salmon-bearing creek. A large fish kill and major pollution problems resulted."

Specifically, Ecology issued the penalty for three reasons:

The environmental damage caused by the company's actions;
The negligence of Longview Fibre and its contractor; and
The failure of Longview Fibre to apply for and obtain a Water Quality Modification from Ecology to conduct the maintenance work.

The resulting environmental problems included sediment, turbidity and habitat damage. Sediment causes problems to the aquatic habitat by covering up gravel for fish spawning. Turbidity is the cloudiness you can see in water -- making the water unhealthy for fish and other aquatic life because it robs the water of the oxygen that is necessary for the fish to survive.

"It was a very sad thing to see. With such catastrophic damage, to such a pure area, it will take years for the creek and habitat to recover," said Marilou Pivirotto, Ecology's inspector who reviewed the reservoir damage. "In some fish pools, silt was 28 inches deep. In addition, environmental problems will likely be long-term because the trapped sediment will continue to release into the river system."

To date, Longview Fibre has not responded to the penalty action.