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Officials, company say contamination entered Columbia River after Longview tank failure; pH spikes, carp deaths reported
Summary
State and federal environmental teams are monitoring air and water after officials confirmed contamination entered the Columbia River; the company reported pH spikes at its outfalls and said some carp in local ditches died.
Officials at a Longview press briefing said water testing has confirmed that contamination from a damaged tank entered the Columbia River and that state and federal environmental agencies are conducting ongoing monitoring and mitigation.
"Environmental monitoring, representatives from the Washington State Department of Ecology and The United States Environmental Protection Agency remain on scene assisting public health, public utilities, and our diking districts on the issues of environmental monitoring and mitigation operations," Scott Goldstein said.
Company representative Brian Wood said the company's continuous pH monitoring recorded high-pH spikes at the initial incident and later reported two additional spikes that sent material to the river; he said the company notified Ecology as required by its permit. "The report we have is that some of the carp that reside in that ditch were affected by that high pH material," Wood said. He said the company is working with the diking district, Ecology and EPA on neutralization measures and pledged to cooperate fully with investigators.
Goldstein and the governor said both fixed and portable air monitors and water sampling were deployed; to date officials reported no identified negative health impacts to Longview's drinking-water supply or surrounding air quality. Officials warned residents to avoid dikes, drainage ditches and restricted industrial areas until mitigation work is complete.
Joel Sacks, director of the Department of Labor and Industries, said his agency has multiple open inspections related to the incident and will release findings when those investigations are concluded. Separately, reporters asked whether the U.S. Chemical Safety Board would affect cleanup operations; Goldstein said recovery operations would proceed and Ecology will coordinate site recovery activities with any CSB work.
Next steps: Ecology and EPA will continue sampling and mitigation; company and diking-district work will focus on neutralization and containment, and investigators from Labor & Industries and other agencies will pursue inspections and a root-cause analysis.
