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# Paper Mill Receives Large Fine for Continuing Wastewater Treatment Failures
- URL: https://www.jeffcobeacon.com/paper-mill-receives-large-fine-for-continuing-wastewater-treatment-failures/
- Published: 2026-09-22T20:19:19.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T20:19:19.000Z
- Description: The mill claims robust investment in environmental improvements, while the environment bears the cost of the company’s operations.
- Author: Scott France
- Tags: Local News, Port Townsend Paper Company, Port Townsend Paper Corporation, PTPC, Washington Department of Ecology, Wastewater fines, Scott France

The Washington Department of Ecology has fined Port Townsend Paper Corporation (PTPC) $734,000 for improperly operating its onsite wastewater treatment system since Fall 2025, the agency announced September 16—the latest in a string of penalties tied to the mill's aging aerated stabilization basin (ASB). In this 30-acre pond, microbes break down industrial waste before it's discharged into Port Townsend Bay.

**The mill’s familiar behavior and rhetoric**

The penalty stems from problems Ecology documented during an October 2025 inspection: sludge had built up in the ASB, vegetation was overtaking its banks and portions of the aeration system were malfunctioning or missing entirely. Ecology spokesperson Andrew Wineke told [KUOW](https://www.kuow.org/environment/2026-09-16/port-townsend-paper-mill-hit-with-734-000-pollution-penalty?ref=jeffcobeacon.com) the mill was out of compliance for 170 days. Those chronic issues escalated in April 2026, when two spills totaling 9,000 gallons of black liquor—a corrosive byproduct of the pulping process—reached the lagoon and compromised its ability to fully treat wastewater, leading to six discharge-limit violations that month.

"Unfortunately, Port Townsend Paper has struggled to meet the requirements of its water quality permit and properly operate its wastewater treatment system," Peter Lyon, who oversees Ecology's Industrial Section, said in an agency news release. "A well-maintained, fully operational treatment system is critical to protecting the environment and the public."

This is the fifth water quality penalty Ecology has issued to PTPC since 2021 for releasing improperly or inadequately treated wastewater into the bay—a pattern [The Beacon has previously documented](https://www.jeffcobeacon.com/an-investigation-into-the-paper-mills-operations-reveals-subpar-operational-behavior-and-concerning-effects-on-ecological-and-human-health/). In a Notice of Violation issued May 18, Ecology described the ASB as operating at "critically reduced treatment capacity," citing disconnected aeration lines, a missing aerator motor and a damaged flow barrier that could let wastewater bypass treatment zones altogether. A depth survey PTPC submitted May 13 confirmed the pond had lost much of its capacity—the company's own monitoring plan requires such surveys annually, but the prior one was in 2022.

PTPC said it will appeal. "Protecting the environment is a core responsibility of our company," said Brian Peterson, senior vice president of manufacturing for Crown Paper Group, PTPC's parent company, in a news release. “Over the past several years, we have invested more than $8 million in wastewater treatment and environmental improvements to strengthen operations, protect the environment and support the long-term sustainability of the mill and the community it serves." The company has 30 days to pay the fine or appeal to the Washington Pollution Control Hearings Board.

**Local group monitors the mill . . . and Department of Ecology**

David Ginsberg, a Port Townsend retiree who founded the advocacy group Citizens for Safe Water and Air-Port Townsend, after fact-checking discrepancies in his own earlier proposal to the mill, sent an email to Ecology on September 17 applauding the agency’s penalty. Ginsberg asked for Ecology to present the compliance schedule, now in effect, for each of the five deficiencies cited in the Notice and by what specific date PTPC must bring it into compliance with its own Treatment Support Operating Plan.

“We do not believe Ecology should accept PTPC's "5 aerators is sufficient" conclusion,” Ginsburg wrote. “That conclusion should be categorically rejected. PTPC's own report already modeled the alternative we are asking for: 8 aerators plus dredging, which it reported as "not economically reasonable" only because of the inflated one-year cost figure of $18.87/lb. Recalculated with a realistic amortization schedule, that same alternative falls to roughly $1.78 to $3.42/lb—squarely within the range Ecology and EPA have historically treated as a defensible cost for water-quality treatment upgrades.”

It's unclear how much, if any, of that $8 million investment touched the specific ASB equipment cited in this penalty; PTPC has not detailed the breakdown, and the figure—also cited separately regarding air-emissions monitoring upgrades in past company statements—appears to span multiple categories of capital spending rather than the lagoon system alone.

Ginsberg argued the penalty structure itself is inadequate. "Not a one-time fine that the company can treat as a cost of doing business, but an escalating cost that makes continued neglect more expensive than fixing the problem," he said by email, as reported by KUOW.

The penalty lands amid heightened scrutiny of Washington's kraft paper mills. PTPC is one of three kraft mills in the state under investigation for workplace safety concerns following the May 27 tank implosion at Nippon Dynawave's Longview mill, which killed 11 workers. Both mills use the same kraft chemical process—cooking wood chips with caustic white liquor. PTPC has said it has conducted "extra safety inspections" since that incident, but has not detailed tank wall or weld integrity findings.

The wastewater penalty also compounds a broader compliance record The Beacon detailed in a recent series on the mill: a national report by the Environmental Integrity Project found PTPC in Clean Air Act violation for 12 consecutive quarters—placing it among the worst 3 percent of the 183 pulp and paper mills the group reviewed nationally—and Ecology has logged 166 violations or compliance triggers against the mill since 1990\. Ecology's own May, 2025, permit fact sheet had characterized the mill as "generally in compliance," a description that speaks to adherence to permit terms rather than whether those terms are protective enough—a distinction unresolved by this latest enforcement action.

Ecology regulator Mady Lyon, who manages PTPC's day-to-day compliance, has previously acknowledged a backlog of unresolved violations dating back to November, telling a Port Townsend resident in June she was "currently working on addressing those violations with enforcement actions." This $734,000 penalty appears to be part of that catch-up effort, though Ecology has not said whether additional enforcement actions tied to the same backlog remain pending.

The mill, Jefferson County's second-largest employer, produces about 1,000 tons of unbleached paper, containerboard and pulp daily and discharges roughly 10 million gallons of treated wastewater into Port Townsend Bay every day through an outfall pipe 1,200 feet offshore.