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Willamette Industries Wood Products Settlement

Willamette Industries will spend more than $90 million to settle a major environmental suit alleging that it failed to control the amount of air pollution released from its wood product factories in four states, under an agreement reached with the Justice Department and the EPA.

The settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, Oregon, on July 20, 2000 requires the company to install state-of-the-art pollution controls at 13 facilities in Arkansas, Oregon, Louisiana, and South Carolina. The company also must pay an $11.2 million penalty -- the largest ever assessed for factory emissions of air pollution. The agreement also requires the Portland-based company to spend an addition $8 million on environmental projects.

The settlement resolves allegations, contained in the complaint that was filed along with the agreement, that Williamette failed to install pollution controls, accurately report air emissions, and obtain air emissions permits for 13 of its facilities. As a result, thousands of tons of pollution were illegally released into the air. The facilities, which produce plywood and other building material, are located in Chester, SC; Emerson and Malvern, AK; Dodson, Zwolle, Lillie, and Simsboro, LA; and Albany, Bend, Eugene, Foster, and Springfield, OR.

The United States reached similar settlements with Georgia-Pacific in 1996 and Louisiana-Pacific in 1993 under a nationwide initiative to ensure that the entire wood products industry complies with the Clean Air Act.

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Civil Enforcement | Cleanup Enforcement | Criminal Enforcement

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