Wood treatment company pleads guilty to polluting water in Yamhill County

 Stella-Jones, a Canadian wood products company, recently pleaded guilty to exceeding legal limits of pentachlorophenol in water discharged from its plant near Sheridan, Oregon. The chemical is used to protect wood from insects and fungi and poses a number of health concerns, including an increased risk of cancer. 

 

According to a recent investigation from the journalism nonprofit InvestigateWest, regulators have known about Stella-Jones’s history of pollution for years. On Sep. 8, after InvestigateWest reported on this issue, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued a $1 million civil penalty against Stella-Jones for “numerous violations of environmental regulations” at their wood treating facility. 

Kaylee Tornay is a reporter for InvestigateWest. Aspen Ford is a reporter and the Roy W. Howard Fellow at the outlet. They join us with more details on their reporting. Ruth Hyde, Western Region Administrator at the DEQ, also joins us to explain the agency’s response to Stella-Jones’s release of contaminated stormwater into the South Yamhill River.