Source: Kitsap Sun (Bremerton, WA)
Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com
A judge tossed out a lawsuit that would have forced the state to share the cost of cleaning pollution from Port Gamble’s former mill.
Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Anna Laurie ruled last week that the state Department of Natural Resources is not liable for pollution caused by Pope & Talbot, a timber company that operated the mill and created Pope Resources, a Poulsbo-based company that now bears responsibility for contamination at the mill site and Gamble Bay.
Pope Resources sued DNR late last year, arguing that the agency didn’t do enough to halt the mill’s pollution before it closed in 1995.
In her decision, Laurie wrote that DNR was neither an owner nor an operator of the mill and therefore should not be held liable under the state’s Model Toxics Control Act.
DNR applauded the decision.
“This decision sets an important precedent,” Public Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark said in a statement. “The taxpayers of Washington should not be on the hook for cleaning up pollution caused by a private company that profited for more than a century by operating without concern for environmental impacts.”
Harmful levels of petroleum hydrocarbons, dioxins and other contaminants were released into the bay during the 140 years the mill was in operation.
Pope & Talbot established Pope Resources in 1985, transferring most of its real estate holdings and nearly $23 million in debt. Twelve years later, Pope & Talbot went bankrupt, thereby freeing itself of the responsibility for the rising costs of cleaning up the bay. The state shifted responsibility onto Pope Resources, which estimates it might need to pay $17 million on top of the millions already spent on the cleanup.
Pope Resources claimed in its lawsuit that DNR was responsible for overseeing Pope & Talbot’s compliance with environmental regulations. Had DNR done a better job, the burden of cleanup wouldn’t be so large for Pope Resources, the company’s leaders said.
“Despite millions of dollars already spent by (Pope Resources), DNR has devoted negligible resources to cleanup of the site.,” the lawsuit stated.
Calls to Pope Resources were not immediately returned Monday.
In December, a company representative drew a clear distinction between Pope Resources and the company that created it.
“We’re totally different,” Port Gamble Manager Jon Rose said. “We have our own stock, own CEO, own board.”