TACOMA, Wash. — The Tacoma paper mill will shut down in September, the company's corporate owner announced Tuesday.
The WestRock Company cited the mill's high operating costs and significant need for capital investment as determining factors in its decision. The mill currently employs around 400 people.
The mill will completely shut down operations by Sept. 30. The company's CEO, David Sewell, said they will assist Tacoma employees with exploring roles at other WestRock facilities.
The company running the mill has been fined twice by Washington agencies over the past few years; once for an air quality violation and another time for knowingly putting workers in harm's way at a Longview facility during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mill recently settled an air permit violation with the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology.) During a performance test on April 17 it was found the company was not sufficiently reducing the amount of hazardous air pollutants required to meet the company's air quality permit. A test on May 11 showed the company had come back within compliance.
WestRock was initially fined $52,500 for the incident but eventually agreed to pay $32,000 in a settlement with Ecology.
In 2021, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) fined the company nearly $140,000 after one employee at a Longview facility died of COVID-19 and 14 others allegedly contracted the illness on the job.
State inspectors issued a citation to the papermill that included L&I’s most serious violation - "Willful Serious," which means the company knowingly put their workers in harm’s way. The Georgia-based company appealed the citation.