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Port Townsend, WA paper mill fined $20k for spilling 100k gallons of wastewater into bay

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Published  September 18, 2025 5:02pm PDT
Port Townsend
FOX 13 Seattle

The Brief

    • Port Townsend Paper Company was fined $20,000 for spilling over 100,000 gallons of wastewater into Port Townsend Bay.
    • The spills occurred in January and April due to leaky pipes, with the larger spill discharging 114,000 gallons.
    • The company has 30 days to pay the fine or appeal; it has faced previous penalties for water quality violations.

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. - A paper mill in Jefferson County has been fined $20,000 for spilling over 100,000 gallons of wastewater into Port Townsend Bay.

The backstory:

The wastewater spills happened on two separate occasions earlier this year, caused by leaky pipes at the Port Townsend Paper Company.

In January, approximately 1,000 gallons of condensed water from the plant's steam system spilled into Port Townsend Bay, according to the Washington State Department of Ecology.

It happened again in April, this time on a much bigger scale. The paper mill discharged around 114,000 gallons of untreated wastewater into the bay.

The Port Townsend Paper Company is required to treat its wastewater from the pulp and paper making process before discharging it. The facility shut down equipment and repaired the leaky pipes after both incidents. They now have 30 days to pay the penalty or issue an appeal.

Dig deeper:

The company was previously issued two penalties in 2023, also over water quality violations.

The Port Townsend Paper Company makes about 1,000 tons of unbleached paper, containerboard, and pulp each day. It also operates a large industrial wastewater treatment plant and a small sanitary wastewater treatment plant to treat water produced in the papermaking process.

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The Source: Information in this story came from the Washington State Department of Ecology.

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