Longview millworkers get paid, but suppliers struggle in disaster’s wake

By Paul Roberts
The Seattle Times in the Chronicle
July 19, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: United States, US West

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of workers at the Longview paper mill that was closed by a deadly accident in May will continue to receive full wages, the company announced. …But company officials, state regulators and union officials still don’t have a timeline for restarting the massive facility. One huge unknown: how an already complex restart process is being complicated by the investigation into the catastrophic failure of the 900,000-gallon tank that stored a caustic material known as white liquor.mWe are working with Nippon to make sure evidence relevant to our investigation is preserved as they go through their process to restart,” said Matt Ross, for the state Department of Labor and Industries, which is overseeing the investigation. That means continued uncertainty not only for the mill’s roughly 500 employees, but also for the larger community of local companies that supplied wood chips the mill used for raw material.

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