The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality fined a Springfield mill $6,400 for failing to submit required stormwater samples, according to the agency’s monthly enforcement roster.
Stormwater that flows through industrial sites like mills is regulated under state discharge permits. As stormwater washes over a property, it can pick up pollutants and carry them into rivers and streams, threatening water quality and fish habitat.
Oregon Industrial Lumber Products, at 3950 Marcola Road along the McKenzie River, operates under one of those permits. The wood manufacturing company produces beams and moldings. It doesn’t use chemicals to treat its wood, and dries lumber in kilns with a chip-fired boiler, according to president John Burwell McDowell…