Salem, Oregon – The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has taken aggressive action against a wood treatment business in Yamhill County, giving it a civil penalty of more than $1 million for breaking environmental laws more than once. State investigators found that Stella-Jones Corp., which runs a wood processing site in Sheridan, had broken many rules about water quality, hazardous waste, and spill response. As a result, they were fined.
The fine of $1,055,825 is because the corporation didn’t follow the rules and put the environment at risk, and it also made money by breaking the law. The DEQ says that $877,225 of the total is the money that Stella-Jones saved by not following the rules. Regulators said that wood treatment chemicals that are not handled properly are hazardous for people’s health and the environment, so punishment is necessary.
The company has been investigated before. In the last two years, DEQ sent out three pre-enforcement letters about problems at the Sheridan plant. The agency also required the corporation to take corrective action in 2023, which they did. Even after those efforts, state officials decided that more punishments were needed to make sure people followed the rules in the long run…