(AP) – After decades trapping crayfish in northwest Oregon, Mike Hailey could tell when something was wrong.
In the summer of 2023, Hailey noticed crayfish had disappeared downriver from a wood treatment facility in Sheridan operated by the Stella-Jones Corp., a multinational Canadian company. Further up, his traps filled in an hour. But downstream, as the South Yamhill River flowed toward town, they were empty, his bait untouched.
“This concerns me,” Hailey wrote in a complaint to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on Aug. 22. “Is there something going on in the South Yamhill River that would be a contributing factor?”…