Dormant Grays Harbor pulp mill fined $2.3 million for multiple environmental violations

The Washington State Department of Ecology announced on Tuesday that it is fining a Cosmopolis pulp mill owner a total of $2.3 million for multiple environmental violations at the defunct facility.

The owner has 30 days to pay the fine or appeal to the Pollution Control Hearings Board.

The Cosmo Specialty Fibers pulp mill, once a Weyerhaeuser specialty cellulose mill, shuttered its operations in 2022, but the facility’s non-operational storage tanks, treatment systems and environmental equipment have garnered multiple environmental violations which could threaten the Chehalis River and nearby Grays Harbor.

A Department of Ecology news release says more than 800,000 gallons of corrosive chemicals remain at the site. Though the facility is shuttered, owners are still required by law to manage hazardous materials in accordance with state environmental regulations.

According to Ecology, the owner of Cosmo Specialty Fibers violated water quality rules and failed to comply with a recent state law mandating that companies participate in a cap-and-invest program designed to offset greenhouse gas emissions.

“It’s a mixture of a lot of different type of violations,” Brittny Goodsell, a Department of Ecology spokesperson, told The Olympian. “So there are water quality violations, there are dangerous waste violations. … There is one cap-and-invest violation.”

Following the state’s Model Toxics Control Act, a law which funds and investigates environmental cleanup for hazardous sites, the Department has ordered the mill to address its contamination.

“Even while closed, state and federal laws require the mill’s owner to properly maintain the facility, manage the hazardous materials, and follow environmental regulations,” the Department of Ecology wrote.

The site’s owner has been issued several notices to address dangerous spills for almost a decade, but the Department’s request has consistently been met with inaction.

The site’s owner has been issued several notices to address deteriorating conditions for almost two years.

In 2022, the mill’s ownership was transferred to Richard Bassett, a managing partner at Charlestown Investments. The Department of Ecology has reached out multiple times about the site’s environmental violations, but Goodsell said he has not cooperated with the Department’s orders.

The fines of $2.3 million should come as no surprise, she said.

“We have offered technical assistance to the facility multiple times… He knew this was coming,” she said.

Who is Richard Bassett?

But Bassett may have other plans for the defunct mill.

In an April conversation with The Seattle Times, Bassett reported that he intends to reconcile with the state after he reopens operations at the mill, in a scheme to revitalize Cosmopolis’ local economy.

He told the Times that his failure to participate in the state’s cap-and-invest program was an “oversight”.

Bassett’s track record shows an interest in Northwest towns with decrepit pulp mills. His past ventures include an unsuccessful attempt 20 years ago to reopen the Port Alice mill on Victoria Island in British Columbia.

His deal was abandoned after members of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union voted to reject a contract involving concessions on pensions and seniority.

Though new ownership under a Chinese company, Fulida Group Holdings, later attempted to revitalize the Port Alice mill, it was closed down in 2019. British Columbia taxpayers have spent $200 million to clean up pollution from the site.

This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 5:00 AM.