WA, feds investigate Nippon chemical spill in Longview
A nonregulatory federal agency has arrived in Longview for its own investigation into the rupture of the chemical tank at the Industrial Way facility that has left two confirmed dead, seven workers injured and another nine unrecovered and feared dead.
Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help
Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to The Daily News.
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, meanwhile, says the investigation into how the chemical tank failure at Nippon Dynawave occurred could take as long as six months.
The agency is also continuing to investigate two earlier complaints brought to the state worker safety agency earlier this year, according to an email Tuesday afternoon from L&I Public Affairs Manager Matt Ross.
One investigation involved anonymous concerns submitted to the state agency about a different chemical tank at the plant, while another cited concerns related to a sinkhole. The tank in question is not the vat that failed on Tuesday.
Ross said state investigators are on scene, but emergency response - and recovery efforts - are taking priority.
"After the first responders have done what they need to do, our role will be to find out what happened, why, and how we stop it from happening again," Ross said.
As of Wednesday morning, even basic information, such as whether the tank's failure should be classified as an explosion or an implosion, was still being sorted out.
Ross said the inspection process can take up to six months, and that the state agency only releases its findings "after that work is done."
Nippon chemical spill leaks into Columbia River
At least a dozen carp have died near the Tuesday chemical spill, according to Washington state Gov. Bob Ferguson.
2 L&I investigations opened this year
Ross separately divulged in an email to The Daily News that Nippon Dynawave has been the subject of several L&I investigations over the past five years, including two "unrelated, ongoing inspections" earlier this year.
In March, L&I opened one investigation after receiving a complaint regarding "concerns about a valve on an aqua ammonia clarifier tank," according to Ross.
The tank in Tuesday's spill held white liquor, a mixture of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide and sodium carbonate used to turn wood into pulp.
The second investigation had been opened earlier this month, and regarded "a complaint about a sinkhole created by a failed drain."
As still-pending investigations, the state agency did not release further information.
The company has been the subject of three closed investigations over the past five years.
Another fatality confirmed after Nippon chemical spill in Longview
Nine people remain missing.
On June 24 of last year, L&I issued a citation to Nippon for moving rigging equipment involved in a worker's finger amputation from where it was the day of the incident.
"By moving the equipment, it can affect the accuracy of determining all factual information," L&I's citation states. "The investigation of an amputation is critical in identifying and mitigating all causal factors to prevent recurrence and/or additional injuries."
L&I classified the equipment violation as "general" and did not impose any penalties.
Two other citations in 2021 were classified as "serious."
On June 11, 2021, L&I imposed a $2,700 fine for face mask violations during the pandemic, and on Dec. 30, 2021, L&I cited Nippon another $700 for exposing a contractor to "a serious fall hazard over 4 feet" while working on a platform without fall protection.
U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigation begins
According to a Wednesday morning release, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said investigators for the federal agency arrived in Longview on Wednesday.
Board chairperson Steve Owens said in the release that his focus in the investigation is "to determine how it happened and what can be done to prevent something like this from happening again."
The agency is an independent, nonregulatory government agency tasked with investigating incidents involving "extremely hazardous substances." It was created in 1990 as part of amendments to the Clean Air Act and, over the past three decades, has been deployed to more than 180 chemical incidents across the country.
The agency does not issue citations or fines, but it makes safety recommendations to companies, labor groups and regulatory agencies. Its findings will one day be posted on its website at csb.gov, although the website indicates that the report could take years.
On the same day that the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board announced that they would be in Longview, they released a final report on a fatal explosion at a caramel color manufacturing facility in Louisville, Kentucky, that occurred in November 2024.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.