Pacific Seafood to dispute wastewater violation penalty

Clackamas, Oregon, U.S.A.-based Pacific Seafood is challenging a USD 41,200 (EUR 37,500) fine it received in May 2023 for violations of state wastewater treatment rules.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued the fine to Pacific Seafood on 18 May for “discharging wastewater from an unauthorized discharge point and violating permit limits” at its seafood-processing facilities in Warrenton, Oregon.

According to the DEQ notification, the Warrenton plant exceeded the effluent limitations set forth in its discharge permit 68 times between December 2018 and March 2023, of which, 48 instances were so-called “class I” violations – the most severe infringement. Specifically, the company was fined for releases of untreated water contaminated with fish detritus, total suspended solids, and oil and grease into the Skipanon River.

Pacific Director of Public Affairs Lacy Ogan said the company is challenging the fine.

“The vast majority of the alleged permit exceedances occurred during the 90-day grace period that the federal government grants to calibrate and dial-in new treatment technology,” Ogan told The Daily Astorian.

After a catastrophic fire destroyed the company’s previous Warrenton plant in 2013, the company rebuilt and reopened a new plant in 2018. The reopening was accompanied by the installation of a new wastewater treatment system, according to the company.

“This was the first time this advanced treatment technology was installed in U.S. seafood processing, so it required engineering calibration to operate effectively,” Ogan said. “Since then, Pacific Seafood’s goals of maximizing the resource and diverting residuals from landfills has prevailed as the Warrenton plant has dramatically reduced its permit exceedances to nearly zero.”

The penalties are not related to new wastewater rules being considered for implementation by Oregon’s legislature that the state’s seafood processors have warned could force them to close.

Photo courtesy of KOIN