'The buck stops with the employer': Behind oversight limitations at Nippon
No state agency was required to inspect the roughly million-gallon tank at Longview's Nippon Dynawave Packaging before it catastrophically collapsed on May 26, killing 11 workers.
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Yet every petroleum tank beneath a gas station in Washington gets inspected every three years.
In the aftermath of one of Washington state's deadliest industrial tragedies, state laws and oversight could potentially change as soon as the next legislative session. Until then, it's not up to the State Department of Ecology to regularly inspect or certify any aboveground chemical tanks. Nor does that responsibility fall on the Department of Labor and Industries.
According to Marissa Baker, who heads the University of Washington's Industrial Hygiene program, the lack of direct government oversight does not absolve an employer's responsibility for provide a safe workplace. She pointed to the pending L&I investigation that followed the tank collapse.
"The buck stops with the employer," Baker said. "They are required to assess the hazards and control them."
Baker co-directs the University of Washington's program training graduate students to recognize, evaluate and mitigate workplace hazards. In a phone interview, Baker said that state worker safety laws are rooted in the Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act of 1973, also known as WISHA. At its core, the law makes every employer responsible for ensuring workplaces are free from recognized hazards.
"Employers are required to assess the hazards on their worksite, including those involving storage tanks and the handling of hazardous chemicals," Baker said.
What Ecology oversees ... and what falls outside its purview
The Washington State Department of Ecology says that its oversight focuses on the plant's wastewater and air quality permits, and the agency confirmed that aboveground chemical tanks fall outside its purview.
The Longview plant makes laminated paperboard used for liquid packaging products such as milk cartons, along with raw pulp material that gets used at other sites to make paper products such as absorbent pet pads. The Nippon plant is one of three mills in Washington state that make paper using the kraft process, converting wood to pulp paper using a highly caustic superheated material known as white liquor. Others that use the process include Smurfit WestRock in Longview and the Port Townsend Paper Company in Port Townsend, according to and earlier news report.
Department of Ecology Deputy Communications Director Andrew Wineke said that, similar to other industrial facilities, Ecology regularly visits Nippon Dynawave Packaging an average of four to five times a year.
Those inspections, however, relate to the air quality and water quality permits. Wineke said the state environmental agency's role includes "oversight of the facility's spill response and stormwater pollution prevention plans."
"This oversight does not include inspections of the structural integrity or process safety of the white liquor tank involved in this incident," Wineke said.
Wineke added that Ecology will use its environmental permits as the framework for holding the business accountable.
"As the emergency response in Longview phases into cleanup and recovery activities, Ecology will investigate whether the facility met the requirements of its environmental permits during this incident," Wineke said. "If we find violations, that could result in monetary penalties or administrative orders requiring the facility to take corrective measures."
The L&I investigation
By law, L&I must complete its investigation into the tank's collapse at the mill within 180 days, according to a website the worker-safety agency launched last week. In a dedicated website about L&I's role in the investigation - as well as state resources available to the families of killed and injured workers - the state agency has stated that they will likely need to use the full duration because of its complexity.
Investigators plan to interview witnesses, gather documents such as safety plans and hazard assessments and physically inspect the site.
L&I Public Affairs Director Matt Ross said in an email that the agency "makes employers responsible for providing a workplace free from recognized hazards that could injure or kill workers."
"L&I's statutory authority is to hold employers accountable to state workplace safety rules, not to directly inspect tanks like these to approve their operation," Ross said.
How laws could change
Washington state Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, posted on June 4 on his campaign Facebook page that he is in the early stages of drafting legislation to "improve and create standards" for aboveground tanks containing hazardous or dangerous liquids.
When reached by phone, Wilson said he has already assembled three legislative staff members - some of them nonpartisan - looking into current regulations for aboveground chemical tanks and reasons they differ from the standards for below-ground tanks and flammable liquids. He plans to expand the team to six members.
"A lot of hands will touch this," Wilson said. "I don't want to miss anything."
The investigation is still unfolding into what caused the nearly million-gallon tank to fail, but one focus Wilson addressed was that above-ground chemical tanks have different standards compared to below-ground petroleum tanks.
Jeff Wilson
Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview
The state Department of Ecology inspects underground petroleum tanks at least once every three years, and according to the department's website, that tank inspection program is "one of the largest pollution prevention programs" within the agency. The goal is to mitigate and prevent petroleum from seeping into the local groundwater.
Compounding his concern is that the shuttered Cosmo Specialty Fibers mill in Cosmopolis, near Aberdeen, also falls within his legislative district.
According to a recent Seattle Times report, which cites an EPA evaluation obtained through a records request, multiple tanks at Cosmo are leaking an acidic papermaking material known as red liquor. And according to the Department of Ecology website, the plant stores approximately 800,000 gallons of chemicals, preparing to restart.
To have a large quantity of a highly concentrated, water-soluble material entering the waterway was eye-opening for Wilson. He voiced skepticism at many state regulations in the phone interview, but said health and safety should be a priority.
Wilson said he has a window for pre-filing legislation in December. In addition to stronger regulations, Wilson is planning to introduce a resolution to honor the Nippon workers killed and injured in the tragedy and their families.
Between the 1980s and the 2010s, Wilson owned several environmental cleanup businesses, including Cowlitz Clean Sweep. He described responses to numerous types of industrial spills, but he described the Nippon tank implosion as like nothing he had ever seen before.
"I've seen plenty, but never this," Wilson said.
Investigations still ongoing
Baker, who leads the Industrial Hygiene program at the University of Washington, said there are still many unanswered questions about the Longview incident that make it too soon for some regulatory oversight.
"We still don't know what happened ... we at this point really don't know what to propose," Baker said.
The L&I investigation is expected to last into late November, while the U.S. Chemical Safety Board's comprehensive federal investigation could take years.
Baker said that L&I will largely focus on whether any regulations were broken. The Chemical Safety Board will look at factors including the age of the tank, its intended lifespan and its maintenance history.
"They're going to be looking at everything," Baker said.
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This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 6:20 PM.