EVERETT – Fines may be coming for Kimberly Clark’s massive burning pile of wood waste.
The state just issued the company with a violation notice, the first step that’s taken when a company is accused of violating state environmental laws.
The wood pile, near East Grand Avenue, has been burning for months, and the Riverside neighborhood has been complaining almost as long.
Larry Altose, a spokesman with the state Department of Ecology, said it is not certain yet whether the company will be fined for violations of state and federal air-quality laws.
“The company has been very forthcoming with us,” he said. “They seem to find the situation not acceptable and are doing something about it.”
Kimberly-Clark sent the Department of Ecology a letter outlining how it planned to extinguish the fire and minimize smoke billowing into the neighborhood. That happened before the state put the tissue maker on notice.
The company faces fines of up to $10,000 a day for each air quality violation.
Earlier this year, Kimberly-Clark was fined $16,000 by the state for a problem at its waterfront mill that violated air-quality laws and covered much of the city with a potent rotten-egg smell for two days in April.
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