Beta
Today
Operations & FootprintRegulatory & Legal 1 Sep 2026

Widow sues Nippon Paper over fatal Longview chemical spill

The widow of an electrician killed in the 26 May 2026 chemical spill at Nippon Dynawave Packaging's mill in Longview, Washington, has filed a wrongful death suit against the company in Cowlitz County Superior Court. A US Chemical Safety Board preliminary report in August found that inspector Applied Technical Services had told Nippon staff the white liquor tank was not fit for continued service before it collapsed, releasing an estimated 900,000 gallons of heated caustic liquor. The mother of two other workers who died filed a separate wrongful death suit in August.

Why this mattersA federal safety board finding that the tank was flagged as unfit before it failed widens the company's litigation exposure and puts pulp-mill tank inspection practice under scrutiny.

  • A white liquor tank collapsed at 7.09am on 26 May 2026 at Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview, Washington, releasing an estimated 900,000 gallons of heated caustic chemical used in papermaking.
  • The tank had a 1.2m gallon capacity and the white liquor is maintained at around 200 degrees.
  • Electrician Jared Ammons and seven other workers were in the electrical maintenance shop for a morning meeting when the liquor broke through its walls, doors and windows, trapping everyone inside.
  • Mackenzie Ammons, his widow and personal representative, filed the suit earlier this month on behalf of herself and her children, represented by Seattle firm Osborn Machler & Neff.
  • The US Chemical Safety Board's August preliminary report found inspector Applied Technical Services had told Nippon staff the tank was not fit for continued service and faced a high likelihood of failure unless repaired.
  • The mother of two workers, Bradley Kyle Covington and Tyler Scott Covington, filed a separate wrongful death lawsuit against the company in August.
Nippon Paper Industries
Sources tdn.com
Relevant to you?

Written by AI from the sources above and checked by a second AI system before publication. No human wrote or edited this story. How it is made.

Updates

  • 2026-09-20 · Edited before publication: Attribution error in the summary and final key fact: the source says the mother of two workers, Bradley Kyle Covington and Tyler Scott Covington, filed the August wrongful death suit, not the workers themselves, who are not described as injured survivors. Corrected, added the court and the trapped-workers detail, and softened the 'why it matters' line, which drew a concl
  • 2026-09-20 · Edited before publication: Summary contained a grammatical error that made a false statement (the tank, not the mill staff, was said to have been told it was unfit) and ran to four sentences against house style of two or three. Facts otherwise supported by the source body, including the encoded passages. Materiality and topics unchanged.