OPB’s First Look: Longview death toll climbs

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Good morning, Northwest.

Crews yesterday recovered six bodies from the Longview paper mill where a chemical tank ruptured earlier this week. The confirmed death toll is now eight.

Today’s newsletter starts with the latest from the industrial site. We also look into the spill’s environmental impact, the role of paper manufacturing in the area, and the history of workplace disasters in Washington.

In other news, residents in La Pine, Oregon, soundly rejected a developer’s bid to build a data center there.

Here’s your First Look at Friday’s news.

— Bradley W. Parks

Top story

Confirmed death toll climbs to 8 in Longview paper mill disaster

Crews recovered six bodies from a Longview paper mill yesterday as they continued the response to a massive chemical tank rupture earlier this week.

That brings the confirmed death toll from the Tuesday disaster to eight, including two people who were declared dead at local hospitals.

Three more people remain unaccounted for, and are presumed dead, in what Longview Fire Department Chief Brad Hannig called “an active and hazardous environment.”

The fatal release of a highly caustic liquid, which killed and injured workers and spilled into local waterways, is Washington state’s deadliest workplace tragedy in 96 years. (Courtney Sherwood)

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3 things to know

• Officials in Longview urged residents yesterday to stay away from ditches as workers flush these channels with clean water to dilute caustic chemicals released during a deadly paper mill disaster earlier this week. (April Ehrlich)
• This week’s chemical blast at Longview’s Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. highlights the risk of danger in the timber and paper manufacturing industries. Employment in the industry has decreased dramatically in recent years but remains vital to the identity of the Pacific Northwest. (Kyra Buckley)
• The Longview paper mill disaster is expected to be Washington’s deadliest workplace accident in nearly a century. Much remains unclear, but the workplace tragedy appears more severe than any other since the days of coal mine disasters decades ago. (Bryce Dole)

Northwest headlines

• La Pine shoots down data center development (Jen Baires)
• Oregon, tribal leaders applaud ‘rebuilding’ as development takes shape at Willamette Falls (Holly Bartholomew)
• What does the primary’s biggest legislative upset say about the state of Oregon politics? (Dirk VanderHart)
• Justice Department sues Oregon, Washington for ‘refusing to issue’ feds confidential license plates (Conrad Wilson)
• Former Eugene Weekly bookkeeper sentenced to 3 years in prison (Nathan Wilk, KLCC)
• Eugene school district’s $531.9M budget makes cuts to staff, services and programs (Natalie Pate, KLCC)

Listen in on OPB’s daily conversation

“Think Out Loud” airs at noon and 8 p.m. weekdays on OPB Radio, opb.org and the OPB News app. Today’s planned topics (subject to change):

• Portland downtown hotels are still struggling to recover from the pandemic
• Oregon LGBTQ+ Aging Coalition expands services to seniors through new collaboration

One more look

Superabundant recipe: This easy green sauce makes the most of spring garden chores

Sometimes culinary inspiration is hard to come by, but if you’re looking for some, stepping outside is never not a good idea.

A stroll through the garden did just the trick this week. The onions and elephant garlic are gearing up to bloom, the herbs and peas need thinning, and the lovage and borage are flourishing.

All of that added up to an obvious choice: make a green sauce. In this case, the recipe takes a Slavic spin on Italian pesto, combined with little kotleti-like chicken meatballs. (Heather Arndt Anderson)

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