The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs are calling for strict environmental accountability and full transparency after a catastrophic industrial accident at a Washington state paper mill sent toxic chemical waste into the Columbia River — a waterway central to the tribe's identity, sustenance, and treaty-protected rights.
What Happened in Longview
On May 26, 2026, a 900,000-gallon storage tank at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging facility in Longview, Washington — located approximately 50 miles north of Portland — catastrophically imploded. The tank contained "white liquor," a highly corrosive mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide used in pulp manufacturing, with a pH of approximately 14.
Eleven millworkers were killed in the blast and subsequent chemical release. Eight others were injured. Washington Governor Bob Ferguson called it potentially "the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history."
While the majority of the caustic fluid was contained on the factory grounds, heavily diluted chemical runoff breached the local drainage network and entered the Columbia River through Longview's system of sloughs and dikes. Officials later confirmed contamination had reached the main stem of the river. More than 2,200 dead fish were collected from local ditch networks in the immediate aftermath.
Warm Springs Responds
Tribal Chairman Dennis White III released a formal statement on June 5, expressing grief for the lives lost before asserting the tribe's responsibility to advocate for the river.
"We have a responsibility to speak on behalf of the Columbia River. We are river people. We come from the Big River. Our river is a way of life, and water is life. We have a responsibility to speak for our river — we are its voice."
White's statement describes the river as "more than a waterway" and invokes the tribe's 1855 treaty rights, which include the right to fish in streams that pass through and border the reservation — rights repeatedly affirmed by the United States Supreme Court.
"These rights are not symbolic. They are legally protected."
Treaty Rights and Salmon at Stake
The Columbia River and its tributaries form the foundation of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs' traditional fisheries. Salmon runs — long threatened by dams, habitat loss, and warming waters — are considered sacred and are a source of both food and cultural continuity for tribal members.
The tribe is among several Columbia River treaty tribes now demanding answers from federal and state agencies about the full extent of contamination, what monitoring is underway, and what long-term remediation is planned. Federal and state agencies, including the EPA and Washington Department of Ecology, have been engaged in ongoing testing of river water quality since the incident.
The full scope of ecological damage to the Columbia River system from the Nippon Dynawave spill remains under investigation.