State probes wastewater spill at senator’s company
By BRAD CAIN
Associated Press
Wednesday, August 20, 2008 10:18 AM PDT
SALEM — U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith’s frozen foods processing company faces a potential state fine for discharging wastewater from its Eastern Oregon plant into a nearby creek, the most recent of several spills at the plant.
The state Department of Environmental Quality said Tuesday that Smith Frozen Foods Inc. contacted the agency last month to report that corn processing water from the company’s plant at Weston had flowed into Pine Creek.
Joanie Stevens-Schwenger, spokeswoman for the state agency, said the incident was still under investigation and that no fine has been proposed yet against the company owned by Smith, who’s facing a tough re-election campaign this fall.
Asked to characterize the seriousness of the wastewater discharge, Stevens-Schwenger called it a relatively minor environmental mishap.
‘‘The company took immediate remedial action’’ to fix the spill, she said. Smith’s company has been fined for past spills.
In the most serious one, in 1991, wastewater flowed into the creek for 15 days, killing fish and drawing a $100,000 fine from the state.
That spill became a campaign issue when Smith made his first run the Senate in 1995. Democratic opponent Ron Wyden, who defeated Smith in that race, ran advertising that attacked him as a ‘‘chronic corporate polluter.’’
A year ago, Smith Frozen Foods paid a $3,000 fine for a smaller spill similar to the one that occurred in July.
Smith’s Democratic challenger, Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley, took aim Tuesday at the latest spill.
