Equipment Tampering Damages Paper Plant

Sabotage inside a James River paper plant resulted in $250,000 worth of damage, company officials say.

Three boilers were damaged April 13 after someone opened up a series of valves.

“We had an individual who tampered with the equipment such that it resulted in shutting off three of our five recovery boilers, which consequently shut the paper-machinemaking capabilities down because of lack of steam for approximately two hours,” James River spokesman Mike Wendling said Tuesday night.

The incident happened about 2 a.m. on the graveyard shift. One worker suffered a very minor burn trying to track the source of the malfunction, Wendling said.

It appears the culprit was familiar with the equipment, he said.

Camas police were investigating.

The temporary shutdown cost the

company about $250,000 in lost production, Wendling said.Company officials said neither the public nor the Columbia River was at risk.