Kimberly-Clark fined $235,000

OLYMPIA – The state Ecology Department has fined Kimberly-Clark’s Everett mill $235,000 for a wood-fuel fire that smoldered last year for months.

A fire in the large pile apparently started by spontaneous combustion. Smoke and odor prompted complaints to the department on 15 days between Sept. 27 and Nov. 15, 2007.

The company has 30 days to appeal the penalty to the Ecology Department or to the Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board.