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The state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has announced a $3.2 million levy against Pacific Seafood’s coastal processing plants for allegedly polluting Oregon waters.
The civil penalties apply to Pacific Seafood’s three Oregon coastal plants, with the Charleston factory in Coos Bay receiving the second-largest penalty in DEQ’s history at $2.98 million.
Tidings Data Snapshot
Pacific Seafood Penalty BreakdownSources: Oregon DEQ enforcement details reported by OPB and The Oregonian / OregonLiveDailyTidings.com
The DEQ states that Pacific Seafood has repeatedly violated wastewater regulations, noting that state regulators entered into an agreement in 2017 under which the company was required to install pollution controls. These measures had never taken place.
According to DEQ, Pacific Seafood had initially undertaken to install a wastewater treatment system in 2019. That deadline was later extended to 2023.
DEQ explains that it had postponed enforcement while state funding of a new treatment plant at the Coos Bay Port was under consideration by lawmakers. However, that proposal never materialized.
Pacific Seafood did not respond to requests for updates in 2024 and 2025, a lapse that DEQ overlooked while awaiting the outcome of pending legislation that might impact the company.
DEQ states that it began moving toward enforcement of penalties in September 2025, and that a letter confirming that the state was preparing to penalize the company was sent in March 2026.
The State Will Mitigate the Penalties if Pacific Seafood Installs Wastewater Pollution Controls
DEQ has given Pacific Seafood 20 days to appeal, and will also mitigate the penalties if the company installs wastewater pollution controls.
Pacific Seafood’s headquarters are in Clackamas, and the company has three major processing plants along the Oregon coast. The largest is in Charleston, Coos Bay, and the other two are located in Warrenton-Astoria, Clatsop County, and Brookings, Curry County.
The plants handle harvesting, processing, and distribution of seafood, including significant operations for Dungeness crab, rockfish, and shrimp.
Pacific Seafood operates over 40 facilities, primarily along the West Coast and Alaska, with key processing plants in Oregon.
Oh yeah! Oregon is such a screwed-up state! One day, they are begging for new jobs and lying to us about how business-friendly they are; the next day, they are killing jobs with their leftist environmental nonsense.