A worrisome odor prompted workers at Georgia Pacific’s mill in Camas to leave their stations for a time Monday morning.
Kristi Ward, a spokeswoman for the mill, said pulping odor, also called foul condensate, likely caused the odor. The smell stayed in the steam lines due to the cold weather. The mill was also down Saturday due to branches falling on power lines.
When the mill restarted its pulping process, the odor was likely pushed out in the steam. The smell prompted the mill at 7:30 a.m. to evacuate employees in the paper machine, pulping and converting areas. Ward said most workers were back in their work areas by the afternoon.
The mill’s emergency response team has been monitoring emissions at the site, she said, and the concentrations observed have been below the exposure limit for hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous gas commonly associated with pulping odors.
Mill staff said the odor appeared to be dissipating that afternoon, thinking it’ll likely be gone by the end of the day, Ward said.
