Lumber and wood product manufacturer Weyerhaeuser hired Dan Desler to transport waste it generated at its two Oregon cardboard plants, but Desler did not take the waste to licensed landfills as he was supposed to. Desler dumped the hazardous waste, including asbestos-containing materials, at properties in Sweet Home that he controls. Although the company had already paid to clean up and transport the waste once, Weyerhaeuser has volunteered to clean up the illegal dump sites. Desler is still responsible for paying the $192,343 in fines levied against him by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

Desler claimed that he had regarded the industrial waste as material that could be sold for heating fuel and animal bedding for dairy farmers, but the DEQ maintains that the waste was an environmental hazard. Desler has not paid the fines or removed the waste yet. Weyerhaeuser does not have any responsibility to undertake the cleanup, but it is admirable that the company has stepped up. There is so much garbage at the dump sites that it will take four months to clean up, even with trucks carting away 30 loads per day.