KINGSPORT, Tenn. (From news reports) -- The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has fined Domtar $64,650 for violating its water discharge permit multiple times in the months following startup of its new Kingsport recycled packaging facility.

The company, which also must pay $13,024.10 in damages, can avoid paying nearly $52,000 of the penalty if it submits an acceptable "corrective action plan" and meets milestones designed to ensure compliance.

A local water quality expert called the process leading to the fines, and what he said appears to be Domtar's full cooperation and efforts to remedy the situation, an example of "the regulatory process work(ing) the way it was supposed to.

TDEC's order and fine assessment, dated April 8, notes that TDEC staff began investigating "multiple complaints of a white slime in the stream" from outfalls into the South Fork Holston River as early as March 31, 2023. Domtar began operating its new plant Jan. 15, 2023 after a nearly three-year shutdown and construction of the new operation on the site of a former paper plant.