Ore. senator's company fined $3,000 for wastewater discharge

2007-09-22

Source: Associated Press

U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith's frozen foods processing company has paid a $3,000 fine for discharging wastewater from its Eastern Oregon plant into a nearby creek, state officials said Friday.

The Republican senator, who is running for re-election in 2008, owns Smith Frozen Foods Inc. along with his wife Sharon, although they turned over day-to-day operations to others after Smith was elected to the Senate in 1996.

Oregon Democratic Party spokesman Marc Siegel said Friday that Oregonians should be "alarmed" by the fine against Smith's company.

"If your responsibility is to make laws, and you are violating laws, you put yourself in a real bind," Siegel said.

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