Weyerhaeuser Co. v. Easter

— To comply with state and federal environmental standards, Weyerhaeuser Company agreed to invest $8.7 million in pollution control equipment to reduce effluent from its pulp mill in Cosmopolis, Washington. Weyerhaeuser also voluntarily adopted a plan to remove asbestos and PCB’s from the plant, at a cost of $18.3 million and $2.5 million, respectively. At issue is whether these anticipated costs of pollution control reduced the market value of the pulp mill and, as a consequence, reduced Weyerhaeuser’s property taxes.

Facts

The Mill

Weyerhaeuser built the Cosmopolis mill in 1957 to produce dry…