Timber workers in Mendocino and Humboldt Counties had already been subjected to aerial herbicide spraying, toxic chemicals in the mills, and union busting by Louisiana-Pacific and Georgia-Pacific, and residents of both counties had fought long and hard against all of these atrocities. The IWA and Don Nelson had originally fought on the side of the workers and environmental activists in most of these struggles. When the PCB spill happened in the Fort Bragg mill, however, Don Nelson at first ignored it, and then took G-P management’s side in the struggle further advancing in to the abyss of class collaborationism. The workers’ were left to fight this battle on their own.
This incident might have been forgotten and the workers abandoned had Ron Atkinson not known Anna Marie Stenberg, and Stenberg had not been married to Mike Koepf at the time. Koepf wrote the following detailed expose of the incident and helped spark the community of Fort Bragg to fight back when G-P—in a moment of haste, sloppiness, or panic—tried to hide the poisoning of their workers and almost poisoned the entire coastal community.
- At the Mouth of the Hog - By Mike Koepf, Anderson Valley Advertiser, March 15, 1989.
- Letter from OSHA - Sent as a letter to the Anderson Valley Advertiser, by Treva Vandenbosch, March 22, 1989
- Look Them in the Eyes: Health Department Cover-Up - By Mike Koepf, Anderson Valley Advertiser, April 4, 1989.
- No One Has Jurisdiction: Fort Bragg City Council Hears Angry Citizens Denounce Georgia-Pacific’s PCB Spill and Cover-Up - By Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, April 12, 1989.
- Notice is Served on G-P’s PCB Spill - By Karl Sigurd Leipnik, Anderson Valley Advertiser, May 10, 1989.
- Fort Bragg Mill Workers Want Change - By Mike Koepf, Anderson Valley Advertiser, June 21, 1989.
- GP Workers Want Change: Federal Mediation in Fort Bragg - By Crawdad Nelson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, July 26, 1989.
- Becoming a Non-Person in a Company Town - By Bruce Anderson, Anderson Valley Advertiser, July 26, 1989.
- Workers Of Mendoland Unite! - By Roanne Withers, Anderson Valley Advertiser, July 26, 1989.
- Damage Control - By Michael Koepf, Mendocino Commentary, Nov. 16, 1989.
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Last Updated - July 1, 2026.