‘Our home stinks for many hours’: SC women sue pulp mill over ‘rotten-egg’ odor
Two York County women have filed a second class-action lawsuit against a pulp mill whose foul-smelling emissions they say are invading their homes and sickening them and other Carolinians.
A “very foul stench occurs quite often, usually at night,” Rock Hill homeowner Ethel Piercey says in the lawsuit she filed May 27 against New Indy Containerboard in federal court in Rock Hill. She sued with Catawba, S.C., homeowner Shirley Landsdown.
“All in my family have lost sleep, have experienced headaches and our home stinks for many hours afterwards,” Piercey says in the lawsuit.
The plant makes pulp, which is used to produce paper, tissue, cardboard and specialty paper. And it manufactures lightweight coated papers and such products as ultra-lightweight liner board, according to the company website.
The lawsuit follows a similar class action filing against the Catawba plant by a homeowner in the Ballantyne area of south Charlotte.
New Indy is a joint venture between New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s holding company, the Kraft Group LLC, and Schwarz Partners LP, according to Charlotte homeowner Kenny White’s lawsuit.
Both lawsuits seek at least $5 million in damages against the company over its hydrogen sulfide and other emissions.
“Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless gas that has a characteristic ‘rotten-egg’ smell,” according to the women’s lawsuit. ”It is noxious and offensive to breathe.”
The emissions gave generated at least 17,000 complaints from Carolinians, according to the lawsuit.
More than 45 households within the proposed boundaries of the latest class action lawsuit have contacted the women’s lawyers about the “noxious odors,” the lawsuit says.
The boundaries stretch from U.S. 521 in Lancaster County north to Interstate 485 in the N.C. counties of Mecklenburg and Union, west to Rock Hill and south to the Chester County line.
“The smell of rotten eggs is so bad that you can’t go outside and enjoy yourself or have family/friend gatherings,” class action member Jennifer Collins says in the lawsuit. “Our daughter can’t play outside either.”
Kimberly Lawrence, another class action member, says she can’t hang clothes to dry outside, according to the lawsuit.
“Acid mist burn my face, eyes, nose, tongue and respiratory system!” class-action member Lucinda Swatzel says in the lawsuit. “Employment disruption. I work outside at night in this area delivering papers and can’t breathe. Disrupted sleep. It creeps in the house and wakes me up.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently ordered New Indy — which is located just southeast of Rock Hill — to immediately lower hydrogen sulfide emissions and monitor the air in communities surrounding the plant.
The EPA also is monitoring the air in the greater Rock Hill area and into North Carolina, as requested by various state and local agencies and the Rock Hill-based Catawba Indian Nation, EPA officials said.
After the EPA order, mill manager Tony Hobson said his plant “strives to be a good member of the community” and saved more than 450 manufacturing jobs and created 1,000 construction jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Indy, he said, continues to try to determine the source of the odor “and resolve the issues relating to the odor emanating from our plant.”
“We are committed to the safety of our ... local employees and the surrounding area; protecting the environment; promoting economic vitality, and charitable giving to support great local causes,” Hobson said.
