Woman got headaches, bloody noses and nausea from SC pulp mill stench, lawsuit says
The stench of rotten eggs first seeped into Terri Kennedy’s home in January.
The overpowering smell has since invaded “in waves, three to five times a week,” keeping her and her family up in the middle of the night, she said.
Kennedy got headaches, bloody noses, sinus issues and “persistent nausea” from the odor, she said in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday against New-Indy Containerboard LLC of Catawba, S.C. The plant is about seven miles from her home in Indian Land, S.C.
The odor is “awful and unpredictable” and caused her to seek medical treatment, she said in her complaint filed by lawyers from the Rock-Hill-based Elrod Pope law firm.
The lawsuit seeks at least $5 million in damages over its “dangerous” hydrogen sulfide and other emissions.
The Lancaster County woman’s lawsuit is the third class action filing against the company. A homeowner in the Ballantyne area of south Charlotte filed one, and so did two York County women.
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 two of the lawsuits.
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 emissions have generated at least 17,000 complaints from Carolinians, according to the lawsuit.
‘Not your Daddy’s Bowater’
S.C. Rep. Tommy Pope, R-York, the main South Carolina lawyer representing Kennedy, said he grew up in the area and remembers when Bowater owned the mill.
“Many of my friends and their families made a good living at Bowater, which was a good corporate citizen to all of us,” Pope, majority leader pro tem of the S.C. House, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, what we are dealing with now at New-Indy is not what we grew up with.
“This is not your Daddy’s Bowater,” according to Pope’s statement. “This is out-of-state owners denying responsibility. The ongoing damage to our air, our water and our health must be addressed.”
Pope is the former 16th Circuit solicitor for the S.C. counties of York and Union who forged a national reputation in legal circles when he prosecuted Susan Smith in 1994. Smith drowned her two children in a Union County lake near the York County border.
Pope and others found that she made up a story about the children being kidnapped by a Black man during a carjacking.
Maryland lawyer Philip Federico and Delaware lawyer Chase Brockstedt joined Elrod Pope in the lawsuit.
Federico and Brockstedt recently reached a $205 million settlement for Delaware residents whose drinking water had been poisoned for decades by chicken processor Mountaire Farms.
Kennedy’s lawyers, as well as health, engineering and environmental experts, have scheduled a town hall regarding New-Indy for 6:30 p.m. June 16 at Southern Charm Events, 534 Waterford Glen Way in Rock Hill.
EPA action
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.
New-Indy response
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.
Staff Writer Andrew Dys contributed.
