Plaintiffs v Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc.
Canton mill faces class action lawsuit
A Tennessee attorney who has spent years suing the paper mill in Haywood County has asked a federal court to allow a class-action case worth at least $5 million against the company.
Attorney Gordon Ball, in court papers filed in U.S. District Court in Asheville, says the mill, owned by Memphis, Tenn.-based Evergreen Packaging, dumps chemicals into the Pigeon River that have turned it brown, caused an odor and made it foam. He's representing three landowners along the river in Clyde who say the pollution has hurt their quality of life and prevented them from using their property.
The company, formerly Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc., has spent $25 million since 1999 on limiting air and water pollution.
Despite the spending on pollution controls, the mill is operating under a variance to the federal Clean Water Act because its discharge is making the river darker.
The pollution limits the depth that sunlight can penetrate the water, which is harmful to aquatic life, according to the lawsuit.
For more information please contact:
Gordon Ball
Ball & Scott
(866) 429-6706
(865) 223-6278
