Elisabeth Biser, secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality, made her second visit to Canton last week, touring Pactiv Evergreen’s shuttered paper mill and vowing to hold the company accountable for environmental issues that could poison future development of the parcel. 

Pactiv Evergreen has been issued its second notice of violation in less than a month, bringing its total since May 2021 up to 15 — more than one violation every two months, on average.

In response to a July 10 notice of violation accusing Pactiv Evergreen of illegally dumping unused chemicals  into the wastewater treatment plant at its now-shuttered Canton paper mill, the company has submitted a letter  stating that it acted “on a good faith belief” and that the discharge was legal. 

Employees at Pactiv Evergreen’s Canton paper mill knew a health care coverage crisis  was coming, and many of them did exactly what the company told them to do to ward off a coverage gap, but some are only just now getting the coverage they’re entitled to — and paid for — and they’re pointing the finger at Pactiv for the expensive and potentially life-threatening delays. 

After closing its paper mill in Canton early last month, Pactiv Evergreen is reportedly now engaged in discussions with potential purchasers or developers about the future of the site.

In a notice of violation  issued Monday, July 10, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality has accused Pactiv Evergreen of dumping chemicals directly into its wastewater treatment system rather than disposing of them properly, as required by the company’s permit. 

As questions continue to swirl over what Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson) did to prevent the loss of around 1,000 jobs at Pactiv Evergreen’s paper mill, Edwards is now coming under fire for politicizing a town hall held June 1 at Canton’s Pisgah High School, for rejecting help from Buncombe County legislators and for ridiculing them in the process.

It took all of about 25 minutes for the Haywood County Board of Equalization and Review to reject Pactiv Evergreen’s request to reduce the assessed value of its $19.8 million parcel in Canton.

Officials on both the local and the state level have been adamant in demanding Pactiv Evergreen be held accountable for a number of unresolved issues since shortly after the company announced it would halt operations in Canton. But now, a week after the mill’s final whistle blew, they’re adopting a more forceful tone.

Nearly three months ago, Pactiv Evergreen unceremoniously announced that after more than a century in operation, the paper mill at the heart of Canton would close. Since then, Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers has repeated an analogy comparing the community’s reaction to that of a death in the family.