Attorney General reiterates commitment to Canton
Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers (left) introduces North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson in Canton on Jan. 16.
Cory Vaillancourt photo
Following up on a campaign promise he made just over a year ago, newly-elected North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson stood within eyeshot of what used to be Pactiv Evergreen’s Canton paper mill to remind the company that he wasn’t going to ease up on a lawsuit filed by his predecessor, now-Gov. Josh Stein.
“My understanding is there may be some attorneys in this litigation on the other side who were hoping that a new attorney general would dismiss this case,” Jackson said at a press conference in Sorrels Park earlier this afternoon. “What I want to do is send a message that that's not going to happen, that I am the new attorney general and we're going to continue with this case, because it's a very straightforward matter of an agreement being broken.”
The suit stems from a 2014 economic development grant signed by then-Gov. Pat McCrory, which sent $12 million to Pactiv Evergreen in exchange for the $6 billion paper company spending $51 million over 10 years to convert two of its coal-fired boilers to natural gas.
There were other conditions as well — pay most workers at least 140% of the area’s average wage, pay at least 50% of their health care coverage costs and maintain at least 800 jobs through Dec. 31, 2024.
In March 2023, Pactiv announced it would close the 115-year-old facility within three months. Both then-Gov. Roy Cooper and Stein warned Pactiv that the company would violate the terms of the agreement if it followed through with its promise to lay off the entire workforce, which Pactiv ended up doing that June.
Stein filed the suit this past May. Since then, the mill has been sold to a new owner but Pactiv’s still on the hook for the suit, which demands full repayment of the grant. In a response, Pactiv admitted that it had “satisfied nearly all of its obligations under the JMAC agreement” but argued that there was no legal or factual basis for the state to demand repayment.
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In January 2024, The Smoky Mountain News spoke exclusively with Jackson, a Democrat, and his eventual General Election opponent, Republican Dan Bishop. Both promised to hold Pactiv fully accountable for all of its obligations, no matter the eventual fate of the mill parcel.
Jackson, at that time a congressman, specifically said, “The job of the attorney general is to have people’s backs when they’re mistreated, especially when they’re mistreated by large corporations. I think we’ve got a classic example of that happening right now in Canton.”
The suit is currently set for trial in May; however, there is another mediation session scheduled before then. Previous sessions, including one in Raleigh last September, have failed to produce an agreement, with parties reportedly far from coming to terms.
If a settlement materializes or if Jackson prevails in court, at least some of the money would have to be returned to the General Assembly, but there are strong indications that at least some of that money would end up in Canton’s coffers.
“My intention, my hope, and in discussions with some staff, our intention is to get as much of that money here to Canton as possible,” Jackson said.
Canton Mayor Zeb Smathers, who introduced Jackson at the press conference, was clear on how he would prioritize any settlement proceeds the town might receive.
“Obviously, in more ways than one, Pactiv broke our heart, it broke our economy. We have the wastewater treatment plant as we talk about Canton’s future, and as we talk about all the amazing things we're going to do … we have to provide those basic services,” Smathers said.
For decades, Pactiv had treated the town’s municipal wastewater at almost no cost alongside its own papermaking wastewater, but not long after Pactiv announced the closing, it also notified Canton that it would stop treating its wastewater as soon as contractually allowed, which was to be in March of this year.
That put pressure on local officials to figure out a solution; however, until St. Louis-based businessman purchased the mill parcel from Pactiv late last week, there were still more questions than answers. Spirtas has been candid about the wastewater situation, telling SMN last May when he first began to pursue the parcel that he’d put the town’s and the county’s interests first with regards to the plant.
Upon news of the sale, Smathers said he was “extremely confident” that the wastewater treatment needs of the town would continue to be met without interruption.
Smathers also reported that in conjunction with the sale, Pactiv had to pay its property taxes. Pactiv had appealed a prior year’s tax assessment, and that appeal has not yet been resolved, but at least current-year taxes to the county and the town are no longer in question.
