Town Has Fought Billionaire’s Noxious Paper Mill for 2 Years

For more than two years, their dogs have grown sick, their headaches have persisted, and the same acrid smell has sullied the air. Residents near Catawba, South Carolina, say a paper mill part-owned by billionaire Robert Kraft continues to make them miserable, despite a series of lawsuits, media scrutiny, and government intervention.

“I’m just disgusted with everything,” said Kerri Bishop, who has organized social media pushback against the plant. “I know at least probably 20 people that have moved,” the vast majority of whom were at least partially motivated by the emissions. Bishop tried to move herself, but the sale process fell through.

The Daily Beast first wrote about the Catawba plant in July 2021, at which point locals had submitted more than 20,000 complaints to South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Read more at The Daily Beast.