Updated October 27, 2022 at 10:02 AM ET
A highly toxic cancer-causing compound is likely seeping from a South Carolina paper mill into the Catawba River. That's according to attorneys who are suing the New Indy Containerboard plant in Catawba, South Carolina, for environmental missteps.
The attorneys cite a study completed this month by South Carolina hydrogeologist Harvey Cohen on behalf of their clients.
Cohen tested soil and groundwater from two spots on the Catawba River — one directly next to the New Indy paper mill and the other a few miles upstream.
He found the samples taken near the mill had elevated levels of harmful chemicals, including cobalt and dioxin. Dioxin is a highly toxic compound that can cause cancer and other developmental and reproductive problems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Cobalt is a metal that also may cause cancer according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control said it is reviewing the study and has been in contact with the town of Chester, South Carolina, which gets drinking water from the river nine miles downstream from the plant.
The state says there's no indication that drinking water has been impacted, and that dioxin typically settles in water, rather than dissolving.
The SCDHEC also emphasized that the Catawba River Water Supply Project, which supplies drinking water to many residents in Union and Lancaster counties, draws water upstream from the plant.
The study was commissioned by the Motely Rice and Baird Mandalas law firms, as well as the Elrod Pope, Stavrinakis, Harpootlian and Mauney law firms.
The firms outlined the study's finding an in Oct. 20 letter sent to New Indy, SCDHEC, the Environmental Protection Agency and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster.
The letter said New Indy was in violation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Clean Water Act and is subject to a citizen's suit.
In a statement, the New Indy paper plant dismissed the trial lawyers' study as an attempt "to gain leverage in ongoing litigation" with "baseless accusations."
The plant said a previous property owner had left small levels of dioxin on the property — including in four aging waste lagoons — as a byproduct of producing bleached white paper.
However, the practice was discontinued nearly 20 years ago, the statement said, and no dioxins had been produced since New Indy acquired the mill on Dec. 31, 2018.
"New Indy Catawba has spent considerable time and effort to identify the areas on the mill property where the compound is located and to confirm that it is not migrating from the property, including through groundwater," the statement said.
The paper mill said none of its 15 monitoring wells had detected hazardous levels of dioxin on the mill property as recently as June 2022.
New Indy previously ran afoul of environmental regulations in 2021, when it switched from producing bleached white paper to brown paper.
During the conversion process, the mill produced elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide, leading thousands of nearby residents to complain about a sickening, rotten egg odor.
The mill manager apologized in January, saying the odor was partly due to poor maintenance of the plant's wastewater treatment plant and excess emissions associated with the conversion process.
The EPA fined the plant $1.1 millionover the emissions and ordered the plant to implement a pollution control plan.
