“It was so strong,” says Courtney Beltz of Rock Hill, South Carolina, talking about when the stench first hit her town earlier this year. “The smell would wake us up in the middle of the night, even with the windows and doors closed. The smell of rotten eggs would permeate our home. Some people thought they had a gas leak. I first thought, ‘Did my cat have an accident? Did someone not flush a toilet?’”
For weeks, she and many other locals tried to figure out the cause of the mysterious stench.
The source turned out to be the paper mill. The New-Indy Containerboard paper mill in Catawba, South Carolina, to be exact. The company is owned by The Kraft Group and Schwartz Partners.
The hydrogen sulfate (H2S) emissions from the plant spread a foul odor into several counties at the border of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Catawba Indian Nation, causing physical harm to residents who have reported health issues such as headaches, coughs, burning eyes, and nausea.

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