Source: Fox Carolina
Attorney General Josh Stein has sued Pactiv Evergreen for abruptly closing down their paper mill in Canton North Carolina. The mill was part of a 2015 economic development deal in which the state gave the company $12 million in incentives through a JMAC grant in exchange for a commitment to maintain operations, and at least 800 jobs, at its Canton North Carolina location through December 31, 2024. According to then Governor Pat McCroy, the deal was meant to ensure job retention and help manufacturers move into cleaner energy operations. Pactiv Evergreen broke the deal by closing the Canton location in May of 2023.
When the announcement of the mill’s closure came, Governor Roy Cooper notified the CEO of the impact the closure would have. “The mill’s closure would be a clear violation of a contract that two Pactiv Evergreen subsidiaries signed with the North Carolina Department of Commerce in February 2015,” he told the company. Recently Cooper gave a statement supporting Stein’s lawsuit. With the closure of the mill resulting in over a thousand workers being displaced and the money North Carolina invested into the mill gone along with it, Cooper has called the closure of the mill a gut punch to the people of Canton and to North Carolina’s economy.
In the lawsuit, Stein is seeking back the $12 million that was originally granted to the company in 2015. In a statement released on the matter Josh Stein said “Taxpayers in North Carolina invested in Pactiv Evergreen to bolster our state’s economy… We held up our end of the bargain, and we cannot let Pactiv cut and run away with our state’s money. My office has been working with Pactiv over the last year to address the company’s obligations under the JMAC agreement, but it has become clear that legal action was necessary to hold Pactiv accountable.”
