North Carolina governor Pat McCrory has sanctioned a $12m grant to help Evergreen Packaging Paper Mill in Canton adhere to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) guidelines.
The mill has been asked by the EPA to replace units that have been contributing to environment pollution to meet new environmental regulations by 2016.
The grant money will help the mill replace two coal-fired boilers with natural gas-powered units costing around $50m. It will also enable Evergreen Packaging to retain close to 1000 jobs.
Speaking about the grant Governor McCrory was quoted by WLOS ABC as saying: "We've always believed in manufacturing, past, present; and we think manufacturing, especially in the western part of the state, has a great future."
The mill is one of the largest industrial employer in Western North Carolina, employing close to 1200 people.
The decision for giving the grant to the mill was taken by lawmakers in August. The state grant comes as an addition to a $2.8m grant that has already been kept aside for the mill, out of which $2.1m will be given by the NC department commerce and $700,000 by Haywood County.
According to a federal emissions report, Evergreen paper mill is currently the largest industrial air toxin polluter in Western North Carolina and also one of the largest in the state.
