Scott Griffin remembers when wind shifts stirred a rotten-egg smell on the Catawba River near his home in Mount Holly, N.C.

Just across the river, in neighboring Mecklenburg County, he could see the source: a waterside chemical plant. The operation closed in 2005 but is still a federal Superfund hazardous waste cleanup site.

For six years, Griffin and others have been working to develop an 11-mile greenway along the Catawba, part of a Mount Holly makeover. Now they worry that this vision may be threatened by a proposed new venture that includes the old chemical plant site. The new project is called ReVenture Park, a planned 667-acre "eco-industrial" complex anchored by a waste-to-energy plant that will gobble up 370,000 tons of residential trash a year.

Read the full story at charlotteobserver.com.