Hundreds of citizens picketed the New Hanover County Courthouse on February 1, telling County Commissioners to just say no to Titan Cement. Numerous citizens spoke to the crowd through a loudspeaker system, including business leaders and local pediatrician David Hill, who told the crowd that some children and some elderly residents would die from the pollution from Titan Cement. He also mentioned that the North Carolina Pediatric Society formally opposes Titan Cement because of its potential impact on children's health. Thanks to everyone who came out to show elected officials that they need to stand up and start representing citizens and not corporate polluters.

Protest organizer Kayne Darrell of the Citizens Against Titan, presented a petition with nearly 6,000 signatures of people opposed to Titan to the New Hanover County Commissioners, asking them to pass a resolution requesting Governor Bev Perdue freeze all permits for Titan Cement until the SBI investigation into corruption in the permit process is complete. She also asked them to request the Governor require Titan to undergo a State Environmental Policy Act review. Others asked the commission to rescind the $4.2 milliion in incentives the County Commissioners approved in April 2008, since recent news reports reveal the company grossly misrepresented its environmental record to the commissioners, WID, and the community, and have actively tried to avoid a comprehensive state environmental review of the project.

Join the Gathering Throng! Click Here to sign the petition. Click here to get Action Alerts. Contact us to add your business to the growing list of businesses and business leaders concerned that Titan will hamstring our future economic development!

Then email your county commissioners and make the same request of them. Tell them they need to show some spine and send Titan Cement packing. Tell them you'd like a response to your letter. It's an election year for some of them, so they should be listening. They're emails are below. And remember, Commissioner Jonathan Barfield has been a staunch opponent of Titan Cement from the beginning, Jason Thompson campaigned as anti-Titan candidate, but seems to have forgotten it since the election. Ted Davis, Bobby Greer and Bill Caster all voted in favor of the Titan incentive package. Caster is running for re-election this year, while Greer has announced he will not seek another term. So they have no excuses not to do the right thing.

Chairman, Jason Thompson:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Vice-Chairman, Jonathan Barfield, Jr.:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Robert Greer:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
William Caster:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Ted Davis, Jr.:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


Stay Tuned,
Your Friends at StopTitan.org

More pictures here:

• Flickr: Stop Titan Rally Feb.02.20.10
• Star News Online: Titan Cement Protest

Maybe you saw the headlines today from the News and Observer: The Southern Environmental Law Center sent Governor Perdue a letter yesterday requesting that she freeze any and all Titan permits. The request was made because of recent news reports in Raleigh's N & O and Wilmington's Star News that reveal Titan's possible role in the "pay-to-play" politics of  former Gov. Mike Easley's administration--particularly DENR's abrupt removal of the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) from the Titan cement project.

And the story keeps growing: In the same issue of the News & Observer, there's an opinion piece about what a good idea it would be to apply SEPA at this point:

Cement site - Opinion - NewsObserver

We've got the links in our Local News area as well. 

Last November when political watchdog Joe Senshiemer asked Governor Bev Perdue for an investigation into influence peddling in the environmental permitting process--and specifically mentioned Titan Cement--we figured he had some inside knowledge into the sleazy backdoor politics that suddenly made the State Environmental Policy Act vanish from the Titan Project, and that killed Titan-related bills sponsored by local representatives last summer without even any debate.

Now we have an inkling why. Front page stories Friday and Saturday in the Star-News shed a glaring light on the “pay-to-pay” politics that enabled coastal developers to get sweetheart deals and fast-track permits from the Easley Administration. On Thursday Ruffin Poole, a top Easley aide known as “the little governor” was indicted on more than 50 federal charges including extortion, bribery and money-laundering. We also learned that local developer and major Easley fundraiser Lanny Wilson was the “Wilmington financier” mentioned in the indictment who funneled thousands of dollars to the Easley campaign, and provided Poole with free chartered flights to Costa Rica and even his bachelor’s party in New Orleans, among other goodies. In return, according to the report, Wilson got a seat on the N.C. Board of Transportation, where he allegedly helped speed the permitting process for developments that he had financial interests in.

Then on Saturday we learned that the three former owners of S & W concrete—including the current president of the company Harry Shaw—purchased an office building from Lanny Wilson, Wilson’s sister, and another local developer and Easley friend and fundraiser, Nick Garrett, in July 2008. S & W Concrete was purchased by Titan Cement in 2007. The former and current S&W officers paid twice the appraised tax value for the property at the bottom of the commercial real estate market the same exact month emails were flying around Raleigh between Titan’s officers, Titan’s lobbyist and state regulators about how to avoid the State Environmental Policy Act. SEPA, which delays all permits pending a review of the cumulative impacts of projects that have major impacts on the environment and public health, has been a thorn in Titan’s craw since the project was announced. It initially applied to the Titan project, but then the requirement was mysteriously removed from it just months after Easley’s local fundraisers—one of whom sat on the Board of Transportation and apparently had a habit of greasing permitting skids--made a $850,000 profit above the appraised value of an office building thanks to the boys from S & W Concrete, including the current president who still works for Titan Cement.

Oh, and lest we forget, the indicted Ruffin Poole was—until his unfortunate legal troubles—a lobbyist for the firm of McGuire-Woods, where his former boss Mike Easley is also employed, as is Titan’s chief lobbyist, John Merritt, who is Easley’s former chief of staff.

It’s a small world. All the more reason Governor Perdue should delay any permits for Titan Cement until the SBI investigation is over and the Grand Jury has finished handing down indictments in the Easley matter. Because where there’s smoke….there’s likely a big belching cement plant somewhere nearby.

Stay Tuned….

Your friends at,
StopTitan.org