This just in over the wires for you to add to your comments to DAQ Chief Keith Overcash and Governor Bev Perdue on Titan's draft air permit.

Yesterday, October 21, the New York law firm of Labaton Sucharow, LLC, filed a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for South Florida against Titan Cement and several other cement manufacturers alleging a major price-fixing scandal. According to Reuters, Titan and the other companies allegedly conspired to artificially inflate the price of cement. The law firm filed the large class-action suit on behalf of all purchasers of Portland cement or Ready-Mix concrete in the state of Florida since 2000.

Jay Himes, co-chair of the law firm's anti-trust division and former top anti-trust lawyer for New York's Attorney General, told Reuters Business Wire, "We intend to vigorously prosecute on behalf of our clients that have been hurt as a result of this major price fixing scandal." [emphasis added]

Other companies targeted in the lawsuit along with Titan include some of the biggest names in the business:  Cemex, Holcim, Lafarge, Lehigh, Suwannee American, Florida Rock Industries, and Votorantim Cimentos.

Any local builder or developer who thinks Titan will provide them with a "cheap" supply of cement, should think again, as should anyone who believes this company will be a "good corporate citizen." Their actions at the hearing (busing in out of state ringers) and this new lawsuit should show everyone Titan's true colors.

Read all about it on Reuters at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS186981+22-Oct-2009+BW20091022

See the actual lawsuit here:
http://stoptitan.org/uploads/titan_suit.pdf

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Larry Limestone  - cement companies / price fixing   |2009-10-22 17:29:27 Congratulations to y'all for the great turnout at the hearing last night. We had the same number of folks turn out for our big hearing in Hudson, NY, back in the 1990's when we fighting the same battle. Everything I'm hearing about your situation is the same as what we experienced up here. At the public hearing, we outnumbered the cementoids 11-1, and the only people who spoke in favor of the plant were either company employees or others that the firm had transported in by bus for the occasion. They even had a hot dog grill out in the parking lot for their people, and free T-shirts. It was pathetic. Price fixing is extremely common in the cement industry. There have been some huge cases in Europe where the cement producers have been fined hundreds of millions of dollars. The strange thing is that they keep doing it, which says to me that the penalties aren't stiff enough to alter their behavior. Hang in there, you're doing a great job of defending your community. With the lousy economy, it might not take too much to discourage Titan management from going ahead with this project. For the corporate honchos back in Greece, it's all about dollars and cents, and if they conclude that getting this plant approved and built is going to be too long an ordeal, they will bail out before they invest too much $$ in the project. No doubt Titan is keenly aware of what happened up here in NY state. St. Lawrence Cement spent $58 million on their proposed plant over a period of six years, and never got a single operating permit. It's also worth remembering that by putting up a good fight, you're sending the message that even if Titan got their permits, they would be operating in a community that would be on their case 24/7, monitoring their activities and generally making life miserable (and expensive) for the company. The last thing Titan wants to deal with is a determined and vigilant bunch of people who won't stand for abusive corporate behavior. And keep hammering on the economics-- too often these fights boil down to "the environment vs. good jobs," when in fact there is very little upside to having a cement plant in your locale. If any public officials in NC want to come up here and see the impact of the cement industry on the local economy, I'm more than happy to offer a guided tour. The cement towns here in the Hudson Valley are the most rundown, economically depressed places in our area. They are economic dead zones. Within 8 miles of my house there are 3 abandoned cement plants, and we're stuck with the crumbllng, rusting wreckage-- the companies haven't spent a dime on cleanup and maintenance of their former sites. The landscape is scarred by deep quarries, which are now surrounded by "no trespassing" signs. If you'd like a glimpse of what cement operations look like, search Google images. Imagine this in your community: http://www.alpena.mi.us/photographs/arial/3_12.JPG Reply | Quote 1 0

2-240   |2009-10-23 20:34:51 Larry, Having lived in upstate you must know about the lack of a building boom and the severe taxes that you pay for everything. These are probably two of the largest reasons for towns being desolate; Local economies are fueled by business that produce products. You cannot have service industries if there aren't any manufacturing businesses. No profitable plants will make no jobs; no jobs will make people move away. Check out basic economics. How many years has it been since any business moved into the Hudson valley? Reply | Quote 0 0

Ian Oeschger   |2009-10-24 11:56:56 2-240 - The "basic economics" of this particular region are about more than a few cement jobs and the simplistic attract-manufacturers-to-grow approach you're advocating. There's a giant net loss in your equation that few pro-Titan people admit. This coastal area already attracts WAY more business from fishermen, tourism, technologists, entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, small business people, semi-retired executives still keeping their hand in local projects, mobile IT workers, mobile salespeople, artists, architects, professors, and the like than it does from manufacturing. All these groups and many others are absolutely sensitive to environmental issues and the educational and cultural disadvantages that flow from them. And their numbers are growing by leaps and bounds. Alienating these groups of people in order to curry favor with industry is obviously not a gain in terms of real prosperity or quality of life -- and it's not even an economic gain. Reply | Quote 1 0

kelly stryker   |2009-10-22 16:59:07 I just want to know how much longer folks like Mr. Warwick, Commissioner Greer, Commissioner Castor, Chamber of Commerce members and the rest can continue to stand up publicly for Titan? If not compelled by all the concerns put forth by environmental scientists and lawyers, or the 240 + local docs, or the 4000 + citizens like me, (including the reams of information and data on this website) than this new development pretty much squashes the last two remaining reasons to support them.....1)Titan--the great company with great values-- and 2) Titan will bring our builders and contractors a local, cheap source of cement. Scratch those two and what's left?......Nada! Reply | Quote 1 0

Larry Limestone   |2009-10-26 14:20:41 Dear 2-240, I'm all for manufacturing, and you're right-- we need good jobs. What I'm NOT for is huge, dirty industries run by foreign corporations. There's a difference. Reply | Quote 1 0

ck   |2009-10-30 11:59:37 I bet the new Olive Garden employs at least 60 people. Reply | Quote 0 0

Joyce Faircloth   |2009-11-03 19:01:53 Hi, I live in Perry, Georgia. Today, in Houston County our Board of Commissioners voted to rezone 854 acres from suburban residental to M-2 for limestone mining. This action comes right at the heels of the same local developer who also signed a joint venture aggreement with Votorantim Cement NA to mine & build a $200M cement plant on another 2000+ acres in Houston County. That too was approved by the county. If that's not bad enough, both of these operations will be in addition to CEMEX who is also operating on 2000+ acres in Houston County. At today's meeting, they bused in over 200 people. Those of us in opposition were totally unprepared for such tactics. We need help!! Fast!! Any advice? Reply | Quote 0 0

Julie Hurley  - Friends of the Lower Cape Fear   |2009-11-05 06:49:32 Joyce, Just give a call to 800-852-5593 or send your note above in e-mail form to "contactus@stoptitan.org. Someone will get back to you right away. Reply | Quote 0 0

Alexander   |2009-11-06 17:36:46 Joyce, Please read over the following Polluters Battle Plan. You will be seeing many of its features in your local battle. It must be required reading in Cement Plant Plant Politics 101 since every cement plant uses the same plan. Good luck. The Polluters Battle Plan Community Selection: Find a place where you will run into the least opposition ~ target a “Cerrell” community. (21 years ago the California Waste Management Board paid Cerrell Associates half a million dollars to define communities that won’t resist siting of LULUs [ Local Undesirable Land Use]. Cerrell provides important proof that siting is 99% politics and 1% science) The Cerrell study says: Lease Likely to Resist: Southern/Midwestern Rural Open to promises of economic benefits Conservative Above middle age High school or less education Low income Catholics Not involved in social issues Old-time residents (20 years +) “Nature exploitive occupations” (farming, ranching, mining) Most Likely to Resist: Northeastern, western, California Urban Don’t care or benefits are minor concern Liberal, welfare state Young and middle aged College educated Middle and upper income Activist Residents for 5 – 20 years Professional occupations Scope out the opposition: __ monitor news media to identify community activists __ assess potential opponents past behavior __ determine their self-interests and vulnerabilities __ keep good, up to date files on opponents __ determine their sources of funding, if any __ find out who their friends are Don’t’ waste time or money trying to win over the NIMBYs: __ follow all of the steps in #2, scooping out the opposition, plus: __ involve them in the process, painlessly, through devices like Citizens Advisory Committees __ take them on trips to see “models” on which our LULU will be based __ find out what they need (or would like) and promise it (jobs, money for schools, public services, free trash service, direct grants to the community, increased tax base, donations for community projects, museums, the arts, etc.) __ determine what benefits they will get from the LULU and make sure they understand what’s in it for them. __ find backers who have “name appeal”, who will sway others __ get opinion-shapers and community leaders bought in by offering them shares in the project either at reduced cost or for free, or promise them jobs or business for their companies or economic benefits for the community in general Let our allies take on the NIMBYs for us. Use sophisticated public relations methods: __ use quality public relations materials, the slicker the better __ use our greater resources by use of the media through paid ads in local newspapers, television and radio __ have good, well-trained people representing us. Recruit tired, disgruntled staff from environmental groups who are tired of working for public interest wages __ use quality audio-visual materials (videos, slidetape, displays, movies) __ prepare and distribute quality materials for the children and donate them to local schools. Cartoon or coloring books are an excellent tool. Keep the debate focused on our agenda and make the NIMBYs react: __ create a sense of the inevitable with remarks like, “it’s got to go somewhere” __ speed up the process, or at least create the impression the process is moving along rapidly to keep the NIMBYs on edge __ emphasize every single step of the process so NIMBYs see each stage as a life-or-death situation __ bring in and keep in the forefront an array of “bi-lingual” technical experts (who can speak plainly when appropriate, but are good at scientific double talk) __ only do battle with the NIMBYs in forums that are either friendly (e.g. government-run public hearings) or controlled by us __ have hearings and meetings held in rooms that are much, much larger than the anticipated crowd, it makes it look like not many people are concerned __ do all we can to subtly avoid meeting the NIMBY... Reply | Quote 0 1

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