In its formal comments to the North Carolina Department of Air Quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave a blistering critique of the draft air permit for the proposed Titan Cement Plant in Castle Hayne. In its three page letter, the federal agency ticked off numerous places where Titan’s draft permit was “significantly less stringent” than EPA’s proposed emission limits for cement kilns—such as allowing Titan to emit eight times more mercury and placing no limits on hydrochloric acid at all. They went on to state that the weak permit and emissions controls proposed by Titan could significantly contribute to future violations of National Ambient Air Quality standards for the Wilmington region.

EPA also formally asked DAQ to explain why the state agency isn’t requiring Titan to comply with the new tougher federal regulations—the same question we’ve been asking DAQ all along. You can read EPA’s full comments here (PDF).

It seems readily apparent, as Patrick Duggan of the Duke Law Clinic noted at the public hearing, that the Titan plant will not only be one of the largest cement plant in the U.S., but it will also be one of the “dirtiest new plants” in the nation.

DON’T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT!

Follow EPA’s example and give DAQ both barrels by sending them your own comments TODAY! We have until November 20^th to swamp DAQ with comments from concerned citizens so they know, in no uncertain terms, what this area thinks about this high polluting, low-tech industry. Click here to send your comments online. Then print and mail your comments to DAQ just to be sure they get them. Feel free to use EPA’s letter, or any of the other expert comments or talking points posted on the Stoptitan site (link to public comments here), or just speak from the heart, and tell DAQ why you think this air permit will seriously degrade the air quality for you, your children, or your grandchildren. Make it a family affair! Turn off the TV one night and get everyone in your house to write or email DAQ—as an exercise in participatory democracy!

The home-made sign at the public hearing on Titan’s draft air permit said it all:

Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Breath!

And definitely plan to join us at Atlantic Seafood in Hampstead, Saturday, November 14, from 10-3, for a fish-fry fundraiser (PDF) for the StopTitan effort to help defray the costs of challenging Titan’s permit. Details are here (link to flyer). The folks at the family-owned and operated Atlantic Seafood—part of the state’s billion-dollar fishing business—are adamantly opposed to any industry adding one more drop of mercury into one of our greatest natural and economic resources—our commercial and recreational fisheries. Come enjoy live music, raffle items, and some of the best local seafood our area has to offer for just $5 a plate! And bring all your fishing buddies with you, big or small.

Tickets are available at Atlantic Seafood, (intersection of Highway 17 and 210) and will soon be available on the website and several businesses in town. We’ll post a list this week.

But make sure you send your comments in first--because North Carolina fish always taste better after putting up a good fight.

See you there.
Your friends at

StopTitan.org
Friends of the Lower Cape Fear.

Last night’s public hearing on Titan’s draft air permit could not have made me prouder of my community. Our rough headcount tallied 1,500 people attending the two public hearings held at the North Campus of Cape Fear Community College, with about 80 to 90 percent opposed to Titan’s permit. A virtual red tide of citizens demanded that DAQ reject the weak draft air permit on numerous legal, technical, and environmental grounds.

Titan has so little local support they had to bring in dozens of ringers, employees, and contractors from Virginia and South Carolina, who took up enough speaking slots from local residents that the DAQ hearing officer limited public comments to two minutes—which we later learned from Duke law professor Michelle Nowlin was a violation of North Carolina’s public hearing laws. Many people waited for more than an hour to get a seat in the packed auditorium which was standing-room only for both hearings.

I guess it’s not surprising that a dirty industry would pull such dirty tricks. About a dozen local residents and former Ideal Cement plant workers expressed legitimate concerns about the need for jobs in our area. Then there were the usual suspects associated with the WID/Committee of 100 that lured Titan here in the first place, including County Commissioners Bobby Greer and Bill Caster who gave them $4.2 million of our hard-earned money. This is the group who is convinced that a net of 48 jobs for the county is worth turning our airshed and aquifer into a toxic tailpipe. Most of the pro-Titan speakers, however seemed to be either on Titan’s payroll, on Titan’s bus, or represented companies that stood to gain financially if Titan’s plant is built.

Sorry for the delay in getting out this update, but it took 12 days for the folks at NC Division of Air Quality to clarify a few critical details about the draft permit---like what the annual emissions will be! But we have the data now and will post it on our website soon, or you can pore over the permit yourself at http://daq.state.nc.us/permits/psd/titan.shtml and see what they’ve got in store for our children’s lungs.

First some housecleaning. Donations to Friends of the Lower Cape Fear are now officially tax-deductible! So send us whatever you can to keep the ball rolling. Air permit experts have been hired, environmental lawyers are working on legal issues and water experts will start summarizing the impacts of Titan’s estimated 7-10 Million gallons of daily water removal from our aquifer. Remember, we’re all volunteers here so every penny you send goes straight to the cause.

Second, come on out to the Cypress Festival and Greenfield Lake tomorrow (Saturday) to help support the Cape Fear River Keeper who are heavily involved in the Titan fight. We’ll have a booth with bumper stickers, yard signs, buttons and lots of info about Titan and the upcoming permit hearings. Drop by and say hello!

Now for the Draft Permit.