WILMINGTON – The N.C. Coastal Federation needs your help to persuade Gov. Beverly Perdue to freeze all permitting for the cement plant that Titan America is proposing to build north of Wilmington on the Northeast Cape Fear River.
In a letter to Purdue, the federation and two other conservation groups have asked for the delay while the State Bureau of Investigation looks into possible permit irregularities. Perdue ordered the review last year.

Recent media reports have detailed questionable campaign fundraising tactics used by former governor Mike Easley. A federal indictment of a top Easley aide said they contributed to a “pay-to-play” culture that allowed big-money contributors to influence environmental permitting decisions. See our website for more details. Those revelations, we note in our letter to Purdue, call into question actions taken by the N.C. Department of the Environment and Natural Resources regarding the Titan proposal. It, for instance, waived a requirement that projects like Titan’s undergo a comprehensive environmental review before state permits are issued. We have asked the N.C. Superior Court in Wake County the review that decision. Because of the revelations, the public has lost confidence that the department acted in the best interests of our coastal environment.

We urge you to support our efforts by contacting the governor’s office and request:

• That the state not issues any environmental permits for Titan until the SBI investigation is concluded and until the state Superior Court has ruled on our lawsuit.
• Direct the N.C. Division of Air Quality, which issued a draft air permit for Titan, to comply with the federal Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency regulations for pollution controls for cement plants that will take effect in June. The draft permit violates the Clean Air Act because it does not require Titan to control its emissions to the “maximum degree of reduction” that is achievable. This violation will mean that people in southeastern North Carolina will be exposed to more than 1,000 tons of polluted air each day.

You can write Perdue at the Office of the Governor, 20301 Mail Service Center, Raleigh 27699-0301. You can also email her.

Also send your comments to Tate Johnson, the director of Perdue’s Eastern Regional Office: 233 Middle St., O’Marks Building Suite 211, New Bern; 252-514-4825.
For further information contact Mike Giles, the federation’s Cape Fear Coastkeeper®, at 910-790-3275 or email him.

Read the PDF for this action alert here: Action Alert: Urge the Governor to Delay All Action on Titan (PDF)