• Reach the Beach 2010
• Titan Update
  

Reach the Beach 2010

A big Thank You to all the Sponsors, volunteers, participants, vendors, and musicians that came out to support this year’s Reach The Beach event! What a great day!

We’ve posted all the names of folks who helped make this year’s event such a huge success on the stoptitan.org website. We're collecting photos too, so please check it out and send some if you got 'em. Not only did the Reach the Beach bring the community together for fun in the sun, but it also raised around $10,000 dollars for the cause!

Titan Update

Judge Stephen’s recent court ruling ordering Titan to follow SEPA has left many wondering what’s next in this fight? It’s safe to say Titan doesn’t pay their lawyers and lobbyist to sit around and do nothing, so we expect there will be some news within a couple of weeks about where this fight is headed. Will Titan appeal? Will Governor Perdue support the court order invoking SEPA and stand by our community’s repeated pleas to assess all impacts from this heavy pollution industry BEFORE any permits are issued? This is a critical time for our community and we need to make sure our voices are heard on this important ruling. So, here’s what we’re asking you to do:

Call or write Governor Perdue today. Ask her point blank if she’s going to support the recent court ruling. Ask her if she’s going to stand with our community or allow Titan to re-write our laws. Remember, Titan is trying to spin this as a debate about jobs when it’s really a debate about big polluters trying to avoid a critical environmental review. It’s about knowing exactly how this one industry will impact the economic drivers of our coastal region: our local fishing and tourism industries; our drinking water, our local wildlife and wetlands; the children who attend schools nearby; and the quality of life we all enjoy. Remember, the cement industry is the 3^rd largest source of industrial pollution in the nation and the 4^th largest source of mercury, according to the EPA.

We’re not talking about a flower farm—we’re talking about 50 years or more of open-pit mining and toxic air emissions in our Cape Fear region. Just turn on the TV and look at the devastation caused by the BP oil spill in the Gulf. Big corporations know how to use their money and political influence to get around important environmental reviews and regulations. Time is money, delays worry investors, and pollution controls cut into profits, so companies like Titan and BP use their political connections to avoid strict regulations and environmental reviews that will delay their projects. Just look at Titan’s draft air permit. Despite repeated claims that they will have the cleanest plant in the US, their permit doesn’t even comply with the stricter emission standards that will be finalized by the EPA in less than a month. Why? Because it will cost them money and they’re hoping lobbyists for the Portland Cement Association—which has a Titan officer on its board--can convince EPA to weaken the proposed regulations. It’s not that Titan can’t comply with the Federal laws---it’s that they don’t want to comply. It’s the same issue locally. It’s not that Titan can’t comply with SEPA, they simply don’t want to---so guess who has to force them? We do. The lawyers working on behalf of our community from the Southern Environmental Law Center and Duke Environmental Law & Policy Clinic have won this important first round in the legal battle to force Titan to comply with the state environmental policy act. Now, it’s our turn.

Please call or write Governor Perdue today. If you call, ask to speak to one of her policy advisers and ask specifically if the Governor intends to support the recent court order on SEPA. If you are writing a letter, ask the same question and make sure you ask for a reply.

Mailing Address for Governor Bev Perdue:

Governor Bev Perdue
20301 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-0301
Phone: (919)733-4240
Fax: (919)733-2120

And letters to the editor always help keep the issue out front so when you have a minute, pen a letter to one or all of the following papers:

Links for sending letters to local and state papers:

Star News online Opinion

News & Observer Opinion

Charlotte Observer Opinion

Until the next update, keep up the fight. And as always, a great big THANK YOU for taking the time and effort to make the Cape Fear Region a better place to live.

Your Friends at:
StopTitan.org / Friends of the Lower Cape Fear