- Environmental groups file case in Wake Superior Court!
- EPA rules CO2 (from cement plants, among others) endangers human health!
- Surfrider hangs ten (benjamins) on the Stoptitan wave!
Call it our own Pelican Brief. On Wednesday, December 9, lawyers representing the North Carolina Coastal Federation, Cape Fear Riverwatch, and PenderWatch and Conservancy filed suit in Wake Superior Court, contesting the decision by state agencies to allow Titan Cement to skirt the State Environmental Policy Act of 1971, which states in part:
“Every State agency shall include in every recommendation or report on any action involving expenditure of public moneys or use of public land for projects and programs significantly affecting the quality of the environment of this State, a detailed statement by the responsible official setting forth the following: - The environmental impact of the proposed action;
- Any significant adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented;
- Mitigation measures proposed to minimize the impact;
- Alternatives to the proposed action;
- The relationship between the short term uses of the environment involved in the proposed action and the maintenance and enhancement of long term productivity; and
- Any irreversible and irretrievable environmental changes which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented.”
As many of you know, SEPA--which would hold all state permits until the federal EIS process is complete-- was required of the Titan project when it was first proposed but was mysteriously removed months later after intensive lobbying by the company. DENR officials contend that since Titan won’t get their $4.2 million of our tax dollars until after the plant is up and polluting—and the damage to our health and environment just beginning--then SEPA doesn’t apply! Yet a time table for public payoffs to companies is nowhere in the Act—and turns the legislation on its head. If that’s all companies have to do to get out of SEPA, then why wouldn’t they all just have their public checks post-dated to avoid a comprehensive environmental review?
Let’s hope the judge has more sense than our DENR officials. Read all about it in the N&O here: http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/state/story/233871.html . And stay tuned for more plot developments.
Also this week, the Environmental Protection Agency declared greenhouse gas emissions—which the coal-burning Titan Cement plant would be a major source—threaten the public health and welfare of the American people. The long-expected ruling comes after a 2007 Supreme Court decision that found carbon dioxide could be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Read all about the new decision here: http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/08d11a451131bca585257685005bf252!OpenDocument The move also comes after a September EPA proposal that would require large industrial facilities like Titan to get construction and operating permits to cover their greenhouse gas emissions. The companies would have to use best available control technologies to minimize GHG emissions when the facility is built. Titan thus far has no controls on its C02 emissions—nor has DAQ required them to. Just one more example of why your local regulators don’t protect you—even when you live in one of the regions of the country most vulnerable to sea level rise from climate change.
Read all about it here:
http://climateprogress.org/2009/09/30/big-breaking-news-new-epa-rule-will-require-use-of-best-technologies-to-reduce-greenhouse-gases-from-large-facilities-when-constructed-or-significantly-modified-small-businesses-and-farms-exe/
And last but certainly not least, early this month our da kine local Surfrider Foundation Cape Fear Chapter donated $1,000 to the StopTitan cause! Mahalo and many thanks to our fellow watermen and women for their generous gift. Like most of the ocean-loving residents of this area, they don’t want to breathe mercury, arsenic, hydrochloric acid, or any other toxic Titan emission when the wind turns light and off-shore from the northwest—straight from Castle Hayne.
And remember, all donations to StopTitan.org/Friends of the Lower Cape Fear are now tax-deductible! So if you’ve got some loose change lying around and want to send it to us instead of Uncle Sam, we’d be delighted to put it to good use in the Titan fight. Just use the quick and easy pay-pal or snail-mail it to the address below.
And as the holidays approach, we’d like to leave you with a few words of inspiration: “The General Assembly of North Carolina, recognizing the profound influence of man's activity on the natural environment, and desiring, in its role as trustee for future generations, to assure that an environment of high quality will be maintained for the health and well being of all, declares that it shall be the continuing policy of the State of North Carolina to conserve and protect its natural resources and to create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony. Further, it shall be the policy of the State to seek, for all of its citizens, safe, healthful, productive and aesthetically pleasing surroundings; to attain the widest range of beneficial uses of the environment without degradation, risk to health or safety; and to preserve the important historic and cultural elements of our common inheritance. (§ 113A 3. Declaration of State environmental policy.1971, c. 1203, s. 3.)
Happy Holidays from your friends and neighbors at…
StopTitan.org
Friends of the Lower Cape Fear
PO Box 11067
Wilmington NC 28404
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