Home In the News
Local News

There's a lot of buzz about cement plants, pollution, activism, and Stop Titan right now. We post items we find here. Send link suggestions to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it !
Display # 
1   Link   State lawmakers weaken 39-year-old environmental rule
July 8, 2010: Lumina News provides a good summary in this article of the actions surrounding NC House Bill 1973, which aims to nullify SEPA application to projects receiving taxpayer incentives. The following two articles also report on this issue.
2   Link   Lawmakers look to end environmental roadblock for heavy industries
State legislators are working to make it easier for companies given economic incentives to locate to NC by creating legislation limiting the application of the N.C. Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). If approved, this will mean state provided economic incentives to companies for job creation and investment will no longer trigger SEPA, which requires environmental review before permits are issued for projects greatly impacting the environment and using public money and land.
3   Link   Environmental reviews tempered
July 2010: Senators voted to pass a bill changing North Carolina's environmental law so fewer industrial developments will be required to undergo comprehensive environmental reviews. The bill has moved to the House for consideration.
4   Link   We Share the Blame for Oil Spill
The oil spill in the Gulf is not just a result of BP negligence. It is also the fault of the American public. Letter to the Editor asks us to take stake in our community, especially relevant to stopping Titan Cement.
5   Link   Titan moves forward without attorney general
Cement-maker Titan America will be alone in appealing last month’s Superior Court ruling, the one that applied a lengthy environmental review to its proposed facility and rock quarry in New Hanover County.

That is because the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office has decided not to join Titan in appellate proceedings.
6   Link   Full Airing (News & Observer)
It takes cement to make concrete, and it will take state-granted permits to authorize the big new cement plant - fourth-largest in the nation - that Titan America plans to build near Wilmington. Now the permit-granting process seems to be getting some much-needed scrutiny in a Raleigh courtroom.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/04/10/430328/full-airing.html?storylink=misearch#ixzz0kytlkpKT
7   Link   U.S. Senate candidate: Slow down Titan permit (Star News Watchdogs)
Elaine Marshall, currently the secretary of state under Gov. Beverly Perdue and a candidate for U.S. Senate,has weighed in the Titan, and she wants it slowed down.
8   Link   Upon further reflection | BlueNC
9   Link   Further steps urged before state permits New Hanover cement plant (News & Observer)
A hearing officer reviewing the plans for a proposed cement factory in New Hanover County said the state and the company should do more work before permits are granted.

In a report issued Thursday, hearing officer Paul K. Muller said the state needs more information on how Titan America will control pollution from the plant it wants to build in Castle Hayne. The Division of Air Quality is considering a permit for the plant, which would produce 2 million tons of cement each year along with pounds of poisonous byproducts. Muller, the supervisor in the division's Asheville office, reviewed the state's draft air permit and public comments on it.
10   Link   Hearing officer recommends state slow Titan review
An air quality regulator tasked with reviewing public comments on the proposed Titan America Cement plant recommended the state review its decision to proceed with issuing an air permit for the controversial project before a larger environmental review is complete.
11   Link   BREAKING NEWS: State regulator wants more analysis of Titan’s emissions (Lumina News)
A state regulator wants the North Carolina Division of Air Quality (DAQ) to hold back on permitting Titan America's proposed Castle Hayne cement facility and review the implications of mercury emissions on public health.
12   Link   Opponents' agenda (News & Observer)
The battle to stop Titan Cement from locating to our beloved coast gains momentum daily. New Hanover County commissioners have received a petition from nearly 6,000 people who oppose Titan. As we learn more, opposition grows.
13   Link   Stringent smog standards open new chapter in Titan debate - Lumina News
Stringent smog standards recently proposed by the federal government have opened another chapter in the debate of Titan America and its prospects in New Hanover County.

By announcing the proposal in January, the federal government has brought into focus a shift in critics’ ire for what they argue is North Carolina’s propensity for issuing permits before rigorous environmental standards are finalized.
14   Link   Editorial - Piecemeal reports on Titan's impact inadequate (Star News editorial)
Exhibit A in the argument for doing comprehensive environmental reviews for proposed industrial plants instead of issuing permits piecemeal:

The head of North Carolina's Division of Water Quality wrote the head of the Air Quality Division last month to let him know that the Northeast Cape Fear River can't take any more mercury – which may make it more difficult for Titan Cement to get a discharge permit for its Castle Hayne plant.
15   Link   Protesters rally against proposed cement plant
WILMINGTON – Protesters in New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick counties rallied together Monday for a group known as Citizens Against Titan.

The grassroots group is protesting Titan America's proposed cement plant, which opponents say would harm air and water quality. Members went door-to-door collecting almost 6,000 signatures and handed the petition over to county commissioners during their Monday meeting.
16   Link   Titan’s mines shut down when county issued incentives
Titan America’s subsidiary in Florida had its mining operations partially closed down after it was linked to contamination in Miami-Dade’s water supply at the same time New Hanover County was vetting the company for a $4.2 million incentive package, according to news reports and court documents.

U.S. District Court Judge William Hoeveler issued an injunction on July 13, 2007 against Titan’s Florida subsidiary, Tarmac America, ordering it to cease all lime rock mining activity because its quarry on a Miami-Dade well field had been linked to contamination.
17   Link   River's mercury level may bar permit (News & Observer)
The river near a proposed cement plant in New Hanover County can't tolerate any more mercury pollution, state officials say, a judgment that could block the controversial factory from opening.

The state environmental agency is considering permits for the plant planned for Castle Hayne near the already mercury-tainted Northeast Cape Fear River. The factory built by Titan America would produce a number of pollutants, including mercury.
18   Link   E-mail trail shows Titan officials sought state and county help (Lumina News)
Marino Papazoglou, a Titan America official, sought help from New Hanover County and North Carolina in jumping a potential hurdle for his company.

Titan’s counsel, attorney George W. House, informed Papazoglou in an e-mail dated July 22, 2008, that if a state or county incentive package involved writing a check—which it does—the State Environmental Policy Act, better known as SEPA, would trigger a top-to-bottom review, delaying Titan’s permits until the review could be completed.
19   Link   Cement site - Opinion - NewsObserver
"All this arises because of e-mails between state officials, a lobbyist and officials of Titan America, which plans a major cement-producing facility in Castle Hayne, near Interstate 40 north of Wilmington. The e-mails center on whether a comprehensive state environmental review (known as SEPA) should be required - our view is that it should be, although the state says it is not. But the incentives issue dovetailed into the permits question."
20   Link   Easley fund-raisers sold building to Titan executive (Star News)
A corporation that shares an address and president with a Titan America subsidiary bought a Wilmington office building for more than twice its tax value from Democratic fund-raisers under scrutiny by state and federal prosecutors.
«StartPrev1234NextEnd»
Page 1 of 4