Titan Cement

From Titan Cement, of course.

"We're going to follow the rules," said Bob Odom, general manager for Carolinas Cement, Titan's regional subsidiary. "We are willing to do that, and we want to do that."

We want to do that? Really funny, Bob.

You almost feel sorry for Bob Odom, the general manager of Titan Cement. He has the job of putting lipstick on a Titanic pig, and has found himself on the wrong side of the Southern Environmental Law Center.

If you don't know SELC, you should. They're one of the most effective environmental organizations in America, using the power of the law to kick butt and take names. In my view, they're brilliant.

Just what North Carolina needs: another "model" corporate citizen

And time and again its executives have said one thing while simultaneously working furiously to get around the very rules they pledged to abide by.

Titan America—the Greek cement manufacturer hoping to get an air permit from North Carolina’s Division of Air Quality—likes to tout the estimated 160 jobs their super-sized cement plant will create if they are allowed to build near Wilmington, North Carolina. But according to a new report conducted by a leading industry consultant based in Fairfax, Virginia, the Titan plant will be creating much more than jobs for the good citizens of the Cape Fear region.

The study issued last week details a host of serious public health impacts, as well as millions of dollars in health care costs associated with Titan’s pollution.

Here are the details:

The first two hearings will be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday at the McKeithan Center on the North Campus of Cape Fear Community College, 4500 Blue Clay Road, Castle Hayne. The third hearing will be held from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday in the Kenan Auditorium at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Road.

I've been pretty impressed with the Star's coverage of a wide range of issues (including Titan), but to write an article about an upcoming public hearing, without mentioning that two citizens who previously spoke out are facing a SLAPP suit for doing so, is (at best) a gargantuan oversight:

In recent months, North Carolina's coastal areas have been caught in a swirl of threat from two well-heeled industrial polluters, PCS Phosphates and Titan Cement. In the face of massive public resistance to its plans to operate on public land, the leaders of PCS Phosphates wisely backed down, deciding to search for a location where, we hope, their toxic impacts will be less damaging.

Titan Cement, on the other hand, has given the old one-finger salute to the people of North Carolina, and more specifically, to the residents of the Cape Fear River basin.

As Democracy North Carolina observes, Titan has a long history of (expletive deleted) to get its way. It has even filed lawsuits to quash criticism by community organizers, and has recently secured approval of a draft air-pollution permit.

Received this letter via email today. It's hard to argue with the logic.
__________________________________________

Dear Governor Perdue:

My reaction was one of surprise when I read how you swiftly and effectively stepped in and stopped PCS Phosphates from building their plant in Morehead City. Try to imagine how coastal residents like me would feel reading a story about how our governor intervened to protect the citizens because she “was responding to concerns of local residents ... about overwhelming opposition to the proposal”. Imagine how the thousands of folks living here in New Hanover County who have written you letters, called your office, rallied, volunteered, pleaded with your staff, gathered petitions, collected supporting scientific data and asked you to meet with them feel after reading this news.

While it is certainly inspiring to see democracy at work in Carteret County and we are all happy to see our governor step in to protect the interests of the citizens she represents, I can’t help but wonder why you would intervene on their behalf and yet refuse to address the Titan Cement issue for the past two and a half years. Clearly, the impacts of PCS Phosphates don’t come close to the impacts a massive cement plant would have on a community, and yet the citizen outcry that compelled you to get involved in Morehead did not do the same further down the coast.

The ask:

Dear Governor Perdue,

My name is Kayne Darrell. I am the founder of a grassroots movement called Citizens Against Titan and the recent victim of Titan Cement’s SLAPP lawsuit. I am writing to request a meeting with you. I am aware that your advisors have met with several of the groups opposing Titan. However, I would like you to hear from the citizens; those of us who believe we have a voice in what happens in our community and the right to expect our elected officials do everything in their power to protect the air we breathe, the water we drink and most especially to protect our health and the health of our children. Over 10,000 citizens in New Hanover and Pender County have signed a petition stating their opposition to Titan Cement. This is not some on-line petition drive. These are actual signed names on paper, collected from dedicated volunteers who talked to their neighbors – one on one – about the impacts this heavy polluting industry will have on our community.

Got a simple little story for you today of a multinational corporation that wants to build a great big cement plant in North Carolina really, really, bad, and the local opposition to what appears to be a corrupt and distorted decision process.