Resident organization hopes to stop Titan Cement plant

For those of you that are concerned about the current and future state of the environment here in southeastern NC, come and see what Titan Cement plans to do. Meeting tonight, Thurday May 29, from 6pm-7:30pm at the Northeast New Hanover County Library, on Military Cutoff Road. CONA will meet in the Pine Room with a presentation and a Q&A session for all those that want to know more. Please come and get informed! Your children's and grand children's future is at stake.

UNCW Campus meeting garnered almost 900 signatures in opposition to the polluting of a famous watershed and further degradation of what we need to keep our area clean and green. Many more signing up online, don't be the only one that hasn't read up on what we are talking about. http://stoptitan.org/ We now have an alliance of fishermen that depend on the local oysters and shrimp for their livelihoods working with state government to oppose this dirty industry as something that will only hurt the local livelihood that they depend on. Marine fisheries are on board with industry not polluting the waters that we harvest the oysters that we eat. Thanks everyone for your support. Please keep sending the petition site around to everyone you know. Success start with one person! You! There are flyers that can be printed and mass produced on the site for everyone's benefit. http://stoptitan.org/ God bless you all. Thanks for your support. The next big day is Katy's on College Road, check the site for dates and information. Might be sponsoring a wet-T-Shirt competition on that night. Some feedback will help this idea blossom. 'Get wet for the environment!'

UNCW Campus meeting to be held at the Bell Tower Friday at noon people! Get the word out! bring your signs. This isn't just for us college students, we would like all that would join us to come out. Thanks everyone for your support. Please keep sending the petition site around to everyone you know. http://stoptitan.org/

Progress energy plant burns 700,000 tons of coal a week and your worried about a cement plant. Get over it. With the average wage being double it might just help our failing local economy. You tree huggers need to get a life.

UNCW Campus meeting to be held at the Bell Tower Friday at noon people! Get the word out! bring your signs. This isn't just for us college students, we would like all that would join us to come out. Thanks everyone for your support. Please keep sending the petition site around to everyone you know. http://stoptitan.org/

Major Concerns Mercury - Cement plants are one of the highest industrial emitters of mercury. In 2006 cement kilns pumped nearly 12,000 pounds of unregulated mercury emissions into the air. A recent lawsuit (announced in March 2008) forced the EPA to set limits on mercury emissions from cement plants, but the regulations will not be in force until late 2009. http://www.earthjustice.org/our_work/campaigns/cement-kilns.html Already, NC ranks among the top ten states with the highest mercury emissions from power plants. http://www.southernenvironment.org/newsroom/2006/04-13_fish_advisory.htm Mercury is deposited in surface waters and eventually ends up in our food supply. A recent study by the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio showed a statistically significant link between pounds of mercury released by industry and increased autism rates. It also shows, for the first time in scientific literature, an association between autism risk and the distance from the mercury source. Link to most recent study: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424120953.htm Chromium compounds, heavy metals linked to cancer that include Chromium 6 are emitted from cement kilns and are the subject of the movie Erin Brochovich. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-hex16apr16,0,152814.story Particulate Matter is a complex mixture of extremely fine airborne particles. Cement plants create the most damaging type of PM. When we inhale these tiny particles they are deposited deep into our lungs, causing respiratory and cardiovasuclar problems. A recent report estmates 30,000 premature adults deaths a year occur because of PM. For children, PM is even more dangerous. http://www.epa.gov/air/urbanair/ Hydrochloric Acid - A recent EPA report estimates that cement kilns emit more than 15,000 tons of hydrochloric acid (HCL) into our air each year. HCL is irritating and corrosive to any tissue it contacts and causes health problems ranging from throat irritation to swelling and spasm of the throat and lung tissues, leading to suffocation and even death. American Lung Association’s http://lungaction.org/lungusa/alert-description.tcl?alert_id=3495475 Ozone is a toxic gas found naturally in the upper atmosphere. However, cement kilns produce another type of ozone by emitting nitrogen dioxide and hydrocarbon vapors. When these are combined with heat from sunlight, they form a dangerous form of ground level ozone, also called smog. Smog is the hazy brownish drift you see with your naked eyes, a trademark of crowded cities like Los Angeles and Houston. The respiratory effects of smog have been well documented. http://www.epa.gov/air/urbanair/ Carbon dioxide from cement plants are responsible for 5 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions. In a study conducted last year by Yale, Johns Hopkins, and Columbia Universities among others, Wilmington was cited as one of ten mid-sized southeastern cities projected to have increasingly poorer air quality from increased carbon dioxide. The study did not include the addition of a large cement kiln in New Hanover County that would be a major contributor to smog and particulate matter. http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/heatadvisory/contents.asp Cement Kiln Dust (CKD) is a residual solid waste generated in the cement manufacturing process. It is not the gaseous emission that goes out the top of the kilns, but an entirely different form of toxic waste that resembles fine, grayish-white powder. The main components of CKD are alumina, silica, clay, and metallic oxides, but they may also contain trace amounts of dioxins and furans, cadmium, lead, selenium and radionuclides. Cancer risks of concern are from exposure to arsenic in CKD as well as certain dioxins. Contaminants in kiln dust can pose threats to human health through air particulates and polluted groundwater. In April 2008, air quality officials in Riverside, California, discovered that CKD stored at a TXI Cement plant had carried cancer-causing hexavalent chromium into nearby neighborhoods. http://www.envirotools.org/factsheets/community/update4.html Dioxins are emitted when tires are burned in cement kilns. Dioxins are among the worst known human carcinogens (cancer causing agents). Dioxins also affect the immune system, fertility, and children in the womb. http://www.ichetucknee.org/health.html Filed in Resources | Comments (0) We’re All Downwind There is no way to predict the associated drift of the “plume”/pollution impact zone of a cement kiln plant. Now there are 3 elementary schools that would be in the 5-mile danger zone. In Wilmington alone, there are 27 elementary schools in the 10-mile impact zone. Contaminated soils have been found within 30 miles of such industries, which covers much of New Hanover, Brunswick, Pender and Onslow Counties. Impacts on the community from this type of heavy industry are significant. Aside from exposing surrounding communities to hazardous and toxic materials, the cement plant will emit dust, have a visible plume of smoke and create noise. Additionally, similar plants elsewhere in the country experience approximately 35,000 inbound truck deliveries and 42,000 outbound truck deliveries each year. We aren’t the only ones trying to not be downwind of a big polluter. Take a look at other communities who are trying get free from the heavy pollution burden of cement kilns: * Downwinders at Risk, a citizens action group based in the Dallas area has been fighting cement plant emissions for years. You can read about their efforts and the local impacts. * New York and other states sue EPA over failure to regulate mercury

Jobs and industry are necessary to sustain our privileged way of life here in the states. But no one wants the most polluting industries, like a cement kiln, in their back yard. People often want things both ways when they can have it. I think New Hanover county is a small, bounded area with a very low, coastal environment that is least suited for heavy industry. Our roadway system has always been outdated and inadequate. The real question. Where the residents, or the voters if you will, well represented in the decision to "bribe" Titan America to come to Wilmington? I think NOT.

Maybe this won't be as bad as dumping raw sewage into our waterways.

It's a shame that some people prefer increasing their wallets instead of cleaning up the environment. There are cleaner & safer ways to produce energy, ei. wind, solar, water, but there are very few in this country who are willing to make the sacrifice for the set up (money). There is no such thing as clean coal, biofuels are a hazard to the environment & is costly, it's time to phase out oil also. I receive the online newsletter from Sierra Club & there's a story regarding a husband who spent $45,000 for set up on his house for solar energy & bought an electric car for his wife 7 years ago. Since then no power bills or stops at the gas station. Imagine how much money everyone could save by making the sacrifice & putting the oil companies out of business & putting the environment first. We should be bringing this type of business into our community instead. Just think how it could increase our economy & make this a place people would want to be because we would have the cleanest & healthiest environment. Let's RETHINK how we do business because the time's are a changin.

Ever wonder, with all the natural amenities and positives Wilmington has to offer, why is it that the only businesses supposedly interested in coming here are the least desirable businesses - and we have to pay businesses that are here already to expand here? Think the high taxes, corruption and crumbling, overstressed infrastructure have something to do with it? There is a price we are all going to have to pay for the selfish elected officials who run Wilmington and NHC, and the developers and other greedy special interests who line their pockets.

You can sign a petition against this plant and learn more about the ill effects at www.stoptitan.org

First, we taxpayers are giving a business that many residents believe is environmentally harmful, 4 and 1/2 million dollars just to come here and conduct business. We are supposed to think that the jobs created are worth this tax money, and anything harmful the industrial factory may bring. Second, the county commissioners, which the vast majority of voters so thoughtlessly don't even bother to elect, make this big decision all on their lonesome...well the Governor also likes the idea. Third, I do know that most cities and counties work just this way. Great job county commissioners, and great job local non-voters.