Should the state approve the air permit for a cement plant in New Hanover County?

...that you can't sh** on your neighbor's lawn. The important question is not how many jobs it will bring in, but how many jobs (and lives) will Titan push out? Common sense...not so common anymore.

Wealthly people do not retire or vacation where there is alot of big industry. What about the areas vacation industy and ecological address that is found no where else in the world????It will disappear and the jobs that are generated by what we have naturally (ocean, arts, venus fly traps) will also disappear. Healthcare providers (ie doctors) also tend not to locate in areas of high pollution as they do not want their families exposed to this. Trying to attract heavy industry to this area absurd.

If Titan was a good neighbor and "transparent" they would have let the complete environmental impact investigation happen and then follow the rules............Enough time has passed that it could have been completed..........

The constant harping about "jobs creation" being "the singular focus" to restore economic prosperity (President Obama and countless others) are WRONG! What we need is a competitive economy, with workers properly skilled, industries supported that are in high growth segments of the economy, and featuring economic clusters that are high impact force multipliers---from these competitive strengthening priorities, a virtuous outcome is jobs being created by successful companies in growth markets! And in much the same way, being pro-Titan means you reject all the market economy principles that should be the foundation of our economic strategy and renewal. It's an economic race to the bottom. The corporate welfare provided the likes of Titan, from the millions in incentives (since discredited and reluctantly set aside by Titan), to the tariffs on imports and other protectionism afforded cement plants by the US Congressional Caucus, help perpetuate a non-competitive industry; a shrinking industry in terms of output and revenues; an industry, though one of the last to automate for efficiency, now requiring very few employees---a fraction of what was needed back in the early 80's, when Ideal Cement failed along with almost every other American cement company, in a U.S. industry now controlled by almost all foreign companies. Cement usage in the US hit peak demand (150 million tons) in 2005 (fueled, as we all now know, by a sickening bubble tied to ongoing distortions to market economic principles in credit and real estate development. In 2011 we were all the way back to 1982 demand levels, to be repeated again this year (approx 60 million tons). The port of Wilmington is equipped with special infrastructure to receive cement---every year it is one of the top incoming products handled at the port as measured in tons. What of the port jobs tied to this process?! What of the economic externalities tied to cement production, well documented and undeniable even by the most ardent myth makers? When we allocate resources to recruit an industry with a glut of capacity, an increasingly LOW labor impact (mostly college graduates required, go look at Titan's online job postings!), and one that imposes risks to natural assets (river, ocean, ICWW, air quality) that fuels our Tourism Industry and multiple knowledge industries that fueled the doubling of the population here from 1990 to 2000, and again from 2000 to 2010. This project is BAD FOR THE ECONOMY here, and shame on so-called pro-biz leaders pandering to dependent segments of the population to joint heir self-serving fight to ram this anti-market project down our throat.

For those of you who are so desperate for money that you would encourage the destruction of the planet- what on earth is wrong with you?! The deepest sign of unintelligence is fouling your own nest which even the most lowly life form avoids in order to survive.

We live in such a beautiful area. People come from all over the country to experience for a week, or even a weekend, what we enjoy every day. We must fight to protect our land, waters, and air from big polluters. We must protect our families and friends from breathing in the toxins that come with giant cement factories. This land is our land; we are it's stewards. We'll all breathe easier without Titan.

We don't appreciate what we have until we lose it! The Cape Fear River is just now getting cleaned up after the ban of DDT. Wilmington is becoming more and more an attractive destination. Look at the population growth, and the growth of tourism over the past ten years. This town could be on the decline, but instead, it is growing. And tourism is the cleanest part of this growth. But no one wants to visit or move to a dirty community.

We take our clean air and drinking water for granted. When the mercury and other toxins produced by this proposed giant cement plant sicken our children (and vulnerable adults) by poisoning the air, and seep into the aquifer and the river, it will be too late to turn back the clock. The only time to prevent this from happening is now!

Titan Cement has proven it does not have honorable intentions, lobbying (via its parent company) to weaken the Clean Air Act, and fighting citations for environmental violations at its Virginia plant, at the same time it claims it will abide by existing laws.

It is known that producing cement is inherently dirty, and that it should not take place near a populated area. WE are that populated area. If we don't speak up for ourselves and our children, no one will.

I hope that everyone that has voted or intends to vote will read Titan's air permit. I provided the link
http://ncair.org/permits/psd/docs/titan/Titan_Draft_Review_8-4-11.pdf

The fuels burned at this facility will be coal and petroleum coke The raw materials for clinker production will include limestone/marl, clay, quarry spoils, bauxite, flyash/bottom ash, sand, and/or mill scale. Titan will be mining, blasting, crushing, blending, and grinding. Cement & coal will be shipped by rail, or truck. Particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), green house gases (GHGs - including CO2), volatile organic compounds (VOC), ammonia (NH3), chlorine (Cl-), hydrogen chloride (HCl), and mercury (Hg) will be emitted. Elementary school children will playing outside on their playground less than 3 miles from Titan's smoke stacks and breathing in the particulate matters listed above. If you have ever been around a child gasping for air because of asthma, it isn't a pretty sight.

I agree that Titan should be allowed to go through "a process" but when that process is manipulated at every level --in March 2011 Titan's CEO lobbied to gut EPA/Clean Air Act's cement kiln regulations (federal level), in Nov 2010 Titan returned $4.5 mill in state and county-wide incentives to avoid the more comprehensive SEPA review (state level), and most recently in June 2011 Titan unsuccessfully lobbied Goolsby and Hamilton to insert their very own sweetheart deal within the Castle Hayne incorporation bill to avoid newly proposed county-wide zoning revisions (local county level) -- then I have to ask myself...Just what process are they willing to go through?

This air permit is a farce and a way for industries to divide and conquer the permitting process. It is so weak that Titan is not even required to tell Division of Air Quality or YOU THE CITIZEN what they intend to burn in their kiln (not all coal is created equal my friends) or how much water they intend to withdraw from the Castle Hayne aquifer, which is where most of our drinking water comes from for the REGION. Titan wants to be here for 50 years!

Don't you want to know all of their anticipated impacts before a single solitary permit is issued?

If anyone remembers the fires Pender County and North of them had a month ago, the smoke was heavy at times in Wilmington 40-60 miles away. We already have high pollution readings in the area, why do we want companies to come her regardless of how many jobs they bring just because they meet NC standards if it will add to our pollution. Drive by any large company with smokestacks and what do you smell? The elected officials in the area need to vote for clean businesses to come here and not polluters. Everyone needs to look at the long run for Wilmigton's health, and not the next 5-10 years or people will be leaving the area.

A few jobs now and hundreds of years of pollution? It is very easy to figure this one out. Anyone who cares AT ALL about the rest of this community should want Titan as far from here as possible. Please learn all you can from stoptitan.org. Get involved before it is too late.

Anti-Titan is not anti-job! Forward thinking communities want new businesses that will not pollute the air and water and make people sick - which in the bigger picture DETERS businesses from coming here, reduces property values and destroys our tourism industry - a NEGATIVE economic impact... for a measly 40 local jobs!
The regulation process for a company this size is flawed and it is our responsibility and obligation to protect this beautiful coast where we live, work and raise our families.
The air permit will not take into consideration the health impacts to the residents living nearby or the thousands of children attending the schools who will breathe the polluted air.
It also does not consider that we are already looking at unacceptable levels of sulfer dioxide and ground level ozone and an already mercury-impaired river. The permit only looks at whether their emissions are allowed by law - A FLAWED PROCESS!
Please take the time to educate yourselves about this important issue. It is not about some treehuggers who don't want progress. It's an issue that will effect everyone who lives here. The MAJORITY of the citizens here are opposed to Titan Cement. They have educated themselves and are opposed because they know the facts. I suggest the rest of you do the same.

Let's not have Titan here and instead make room for a company that can do it all:

1. Create more jobs
2. Be environmentally friendly (not just compliant, but truly forward thinking, improving our environment by their presence rather than adding to the problems)
3. Be something we are proud to have instead of ashamed (really who would be proud to house a cement plant here?)

Why settle? If we all could have our ideal situation here in NC who would want a cement plant to come to our area? Who goes to sleep at night hoping for this?

Any company can generate jobs, let's not settle for one that is an environmental embarrassment.

I am shocked that this permitting process is now so far under way. It makes me sick what Titan has done to manipulate politics and permitting processes to get our limestone.

When making a decision about our community, the first question we ask ourselves must always be "is it safe?" If the safety of our community, the health of our children are not our top priorities, we are terribly mistaken about what is important.

"Is it safe?" The national and state agencies have not yet asked this question in detail. This means that Titan Cement has not been proven safe for our community, and should be considered dirty and dangerous. Titan has been under a comprehensive review, and has found their way out of it by dropping the state and county incentives. Do we want a company here that, through manipulation, avoids our laws?

Furthermore, I am embarrassed by the poll's results so far, that anyone would think that a handful of jobs (mostly outsourced to employees coming from out of state) would be worth it to forever poison our rivers and push our county into non- attainment status, a status reserved for counties that have levels of sulfur dioxide pollution that is too high to be considered for any further industry.

It's time for those who do care about our community to stand up and make a loud noise at Titan's air permit hearings. This disaster in the making must stop now. The obtainment of permits must not continue to be an easy process for Titan.

Where were all you environmental supporters when GE started enriching Uranium .n Castle Hayne ? If something goes wrong there Wilmington is in really big trouble.

I will just wear a face mask on the way to my new job...

when this company, if it is to happen, become operative.how many jobs would accually be given to the surrounding areas as appossed to the people brought from out of state?

Please, all you "smart" people that want to fight every job creater that mentions locating into this area, please get out of the way. Or better still, if you are the "smart" ones of the community utilize your talents and education to partner with these companies and use your god given talents to create ways to make them clean community partners. Have you ever considered that approach? I would bet that any company out there would welcome you presenting yourself with that approach with open arms.