Supporters of a Titan Cement plant and Stop Titan activists are mobilizing their troops to speak out at a public hearing Monday night.
At this hearing, hosted by the State’s Division of Air Quality, members of the public will have the chance to go on the record about Titan’s request to modify its air quality permit.
The DAQ granted Titan an air quality permit in 2012 for a proposed cement plant just outside of Wilmington. But partly because of a lawsuit challenging that permit, Titan officials say the process is taking longer than expected. So they’re asking for an extension.
The second part of the requested permit change is what worries anti-Titan activists. They say the modification would allow the company to increase dangerous emissions – in the form of particulate matter. That’s a pollutant shown to have serious negative impacts on human health.
But the permit change would not increase emissions, say Titan officials, from the most technologically-advanced, environmentally responsible facility in the world. It would bring the state permit in line with new federal standards – adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency near the end of last year. When the EPA changed the acceptable monitoring method for particulate matter, the limits on those emissions also changed.
But for Stop Titan members, altering the permit equates to allowing extra pollution that is avoidable.
PUBLIC HEARING
The hearing on Titan’s air quality permit will be held Monday, August 5th at 6 PM on the UNCW Campus in Kenan Auditorium.
Persons wishing to present oral comments at the hearing should prepare their presentations to be three minutes or less. The hearing officer will have the discretion to further limit speaking times, if necessary, to accommodate the number of speakers and time constraints.
TO FILE COMMENTS WITH THE DAQ:
The DAQ will accept written comments postmarked no later than August 9, 2013. All comments regarding this project, submitted both before and after the public hearing date, should be submitted to the hearing officer, Mr. Steve Hall at steve.hall@ncdenr.gov or:
NCDENR, Division of Air Quality
Raleigh Regional Office
Attention: Steve Hall
3800 Barrett Drive, Suite 101
Raleigh, North Carolina 27609
Materials used by the DAQ in making this Preliminary Determination are available for public inspection during normal business hours at the following locations:
Website: http://www.ncair.org/permits/psd/titan.shtml
or
NCDENR, Division of Air Quality
Air Permits Section
217 West Jones Street
Raleigh, North Carolina 27603
or
NCDENR, Divsion of Air Quality Wilmington Regional Office
127 Cardinal Drive Extension
Wilmington, North Carolina 28405
