Reprinted from the Feb. 12 edition of the StarNews

The headline of your Feb. 7 editorial reads “Piecemeal reports … inadequate.” When our state-of-the-art operation opens on the site of the former Ideal Cement plant, it will have been through five or more years of scrutiny and will have satisfied rigorous requirements for a number of permits and licenses, each having to certify that the plant and its operations fall within the existing laws of the United States, North Carolina and New Hanover County.

This is an exhaustive, expensive, grueling process, the purpose of which is to ensure that nothing we do will subject the community to any identifiable risk. It is hardly inadequate.

Is it piecemeal? Every state in the nation follows this exact “piecemeal process,” as you call it, because it is the law – established in early 1970’s and tightened multiple times since then. In fact, the environmental community, including the Coastal Federation, sat at the table and agreed to every aspect of the current Federal and State legal and regulatory regime.

As we’ve stated many times, Carolinas Cement will meet the standards that are set down under the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. The duties as outlined in Federal Statute created by Congress and the Code of Federal Regulation (CFR) are crystal clear. This is especially true as it relates to the responsibilities of the N.C. Division of Air Quality, which must dutifully carry out investigations and maintenance of those standards.

The claim that the project should be subject to SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) is specious and clearly a means of delaying job creation. Citizens of New Hanover County should resent that someone else’s agenda is being imposed on the rest of us. If it were the law in North Carolina, why did Sen. Boseman propose it as a law? And why did the Senate not vote for her measure? Because they believed it was against the interest of the state.

Speaking of “piecemeal reports” and SEPA, we’ve yet to see an accurate explanation from any media source regarding SEPA regulations. Please take note – if a project is in the considerably more comprehensive process of the Federal Government (NEPA) National Environmental Policy Act, as in Carolinas Cement’s case, then it is exempt from SEPA altogether.

I doubt that the Corp of Engineers would have stated that Federal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and the Army Corps of Engineers “likely would have little impact on the final permits.” Armies of lawyers, scientists and agencies set and enforce the standards of both the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act in the sole interest of the public.

And again – these laws and regulations were supported by the very organizations now opposing this plant.

Your editorial states there’s confusion about the correct regulatory process and “ordinary residents … don’t trust regulatory agencies to establish and enforce adequate rules to protect the people.” This is a different, much larger question, requiring cool, non-inflammatory discussion with the U.S. Congress and what must be done to restore faith in our governments.

For our part, Titan America can deal only with the here and now, regulatory laws and facts that we must address in the permitting process.

We will invest nearly $500 million in a new, clean, safe plant – the only one in North Carolina. Our tax base will lower the property tax rate of every taxpayer in New Hanover County. We will provide good, well-paying jobs and all the spin-off benefits that come from a robust manufacturer. The construction alone will put more than a thousand local people to work.

Trustworthy and responsible? Titan America was the 2009 recipient of multiple awards for environmental excellence, energy efficiency and safety. Fortune Magazine voted Titan Group among the top ten companies in the world for Best Leaders; Titan Cement also achieved top ranking for Corporate Social Responsibility.

Last week we were honored again when the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia passed a resolution commending Titan America for, among many other things, exemplary leadership in clean manufacturing processes and energy efficiencies, socially responsible employees, and for contributing millions throughout the Commonwealth.

Efforts to discourage this plant or any manufacturing industry from building or expanding will negatively impact investment from coming to this region for a long time. It’s difficult to believe the state would deliberately do this to itself – and certainly not now. Jobs will go elsewhere. Unfortunately, the not-in-my-backyard protestors seem to be here to stay. We can assure you that Carolinas Cement will not pose an environmental hazard. We’re following the process – the only one that is law.

 

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Also wanted to share this - posted by Gary Pearce from the Speaking of Politics blog.

People who care about North Carolina’s economy are closely watching Governor Perdue on an issue that will say a lot about her leadership. It’s the proposed Titan concrete plant near Wilmington. 

Fans say Titan, based in Greece, is one of the best companies in the world, ranking high on corporate accountability, environmental responsibility and as a good place to work. The plant will employ 160-200 people at $70,000 a year. It will pay a lot of taxes. It will generate other jobs, like at the state port. And there will be construction jobs building the plant. But Titan is bogged down by environmental complaints. And opponents are trying to taint it by association with Mike Easley. 

Perdue’s Commerce Department supports the project. Commerce leaders worry that stopping the plant will send a bad signal to international companies — and hurt North Carolina when it tries to recruit other industries.  

But Perdue’s environmental officials apparently want to kill it. 

The governor’s job is to referee this dispute. She has to decide who is right. She has to lead. If she thinks the plant is unacceptable environmentally, she should say so. And if not, she should stand up and say we need the jobs. 

Right now, Perdue seems to be letting the project die slowly by a thousand cuts, hoping it will go away and spare her the burden of making a decision that makes somebody mad. 

North Carolina’s unemployment rate is at its highest level since the 1970s. Too often, people think we can get all the jobs we need from pristine companies like Dell and Apple. But you see how well that works out. 

America’s economy — and lots of jobs — has always been based on making things. Concrete is one of the things we need to make a lot of, especially for roads and other projects supported by federal stimulus money. And it would be cheaper to make the concrete here, rather than shipping it in. When Jim Hunt was governor, he had to make this call again and again. When a project satisfied the state’s environmental requirements, he would put everything he had behind getting the jobs for people. 

This is an important test for Perdue. She can either let things happen, or she can lead.

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Mr. Odom, Could you please provide data on the median income that can be expected for employees of Carolinas Cement? The US Census Bureau uses median income rather than average income when discussing wages. Median income provides a more accurate representation of salaries from one company to another. Per the investment advice company Investor Words (http://www.investorwords.com/3030/median.html): "The median is a useful number in cases where the distribution has very large extreme values which would otherwise skew the data". If you are using average rather than median salary figures you may inadvertently be confusing potential employees. Last year at one of the Titan forums I specifically asked one of the Roanoke Cement Human Resources representatives about this matter. He told me that their median salary was about $44,000/year - a nice salary but not in the range of the $75,000/year that you may inadvertently be promising. To clear the air on this subject could you please supply the expected median salary for Carolinas Cement? Could you also report the median salary both with and without benefits to avoid any additional potential confusion? Thank You >
Anonymous



Presently SAS in Raleigh is offering potential employees, with advanced engineering degrees, starting base salaries thousands of dollars less than what you appear to be promising the people of Castle Hayne. Likewise, General Electric in Wilmington is offering advanced engineering candidates employment positions with base salaries similar to SAS, but once again thousands of dollars less than what you appear to be promising to 160 employees at Carolina Cement. Could you please verify or explain what you are promising to pontential employees? If you do not have specific data based on many unknown variables at this time, could you please supply the number of workers at each of your Roanoke and Pennsuco plants who have base salaries equal to or above $75,000/year at this time? Thank you >
Anonymous



The $75,000 figure is accurate. It represents a fully-loaded compensation (salary , benefits, life insurance, etc.) for operations and support employees at our cement plant in Virginia. When the Carolinas Cement plant is built and we begin hiring, compensation will be based on local labor market pay rates for comparable skills.>
Bob Odom



Mr. Odom, I have asked a reasonable question concerning your promised salaries at Castle Hayne. You have elected to answer only part of my question. I am waiting for your reply to my question. Titan America promised to answer citizens questions as part of their agreement with New Hanover County. Since Titan America has declined to participate in open forums this venue is the only avenue open for inquiery from the general public. Thank you >
Citizen



Hello Citizen - I've provided the average salary figure and I've answered your question in the most accurate way I can. Regarding your comment about declining forum discussion - I beg to differ. When we announced this project we sponsored four well-attended informational workshops and invited the citizens of New Hanover County to attend and find out all about us. Since then, my Carolinas Cement colleagues and I have spoken before dozens of organizations and groups. We answer calls and e-mails from interested people (not just citizens of New Hanover County) on a regular basis. My colleagues and I work for a century-old, well-respected company in a highly regulated industry. We're accountable for what we say and do. And we do so without the luxury of anonymity and pen names, Citizen. >
Bob Odom

Wanted to share this letter with you. 

Regarding your Jan. 27 editorial "Cement site," I have spent much of my life working in cement plants and strongly disagree with the statement that cement production is a heavily polluting industry. On the contrary, it has become one of the environmentally cleanest. That happened decades ago when all U.S. plants installed expensive and elaborate pollution-control equipment, including electrostatic precipitators and bag houses that help to make them the cleanest in the world. All plants have, for many years, been routinely supervised and inspected by state and federal agencies.

There undoubtedly are other locations than Castle Hayne that Titan America could consider. But all of them, if they are to be in the U.S., will have to be in states other than North Carolina because every plant must have an adequate supply of limestone, and there is no other such deposit in this state.

If Titan America plans on 1.5 million tons per year, the plant would be no bigger than the Permanente plant near San Jose, Calif., the largest in the USA, that has been operating successfully and under close environmental supervision for over 60 years.

You correctly call cement a vital construction material. But refusing to produce it here would be one more indicator of the decline of this country. Cement has already been imported from countries like Mexico, Colombia, China and Turkey. Why continue this unfortunate trend? Not only would our foreign debt put us further in the hole, the imported cement is usually made in plants far less environmentally safe than our own plants. Air travels around the globe, and dirty air over a foreign cement plant is bound to end up everywhere anyway.

The prospect of jobs and a boost for the Wilmington economy are a serious matter. North Carolina, like the country as a whole, has to get back to work and produce things here.

Fred D. Ullman

Raleigh

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i want to jab in your company .i am pock leand machine opreter.>
yusuf khan



This is the type of answer that AT peoples do not want to see; the truth. Cement industry is one of the most closely regulated industries in the USA. Another in the closely regulated is the nuclear industry which has a member right in the tri county area, GE. They have been a good environmental neighbor for years and meet all of the environmental laws and rules put in place by our state and national governments. I think and have seen from my contact with Titan America subsidary plant in Botetort, Va that the proposed Carolina Cement plant in Castle Hayne would be a great corporate neighbor that would be very environmentally conscious and would be able to meet and happy to comply with the regulations set up by the state and national environmental government ruling departments. >
Milt Packard