North Carolina Fishing Reports - Titan Cement - Let your opinions be heard. http://stoptitan.org/ n April 21, 2008, the New Hanover County Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to offer $4.2 million in our tax dollars to entice a Greek company, Titan Cement, to build a massive cement plant in Castle Hayne

wahoo · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:45 pm Post subject: Titan Cement

Let your opinions be heard.

http://stoptitan.org/

n April 21, 2008, the New Hanover County Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to offer $4.2 million in our tax dollars to entice a Greek company, Titan Cement, to build a massive cement plant in Castle Hayne on the banks of the Northeast Cape Fear River. While the county’s corporate recruiter, Titan officials, and the Star-News have all touted the economic benefits of the plant, they have all failed to mention one salient fact:

Cement plants are among the worst industrial polluters on the planet.

“No matter what you do, cement production will always release carbon dioxide. You can’t change the chemistry so we can’t achieve spectacular cuts in emissions.” Dimitri Papalexopoulos, managing director of Titan Cement. From The Guardian newspaper of London.

In order to give residents a better understanding of the threats posed by the cement industry, we’ve started this web-based forum for articles, scientific studies and reports on the subject, as well as links to impacts of plants on other communities around the nation. You can post your opinion or your experiences, email letters to your elected officials with a few quick clicks, or sign- up “ to make a difference in 5 minutes a month” Action Alerts.

Why Titan Is Bad for the NC Coast

1. With all of the heavy industrial plants around Wilmington, you may notice only a slight haze in the direction of Castle Hayne, but industrial pollutants emitted into our air are often odorless and not visible to the eye.Our air quality (which of course impacts the health of our water) is already overburdened. The TRI study conducted in 2006 by the EPA for New Hanover County ranks us in the state (1 being the worst)as #1 in the state for Chromium, #1 for CO (Carbon monoxide), #5 for NOx (nitrogen oxide –smog), #6 Particulate Matter, #5 SO2 (sulphur dioxide – smog), #6 for mercury.
http://xapps.enr.state.nc.us/aq/ToxicsReport/Toxrpt.jsp?ibeam=true
2. When Castle Hayne was zoned heavy industrial it didn’t have a large residential population nearby. Now we have three elementary schools in the initial danger zone (5 mile radius) as well as growing communities of Castle Hayne, Hampstead, TopSail, Leland. The total impact zone is a 30 mile radius (see “We’re all downwind” on this site).
http://www.corkscrewroad.com/westwind/cementplanthealth.htm
3. Our beautiful coastal area is more vulnerable than most with bodies of water in all directions. We rely on this water for drinking, fishing and an overall healthy ecosystem. Our water is already in dire straits.
http://www.southernenvironment.org/cases/mercury_nc/index.htm
4. The main argument for allowing Titan to build in our area is economic – 160 jobs and tax revenue over time. Looking into this a bit deeper, the economic approach appears be flawed. Studies show that low technology manufacturing actually decreases resident consumer spending and employment rates and creates jobs that are often temporary, low wage and dangerous. Their approach does also not take into account the impact other businesses, loss possible residential development, loss of life, increased health care costs directly resulting from cement pollution, nor the eventual clean-up of toxic dust at the end of the plant’s operation.

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What’s Wrong with Cement Manufacturing?

Making cement requires burning large quantities coal. When incinerated, they release a variety of dangerous and unhealthy pollutants into the air, nearby water, plants and soil.

For decades, the cement industry, unlike coal-fired power plants, have not had to comply with the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. The plants voluntarily estimate their emissions and many have historically underreported their pollution. This means we get a dirty industry, a known emitter of hazardous emissions and waste, with insufficient regulations that harm our environment and nearby communities.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/mercury-cement-47031007

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
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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

The following map shows approximately the 30 mile pollution impact zone around the proposed Titan cement manufacturing plant site.

View Larger Map
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What You Can Do

Sign the petition!. Enter your e-mail address and “sign” to indicate that you do not want Titan on the Cape Fear:

Sign-up for Action Alerts. Enter your e-mail address. We will not be share, sell or use it for any other purpose than sending you updates/action alerts for Stop Titan. Also, you may unsubscribe at any time.

Get the Word Out. When you get our initial letter (it will be some of the same information from the web-site) we request that you share it with others. Please send it out to your e-mail friends/contacts as soon as possible, asking them to forward it too. We envision the roots of a tree, connected deeply and spreading out in all directions as we just get the word out.

Have conversations. Everywhere you go. I asked a woman working at Pottery Barn the other day, “Have you heard about the new Titan plant? She lives in Castle Hayne and had never heard about. Now she’s getting involved.

Call us/E-mail and tell us you want to help. We need: people to help with graphics, flyers, fundraising, community informational meetings/town hall meetings in every town (and people in each area to help set it up (we and local UNCW professors, scientists will present), writing letters to the editor, help making contact with organizations/schools to get the word out, as well as sitting in permitting meetings, and talking with officials.

E-mail us and we will either call or e-mail you back at contactus@stoptitan.org.

Write a letter to elected officials (and Titan). Once you’re up to speed you can use our form letter or create your own to send an electronic letter to those who are making decisions that will impact us and our communities.

Permitting Process Public Input: As Titan goes through the lengthy Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process to get the federal and state permits they need to operate the plant (these start in early June), we’ll send out notices of public meetings where you can physically show up for meetings to voice your concerns. We’ll need to have already had a huge groundswell of outcry long before that.

Currently, the newspapers are reporting industry generated press release information. We have not found, save a column in Lumina News, anything addressing the serious scope of this project. That said, people need to hear the whole story about cement manufacturing as well as complete and actual costs to us and our environment (not addressed so far in public by New Hanover County Commissioners or the media).


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North Carolina Fishing Reports - Titan Cement - Let your opinions be heard. http://stoptitan.org/ n April 21, 2008, the New Hanover County Commissioners voted 4 to 1 to offer $4.2 million in our tax dollars to entice a Greek company, Titan Cement, to build a massive cement plant in Castle Hayne

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