By announcing the proposal in January, the federal government has brought into focus a shift in critics’ ire for what they argue is North Carolina’s propensity for issuing permits before rigorous environmental standards are finalized.

The proposed standards were announced just as the North Carolina Department of Air Quality (DAQ) primes to make a decision on whether to issue Titan an air permit, just one in a series of permits the company will need before it can break ground.

"Right now, DAQ is ignoring the basis of these pending regulations," Geoff Gisler, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Group, said in reference to the new federal standards. "Their approach has been to deal with it when the regulations are finalized and that’s not allowed under the Clean Air Act."

He added that the reasoning for these new federal regulations should affect the reasoning that underlies the state’s evaluation of Titan’s air permit.

In comments this week, Tom Mather, a state spokesman, defended the division, saying the federal government revises its standards so often that if the state held up a permit every time it would never issue any permits at all.

The standards, proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency on Jan. 7, would set the strictest regulations to date for ground-level ozone, also known as smog.

Existing ozone standards, set in March 2008, allow 75 parts per billion of smog. The new EPA standards would significantly reduce the level to between 60 and 70 parts per billion, measured over eight hours.

Depending on where the final standard is set, it could have a major impact on industry and public health. Federal officials estimate the proposal will yield health benefits between $13 billion and $100 billion by reducing premature deaths, aggravated asthma, bronchitis and hospital and emergency room visits.

Federal officials also estimate the cost for implementing the proposal to fall between $19 billion and $90 billion, according to a statement.

If the EPA sets a standard on the lower end of the range, it could have a bearing on what controls Titan will need at its New Hanover County plant, Mather said. However, he added, that since the rules are still proposals, they wouldn’t affect Titan’s permit at this time because the state can’t assume where the final standards will lie.

When the EPA adopts a new standard, an implementation schedule is drawn up to phase in the standard over time.

Catherine C. Milbourn, senior press officer for the EPA in Washington, D.C., said the EPA plans to issue its final ozone standards by Aug. 31, 2010. But the agency wouldn’t designate areas of nonattainment until July 2011. And depending on the severity of the ozone problem, nonattainment areas would have between 2014 and 2031 to comply.

In another development, residents in the New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender tri-county area announced plans for a rally outside the New Hanover County Courthouse before the commissioners meeting on Feb. 1, underscoring how the Titan debate will become a hot-button issue during this year’s election cycle.

Citizens Against Titan, a grassroots group of volunteers, will present the county commissioners with a petition signed by more than 3,000 citizens opposed to the company’s plant in New Hanover County, organizers said in a news release. The rally will begin in front of the courthouse at 4:45 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 1.