A state regulator wants the North Carolina Division of Air Quality (DAQ) to hold back on permitting Titan America's proposed Castle Hayne cement facility and review the implications of mercury emissions on public health.
Paul K. Muller, a division regional supervisor, also wants DAQ to explain why it is moving forward without a federal environmental review.
Muller’s comments were drafted in a report issued this week that addressed the concerns of more than 800 people who raised concerns over Titan’s draft air quality permit during a public comment period late last year.
His report comes as the Environmental Protection Agency is poised to finalize the most stringent emission standards in history for portland cement facilities like Titan's, recommending that state regulators address these standards before completing a permit.
Muller also suggested Titan be required to submit plans explaining how it will comply with rules that prohibit the facility from discharging water containing mercury in that section of the northeast Cape Fear River. In addition, he directed regulators to review the analysis of impacts to soil, vegetation and visibility.
In addition to being an air quality regulator, Muller was also the hearing officer when the state held a pair of public hearings on Titan’s draft air permit last October, attended by more than 1,500 people, many of whom voiced concerns.
While the report may have implications for Titan's permitting process, environmentalists and opponents of the company's prospects weren't upbeat Friday. They say Muller's recommendations don't go far enough to protect local populations.
“What we want to see now is what DAQ does with this report and findings,” said Mike Giles, Cape Fear Coastkeeper, in an e-mail, adding that the recommendations do “not go far enough to protect the citizens from Titan's proposed emissions,"
“(Muller's) report reflects what we have known for months: the draft air quality permit failed to meet the minimum requirements of the Clean Air Act or protect the health of southeastern North Carolina’s communities and environment," said Geoff Gisler, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, in an e-mail message on Friday.
He added: "The report does not require a comprehensive review of Titan’s entire project and does not require the company to reduce its emissions to the lowest possible levels.”
The Southern Environmental Law Center and the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic have pulled North Carolina into federal court because of its decision to give Titan a pass on a state environmental review.
State regulators have argued that because Titan hasn't received public funds, no environmental review is warranted. And some contend that because a federal review was already triggered, a state review would be a waste of time and money.
But opponents say that the $4.5 million in state and county incentives constitute an expenditure of public monies and that a state review will buttress the permitting process and possibly lead to more stringent emission requirements.
Regulators within DAQ have been reluctant to say when the final air quality permit may be issued.
Landmark regulations that will impose the most stringent emission standards on hazardous air pollutants to date are expected by June from the EPA. Titan's opponents have been asking the state to delay the air permit until these regulations are finalized.
The state has refused, arguing that if the state were to hold a permit each time the EPA proposed new standards no permits would ever be issued for anything.
Muller, however, recommended this week that state regulators analyze the impacts of mercury emissions specified in the draft permit and those specified in the newly proposed federal limits.
DAQ officials have stressed that Titan will be required to comply with all new standards.
In April of 2009, the EPA proposed these new standards, called the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants from the portland cement manufacturing facility. They would impose strict emission limits on hydrocarbons, hydrochloric acid and particulate matter from both new and existing cement kilns.
The new federal rules would also impose the first ever, national limits on mercury emissions, reducing them by at least 81 percent to between 11,600 and 16,250 pounds annually, according to an EPA fact sheet. Added would also be requirements for continuous emission monitoring for mercury. The draft permit limits Titan to an annual emission rate of 263 pounds of mercury, Muller said.
Signature of EPA's final ruling is expected by June 6, 2010, said Catherine Milbourn, an EPA spokeswoman. Facilities will have until 2013 to comply.
These new standards are anticipated to cost the industry between $222 million and $684 million in its first year, according to EPA figures. However, these costs will be significantly offset by healthcare savings of between $4.4 billion and $11 billion annually, including a reduction of between 620 and 1,600 deaths per year.
The Portland Cement Association (PCA), which represents cement companies from across the United States, has sought to weaken these new regulations. In comments submitted last September, the association called into question the processes by which the EPA drafted these regulations and that it overestimated the benefits.
Citing an executive order, the PCA accused the EPA of "failing to make a reasoned determination that the benefits of this regulation justify its costs…the agency has substantially underestimated the costs of proposed rule and overstated the benefits," read a portion of the comments.
Titan CEO Aris Papadopoulos was elected vice-chair of the PCA board of directors in 2008, an executive report indicated. He is also chairman of the PCA’s sustainability committee.
