The Lumina News continues to gin up negative publicity about the proposed Carolinas Cement plant. In a January 14 article by reporter Brian Freskos, he claims that the new smog standards recently PROPOSED by the federal government have “opened another chapter in the debate of Titan America and its prospects in New Hanover County.” Opponents to the plant believe that these new PROPOSED standards should delay the NC Division of Air Quality’s granting of Carolina’s Cement air permit. Really?

Tom Mather of the NC Division of Air Quality, sees it differently. He defends the DAQ, 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.”

But that’s what opponents want. Delay, delay, delay. No business is good business, according to the the Southern Environmental Law Group. “Right now, DAQ is ignoring the basis of these pending regulations,” Geoff Gisler, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Group (SELC), 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.”

I doubt the veracity of that statement. If you question the logic of SELC and hope to see a different perspective on this topic published in Lumina News, send them a letter to the editor. You can submit letters to letters@luminanews.com.

 

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