Titan Cement is trying to build a huge new cement plant near Cape Fear in North Carolina. People who live there are putting up quit a fight to prevent them from doing that. In order to get these people to settle down, Titan sued a couple of local residents, Kayne Darrell and pediatrician David Hill, who made comments at a County Commissioners' meeting that went like this: "...we know from numerous studies that if we build this thing, more children will get sick, a handful of them will die. We also know from the adult studies that more adults will get sick and quite a few more of them are going to die as well Which ones? Can't tell you. That makes it difficult, but there will be some." Quite right. We know all these things because numerous scientific studies show a very straight-forward relationship between the kinds of crud put out by cement plants and rates of asthma, heart attacks, strokes, etc. There is nothing the least slanderous or libelous about saying so. And yet Titan sued in hopes of intimidating not only the two citizens it sued, but everyone else who wanted to speak up but now would be afraid of getting sued. That's how SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Agains Public Participation) suits work. No one ever expects to win a case. If you're a company, you win just by filing because it shuts people up, or a least that's the intent. Well, today comes word that Titan and the citizens have "settled" the case and Titan now "recognizes that reasonable minds have the right to disagree, and respect both Dr. Hill and Ms. Darrell's right to do so." Isn't that precious? The Greek Multinational Cement Giant agrees that the quaint American First Amendment is still the law of the land here. In organizing, we often say it's all about relationships and the Titan press release onthe matter seems to bear this out. "Prior to today's mediation, we had not personally met and spoken with Dr. Hill and Ms. Darrell," Titan said in a statement. "Having done so, we do not believe that either Dr. Hill or Ms. Darrell intentionally made any false statements about Titan or our plant in New Hanover County." So you know, all it took was seeing that in fact these citizens were not horned devils for the company to change its mind. For his part, Dr. Hill would not comment on the resolution Wednesday except to say, "I look very much forward to being able to focus all my energy on my efforts to improve the health of children in this region." Both defendants will release a statement in the next 24 hours according to their attorney. Meanwhile, Titan won its state air permit, but its's still not a free and clear path to construction.   Read More

Those folks in North Carolina opposing the construction of a giant new Titan cement plant on their coast have released a new study estimating that the proposed plant's particulate matter and smog could cause up to $6.5 million in local heath care costs in just five months of operation. The report focused on the two pollutants most associated with breathing difficulties and was written by ICF International commissioned by the Southern Law Center. "...the 31-page study used modeling software from the Environmental Protection Agency to analyze current and projected air quality numbers, then used that data to estimate the related health effects from May to September, typically North Carolina's hottest months." This comes on the heels of the epidemiological study out of Italy this month showing a strong association between exposure to cement plant plumes and children's respiratory health. And oh yeah, we also found this 2003 journal-published study from China showing a strong correlation between living near a cement plant and premature births. Other than all those, no evidence at all that cement plant pollution is bad for your health. And here's a reminder that just saying the headline of this post out loud in North Carolina was reason enough for Titan to sue to citizen activists in an attempt to intimidate them and their peers.   Read More

Greek multinational Titan Cement is trying to build a huge new cement plant in the Cape Fear area of North Carolina. A lot of people who live there don't want them to and have been putting-up one hell of a fight over the past couple of years to prevent it form ever being built. Now these North Carolinians are connecting with fellow downwinders who live next to a Titan cement plant in Egypt and don't like getting shat on by their industrial neighbor. How? With the required tool of every early 21st century constructive hell-raiser: Facebook. Here's a story with some pics up at CNN and here's a report from on the ground by a local paper in North Carolina. As the desire for more democracy spreads through the developing world, it carries with it a built-in demand for more accountability in how people are poisoned by whatever manifestation of the government-industrial complex they're suffering under. Authoritarianism and pollution go hand-in-hand. So do Democracy and cleaner air and water.  Read More

Carolina Cement wants to build a new giant cement plant on the Cape Fear River in North Carolina appropriately, Titan Cement. A lot of people don't want them to do that in their selected location. So many that 2-3 thousand people turned out last time there was a public hearing on the plant's permits. This week there are three scheduled air permit hearings planned because of the anticipated crowds. This fight is by far the most high profile controversy over a US cement plant and is being watched closely by industry. You may remember Titan from a previous post we did highlighting their SLAPP suit against two citizens who had the temerity to say cement plants kill people with their pollution. We say that all the time, but unfortunately, nobody's decided to make our day and sue us for it.   Read More