Titan America challenges air permit appeals, USA

Titan America has filed a motion to dismiss parts of the pending legal challenge against their proposed Castle Hayne cement plant air permit, according to local press reports.

Carolinas Cement, a subsidiary of Titan America, last month requested that the court throw out four segments of the appeal, all related to the company's plan for developing and mining a quarry adjacent to the proposed plant site along the Northesat Cape Fear River in northern New Hanover County.

The appeal, filed in April by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of a handful of environmental groups, alleges that regulators with the state Division of Air Quality "failed to act as required by law or rule" in issuing an air permit for the Titan plant.

Later that year, the document states, Titan amended its quarry plan, expanding the area to include additional land – but never submitted the new plan to the state. Because the physical composition of raw materials can vary greatly between locations, the omission could have a large effect on emissions, according to the appeal.

In the motion for dismissal, lawyers for Carolinas Cement argue that those claims are invalid, as the company never sought a permit for any other quarry areas and would need to modify its existing permit in order to do so. (Source: Star News)