Full airing

It takes cement to make concrete, and it will take state-granted permits to authorize the big new cement plant - fourth-largest in the nation - that Titan America plans to build near Wilmington. Now the permit-granting process seems to be getting some much-needed scrutiny in a Raleigh courtroom.

Judge Donald Stephens of Wake Superior Court is being asked by the state and Titan to dismiss environmental groups' legal challenge to that process. Stephens held a hearing on the dismissal motion this week, but declined to rule on it. First, he said, he'd like to hear more about the underlying issue.

That's an encouraging sign. It made little sense to declare, as the state Department of Administration did, that the state's permit-granting process for the cement plant planned for Castle Hayne can proceed one piece at a time. Meaning, for example, that the plant's effect on air quality can be considered separately from its effect on fisheries.

Monday's Superior Court hearing was just an early skirmish in what could turn out to be a long legal battle, but the result is that a key bureaucratic decision regarding the plant could get the public airing that the public deserves.

What's really needed, as the environmentalists maintain, is a comprehensive review. The cement plant, after all, would feature a coal-fired kiln for turning limestone into cement and a 425-foot-tall smokestack emitting limited but troubling amounts of mercury and other hazardous chemicals.

Nearby waterways - the site is near the Northeast Cape Fear River - are already at their limit for mercury pollution. Plus, mining the limestone would destroy productive wetlands. The Wilmington area is now a fast-growing tourism and retirement area, increasingly conscious of environmental quality.

That's true even though the state and New Hanover County committed, early on, to sizeable financial incentives to encourage Titan's plan - a Mike Easley-era move that looks shaky in light of growing local opposition. Gov. Bev. Perdue has asked the SBI to find out if improper political pressure was applied to state regulators.

With that inquiry under way, and with Judge Stephens signaling that he'd "like to hear it all" regarding the state's decision to rule out a comprehensive environmental review, the odds are improving for gaining the degree of scrutiny that this project should properly face.

It's perfectly true that cement is an essential construction material and that the new plant would create good jobs. But the plant also has the potential for seriously harmful environmental effects. Just because it would be located in an industry-oriented zone doesn't mean that its emissions would be confined there, and the coastal environment merits an extra measure of protection. If Titan's plans can't stand the "delay" of a comprehensive review, they should be scrapped.

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