What's wrong with a sulfur melter? | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    Answer: We don't know...
    But we know why we don't know

    The News & Observer has an interesting article on the controversy at the State Port in Morehead where Potash Corp want to build a sulfur processing plant. There's not much new in the article we have not already reported, except that the N&O found two other sulfur plants and quote locals in Vancouver, Canada and Galveston, Texas as saying there's no smell from their plants.

    Commentary

    We're not impressed.

    While we commend the N&O for trying to present a balanced perspective we think the public is still left with woefully inadequate data and solid information about the project. And for that we blame the Perdue Administration.

    Planning for this project has been going on for over a year and the state has known about permit application since at least March 2010. But if you read the Environmental Assessment Potash Corp has released you don't know much more than you knew before you read it about what the actual consequences would be of building what they want to build....either at the Morehead port or Aurora.

    And remember, building the plant at the Aurora mine site is a sated alternative.

    Beaufort County has a vested interest in this issue. If, as Potash Corp contends, the sulfur plant is essential to the continued operation of the Aurora facility then it is a critical issue for Beaufort County. But at the same time it could be a major environmental issue in terms of air quality as well as fire safety. (Dry sulfur is highly flammable. Just strike a match to see and smell it.)

    The problem here can be simply stated. The various people in the Perdue Administration have kept this project under the table and planned in back rooms without involving the essential stakeholders, including the media.

    Let's just cut to the chase on that. Sending out arcane permit notices does not get the job done. Anyone who has ever read those things knows what we're talking about. You can't tell what's going on. And we think that intentional.

    Then the Department of Commerce gets involved trying as hard as they can to generate a photo op for the Governor to make a "jobs announcement" but they don't want the Governor's thunder stolen by anybody knowing about the deal until the flash bulbs go off (i.e., presser). By then its too late for any practical consideration to be given to the efficacy of the state's corporate welfare (i.e., grant) and the harm that might be done to the environment. And if you don't believe there is potential harm you should learn what sulfur dioxide smells like (rotten eggs).

    We wouldn't want to go much further into the chemistry of this issue because we don't know much about the chemistry from the information we have now. So there again we see the problem of bureaucrat malfeasance.

    The opponents of this project could be crying wolf where there is not wolf. On the other hand Potash may not be fully disclosing the truth. So we will reserve judgment on the chemistry or environmental impact until we know more.

    What we do know is that the project itself will have relatively little direct economic impact. A couple dozen jobs and some addition to the tax base. But that impact will likely be offset by the corporate welfare hand outs to Potash via the Department of Commerce. But DOC has deliberately hidden those details from the public. Just as indeed they usually do their deals in secret.

    And the Perdue/Easley Ports Authority is not much different. They pulled the same stunt on the Southport megaport idea.

    We've just seen that corruption in Beaufort County. The Economic Development Commission has been in secret negotiations with a local business to give it a sweetheart deal to build a plant in the Industrial Park west of Washington. They've just advertised for "upset bids" on the real estate part of the deal when potential bidders had no idea what kind of backroom payments might or might not be available as a part of the deal. If you wanted to submit an upset bid you had no idea whether you'd get the same deal from the EDC as the "unnamed applicant"/co-conspirator is getting. Pure corruption. Nothing but.

    But that's the way the Perdue Administration does business. Watch out for a "non-profit" to come into play before long. Where is Golden LEAF in this sulfur deal anyway? Expect it, because they've got a ton of money they need to give away. And what's a little acid rain on the timber industry if they can get a good photo op for the Governor out of this.

    If this were not corruption, why the secrecy? Answer: That's how you get elected to be Governor in North Carolina.