In Defense of Titan Cement

      I was talking to someone the other day and they said that we should never pay a company an incentive to come here.  As I pondered their position, I had to ask myself; Why not?  If that is what the competition is doing and if that company’s presence could have long term economic benefit to this area, why should we eliminate ourselves from this opportunity?

 

    First of all, to resist the current arrangement with Titan Cement based on an anti-cash incentive stems from a misunderstanding of the incentive package.  The incentive, is in fact performance based.  Titan first has to

generate a minimum of 2.2 million dollars of tax revenue the first year the plant is operational to receive six hundred thousand dollars.  The tax rebate is tied to their performance.  This must be done for seven years during the first seven years of operation.  In other words, they must build this 500 million dollar state of the art cement plant, and then generate enough business revenue to be able to pay the county at least 2.2 million in taxes before they can receive the rebate. 

 

    In addition, 800 contracting jobs will be created during the two year construction phase.  With the economy in the shape that it is in now, New Hanover County  could use these jobs.  The unemployment rate in North Carolina is above 11%.  It is also my understanding that 161 full time jobs will be created to staff the plant with an average salary of 75,000.  That is over 12 million dollars in salaries.  It is only reasonable to expect some measure of tax revenue from the impact of those salaries.

    Some would say that we need only green companies.  Well, that certainly sounds good.  However, all necessary industry in a viable economy by definition cannot be green.  Non-green companies are still necessary.  A great example of this reality is Titan Cement and the Cement they produce.  Cement is the primary raw material used to produce Concrete.  Concrete is used to build hospitals, schools, churches, bridges, highways, and the list could continue.  Even ‘green’ companies need cement.  Additionally, Titan Cement will bring in those that could provide leadership and manpower in our civic organizations.

 

    I’ve heard that two significant concerns are with the tourism industry and the attraction of our area by retirees.  I certainly recognize that, however, it seems that another section is being left out.  How about the regular hard working American citizen that is trying to provide for their families?  Should we have to move to another area of the country to pursue our dreams of finding a decent job?  Will our children have to move away because our interest is being ignored? 

 

    I recognize that there are environmental concerns, and it appears that Titan is following not only the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law by committing themselves to exceeding that which is currently required by the law.  It is my understanding that there are regulations and safeguards on the federal, state and local levels to make sure that the plant is compliant before it can become operational.

 

    Look, I’m not saying that we should ignore concerns that we have.  However, as a conservative, I ask, how does it affect individual liberty and the pursuit of happiness, including property rights.(Titan owns the property)  Secondly, are we maintaining our commitment to limited government or are we encouraging its greater expansion and influence to ensure we have our way in this particular matter.  And finally, how does this affect our free market/capitalist economic system.

 

In defense of Titan Cement, I say, let them build the plant giving our economy a much needed boost and keep a close eye on compliance with environmental and air quality regulations so that our tourist can enjoy the beaches and other natural attractions, our prospective retirees can enjoy their well earned rest, and our hard working citizens can have an additional opportunity to find good steady work.

  

Comments

[Tom Looney]

Lumping together ALL the people with questions about the merits of Titan Cement for the Greater Wilmington economy in the 21st century is not fair. I for one have focused on an alternative vision of economic prosperity and jobs creation for the area from that of the one that has been so vigorously supported by Big Cement, WID and the Coalition of Economic Prosperity. My support for Titan goes this far: they legally bought a failed cement plant and thus they have the right to legally try to build another cement plant there. But at that point, things REALLY break down for me!
I've questioned why we have so many prosperous entrepreneurial companies/industries hidden in plain sight, ignored, and neither supported nor promoted by our crackerjack business and community leaders (I ask, why does a cement plant get $4.5 million up front from myself and other NH county taxpayers, when so many companies with impressive employees headcounts get nothing, despite the fact that they are creating hundreds and hundreds of area jobs, with low/no environmental impact to this special PLACE where our QUALITY OF PLACE is our #1 regional asset? (This fact was stressed in the results from the $250,000 consulting job leading to the Cape Fear Future Project (2005-present), which was paid for by the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce). The same Chamber that is Pro-Titan, to the point of losing their focus on Cape Fear Future, while failing to capitalize on momentum the effort produced in ’09, highlighted by the Fortune Small Business/CNNMoney.com November article calling Wilmington a top US city for entrepreneurship (featuring Wilmington 2.0 in their article).
I wonder why, if the riverfront site was so PERFECT for a cement plant, and for the fact that Titan bought it YEARS EARLIER, why did a relatively recent backroom deal need to get struck for the taxpayers of the county to shell over $4.5 million in so-called incentives to Titan? THAT IS WHERE YOU FOREVER LOST THIS FREE-MARKET, PRO-BUSINESS, MARKET ENTREPRENEUR!
Would Titan, without the taxpayers millions of dollars, still wish to grace the river with another vestige of the early-mid 20th century (talk about HISTORICAL RE-ENACTMENTS)?! Talk about an utter lack of imagination in the dealings of WID and the NH County Commissioners at the time the deal was struck (the same guys who let the ABC Board and Billy Williams hijack Wilmington's statewide reputation...Cape Fear Future Image Enhancers?! This is death by a thousand cuts!
And I wonder, why are these business-political-backroom leaders so in bed with HEAVY INDUSTRY, and ESPECIALLY to such a low-value, MINING BUSINESS with a commodity product like cement, which is so readily available from 136 cement plants in 34 US states, and via imports from (mostly) 3rd world economies around the globe (China alone produces over 50% of the worldwide supply of cement). In contrast, as noted in today's paper in an article about local chemical maker Invista and their local leader Bill King (yes, the Chairman of WID!): "Invista said it would be cheaper to buy (Invista’s chemical product) PTA on the market, than to produce it here."
I suspect that without the massive and never-ending political intervention of Titan and the rest of the cement companies across the USA (tariffs on imports so they can compete, lobbying dollars flying freely to politicos at local-state-federal levels, etc.), it would be cheaper for our local cement demands to be met by other sources than to produce it here!

And I wonder why so many business owners rush to "support" Titan, apparently intoxicated from the briefings from the Cement Lobby’s long-held playbook, when the industry itself is one of the most repeatedly fined industries in the USA and around the globe for their price fixing, collusion, and polluting tendencies. (As Mr. Odom tellingly said recently, "if they SAY no mercury in the river, then there will be no mercury in the river!") To such a statement I ask, why would you need to be so Clinton-like (depends what the meaning of the word is is) if you're such a great neighbor and business stalwart?!
I mean, why not say, WE WILL NOT ALLOW MERCURY IN THE RIVER REGARDLESS OF WHAT "THEY SAY" BECAUSE WE HAVE LEARNED FROM FINES AND PENALTIES ISSUED ACROSS THE USA THAT WE HAVE AN ISSUE WTIH OUR EPA COMPLIANCE AND WANT O MAKE SURE WE DO NOT UPSET YOUR AREA's #1 ASSETS! I wonder if the business owners who support them agree that many of them are MARKET ENTREPRENEURS, while Titan is the classic POLITICAL CORPORATION (I cannot even use the "E" word for them, it just isn't fair to the entrepreneurs of the area!) (Without special lobbying support, legal hair splitting, job leverage from 60+ senators and hundreds of congressman all striving to pad their campaign coffers.
Cement plants in the USA are dying right now...low demand, low prices, tough competition for the lowest of commodity products, etc. (hence the possible motivation for the 10 year, nine cement companies LAWSUIT in Florida where ALLEGEDLY they colluded on prices and divided up geographic territories (go the web and Google: cement price-fixing worldwide cases....you will find it to be an industry that is culturally drawn to collusion activities, all around the world there are cases from the past few years!!!) Seems like a bad idea as a centerpiece of WID 21st century ingenuity, other than to give some of the old-times another victory around the lap…..TWO cement ribbon cuttings in their careers….wow!!! (An aside, but it bothers me: why is our economic development and jobs creation tax-payer funded semi-govt. entity (WID) led by bankers, accountants, quasi-government bureaucrats (hospitals, etc.) and NOT skilled proven MARKET ENTREPRENEURS??!! What, you think the WID CEO annual compensation isn’t rich enough?? Are you kidding me?? Like the ABC HONCHO, GLORIFIED TAX COLLECTOR/CZAR Billy Williams (he wasn’t not breaking the laws on purpose, he’s just doing what seemed natural!), WID isn’t skimping on paying their CEO! Good for you Scott! But shame on you Jack-Bill-Bill-etc. We’re way behind other counties/regions in the performance of the local ABC and the local economic development departments, but we’re #1 when it comes to tax-payer participating COMPENSATION!
And then I wonder: do any local fans of Titan understand that if such systemic problems with business ethics in the global cement industry (and the case in Florida involving Titan) are indeed true, then the industry practices to control prices and competition actually HURT SMALL BUSINESSES like developers, builders...and yes, even homeowners down the line. I hear from Libertarians in support of Titan, and Republicans and Democrats...don't people think they could do better? And if not intervene in their coming into town, then could they at least show some spine by not joining the creaky welcoming committee at the county line with the piles of taxpayer cash?! (Which I presume Titan then cycles back to special interest supporters of theirs in Government, to be spent on their re-elections??) What a sad circle of yours/mine payroll deductions and tax bill payments at work!

Titan, you should try to compete in industry on the merits of market entrepreneurship. Otherwise, take the old school industry and your old school supporters and let a new generation of business leaders steer Wilmington's BUSINESS IDENTITY and economic development and jobs creation strategy, which is VERY pro-business, pro-manufacturing, pro-hyper growth industries, etc. Time to let go of the 1950's folks. Time to live, focus, and compete in the 21st century.

http://capefearedc.org/blog/66-update