Potash Corp tells Commissioners it does not now know what its plans are for sulfur processing | Eastern North Carolina Now

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

    At their September 6, 2011 regular monthly meeting Chairman Jerry Langley asked representatives of Potash Corp/Aurora to brief the board on PCS's plans for a sulfur melter at the Aurora mine. What the Commissioners heard from PCS was that the plans have not yet been developed for what they will do, but one option is to split the original sulfur processing operation between Morehead and Aurora.

    You can review this issue Click here to read the latest in Carteret County and click here for our earlier story.

    Here's the discussion at Tuesday's meeting:



    click here to go to the website they mention, www.sulfurproject.com

    Commentary

    There are actually two stories here.

    The first is the visible one. That's the issue of where Potash/Aurora is going to process dry sulfur into molten sulfur and how they are going to do it. The crux of that issue is what kind of odor will be released as a result of that process. Thus, where it is located becomes a question of who is concerned about it.

    What the commissioners were told Tuesday night was that the plans have not been firmed up yet. It is worthy of note that Chairman Langley spoke only to the issue of whether the public will have an opportunity to comment if the plans result in placement of a melter in Beaufort County. He says nothing about whether the county will protect air quality but only that we'll have a say before Potash does whatever it is going to do.

    The second issue, for us, is the more important one. That is the issue of transparency by Potash/Aurora.

    Potash blew it with the Morehead project. They tried to keep it secret. They say they did so because they were seeking an economic development grant from the Department of Commerce and DOC required secrecy. But it was a serious miscalculation by Potash. When the word finally got out, Potash looked like a sneak. It has very little credibility in Carteret County among a number of people there at this time. Hopefully they will not commit the same mistake in what they plan to do in Beaufort County.

    We suspect that there will be as much opposition in Beaufort County as there was in Morehead to any project that emits an odor or produces any other kind of pollution. We saw this already in the public comment section of this same meeting. Those of us who already experience air pollution from the Aurora operation don't want more of it.

    Thus, it is incumbent on Potash to design whatever it is going to do to be pollution free outside its property and equally important is that they be completely transparent and forthcoming about what they plan to do. They blew it in the Morehead fiasco and hopefully they will not commit the same mistake in Beaufort County.

    And to Chairman Langley and the other commissioners, we would suggest that while the public absolutely has a right to comment on whatever is proposed, that is not the most important thing. The most important thing, and the primary duty of the County Commissioners, is to protect the quality of the environment in Beaufort County. And we note that not one of the commissioners questioned Potash about that issue in this meeting. We need better leadership than that.

    We'll go ahead and make our "public comment" for Mr. Langley. Whatever Potash does on their property at Aurora should have no impact whatsoever on anyone else who owns property in Beaufort County. And that includes air and water quality.