North Carolina regulators released a draft air permit Friday for the proposed Titan Cement plant in New Hanover County. If built, it will be the fourth largest cement plant in the country.

The Division of Air Quality’s draft permit regulates the amount of pollutants coming from the proposed cement plant. It says the facility must be equipped with state-of-the-art pollution controls.

Titan has been waiting for the draft permit since the beginning of the year, so it could purchase equipment and proceed with design plans.

But the Southeastern Environmental Law Center had been urging the state to hold the permit until a more comprehensive environmental impact study could be done.

North Carolina has given Titan Cement $4.2 million worth of incentives to build the plant on the banks of the Northeast Cape Fear River.