RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carteret County Commission is the latest public body in the region to go on record as opposing a sulfur-processing facility with two 150-foot smokestacks that a Canadian company plans to build near downtown Morehead City.

PCS Phosphates officials said they have been in talks with multiple state, local and federal agencies regarding the proposal since last summer, yet city and county officials maintain that many details of the project have remained unclear.

"If we had known what this was all about, we'd have requested face-to-face sit-downs and more information to ascertain exactly what their intent was," said Greg Lewis, vice chairman of the Carteret County Commission.

PCS spokeswoman Michelle Vaught said the $95 million processing facility is needed to melt solid sulfur after it is received by ships at the Morehead City Port.

News of the project became public earlier this month when adjoining property owner Jett Matthews, who operates the Morehead City Yacht Basin, was notified that the port authority would be making changes in the navigable waterway to accommodate sulfur barges used at the new facility.

"Once I started investigating what was going on, I started realizing how bad it was," Matthews said. "There's page after page of approvals that have already been granted by the state of North Carolina."

State Department of Environment and Natural Resources officials confirmed that permits pertaining to the project have been obtained.

"People should have had a chance to comment on this," Matthews said. "That's not what we want here — a melting, boiling cauldron of sulfur."

The facility would be allowed under an amendment to the port authority's Coastal Area Management Act Permit, and no public hearing is required, said division spokeswoman Michelle Walker.

Matthews said nearby residents were given until July 29 to respond in writing to the CAMA proposal.

N.C. Port Authority spokeswoman Shannon Moody said PCS is the port's largest and longest-standing tenant, and the authority wanted to work with the company to accommodate its needs and the needs of the community for economic development and jobs.

The plant would employ approximately 18 full-time workers once construction is complete.

The Department of Commerce has been working with PCS to develop economic incentives for the project, Moody said. Commerce spokesman Justin Guillory said the department has a policy of not discussing new projects until they are officially announced.

"It was a web of secrecy starting at the state level," said Leigh Johnson, who has organized the Clean County Coalition in opposition to the project.

Members of the coalition said they are worried about the threat of explosions at the plant, as well as potential water pollution and air quality impacts. Not least of their concerns is the possibility that unpleasant smells emanating from the smokestacks would deter tourism in the community.

Vaught said the facility's designers are including scrubbers to eliminate the potential for escape of the rotten-egg smell sulfur is known for.

Johnson also said residents are concerned about the degree to which local officials attempted to hide information about the project from the public.

The county's Economic Development Council, Morehead City Council, Beaufort City Council, and the Carteret County Chamber of Commerce all have come out in opposition to the plant since the news became public.

PCS Phosphates, whose parent company is Potash Corp., is one of the world's largest producers of fertilizer. The company has operated sulfur shipping and storage facilities at the Morehead City port since 1971.

PCS also owns phosphate mining operations in Aurora, N.C., where 17 workers were injured in 2010 when 8,000 pounds of ammonia escaped from the facility. The State Labor Department issued Potash Corp. nine citations and fined the company $30,400 after the accident.