MOREHEAD CITY — The general manager of the PotashCorp-Aurora facility said Thursday the company’s former plans to build a sulfur-melting facility at the state port would have been presented to the public differently if not for the confidentiality required in a state incentives deal.

Speaking during the Morehead City Port Committee’s monthly meeting at the Sanitary Restaurant, general manager Steven Beckel said State Commerce Department officials “encouraged” the company’s pursuit of an incentive grant under the One NC Fund, a program that requires matching funds from a local government entity and “no public discussion” of the proposed project until an official announcement is made by the department.

“We were not trying to do anything in secret, we were just following the path that we were presented,” Mr. Beckel said during the meeting, which included a question-and-answer session with the more than 30 in attendance, including opponents of the plan.