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"THE ONLY THING NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING"
--Burke

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Monday 6-25 at 10:30 AM Signing ceremony at City Hall 2nd floor chambers


Invite for JAC Members: signing of Emergency
Plan for Hazardous Chemicals (USA EPA
Administrator to witness)

Texas may rule on Asarco copper smelter in August

Texas may rule on Asarco copper smelter in August

Fri Jun 22, 2007 6:13PM EDT

MEXICO CITY, June 22 (Reuters) - Texas could give U.S. copper miner Asarco the green light to restart its mothballed El Paso copper smelter any time from August onward, state environmental authorities said on Friday.

Andrea Morrow, spokeswoman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said no date was set for the hearing.

"The earliest it could be scheduled is August and the commision can grant the permit, deny the permit, or do something else," she said by telephone.

Reopening the 150,000 short ton per year smelter, built in the 19th century and closed amid low copper prices in 1999, would be an important financial boost for bankrupt Asarco, owned by Mexico City-based Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX: Quote, Profile, Research).

But a vocal lobby that includes environmental groups, some local officials and U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes oppose the smelter because of worries about air quality....
see:
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2240060020070622

ConTop was a cover for the illegal burning of unmanifested poisons for profit (reply to El Paso Times article about UTEP economic study concerning ASARCO

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: ConTop was a cover for the illegal burning of unmanifested poisons for profit (reply to El Paso Times article about UTEP economic study concerning ASARCO)
Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2007 22:29:34 -0600
To: lgilo[at]elpasotimes.com


in 1992, after more than 100 years in operation, Asarco invested $100 million to modernize the El Paso plant using a new technology called ConTop which, officials said, increased production to 150,000 pounds of copper annually and reduced air emissions by more than 90 percent."

Dear Mr. Gilot,

ConTop reduced Sulfur dioxide, but it also did something called "energy recovery".  It was designed to burn non-traditional metal-bearing materials like shredded automobiles and sludge to generate heat to smelt traditional ores.  So, Asarco secretly shipped unrecorded (unmanifested) poisons into its plant and incinerated them for profit - they never intended to get any metals out of those materials.  The EPA tracked down 5000 tons -- enough to prove that materials from Rocky Mt. Arsenal and other sources had no metals in their materials for recovery -- the smelter never intended to smelt any metals.  It was an unlicensed hazardous waste incinerator in the middle of the Paso del Norte region and it poisoned us. (see attached article).  And, by the EPA's own admission, Asarco's business of incinerating hazardous waste was a big money maker for the smelter.  The EPA, the Department of Justice and Asarco kept that information hidden from our community for eight years, until we got the document from the D.O.J. and released it 10/2006.

So, while ConTop reduced some air emissions, it gave off tremendous toxic amounts of materials that the smelter and our environmental agencies never tested for.  We know that their brine concentrator, for example, was rated to handle Low Level Radioactive waste; and that from Asarco's own reports it handled chemical weapons quench water.

Thank you,
Heather McMurray

"Asarco commissioned a study on the economic impact of the proposed reopening of the El Paso copper smelter. Here are some of the result:
In El Paso
# 291 new direct jobs.
# 1,819 new indirect jobs.
# $73 million in new labor income per year from direct and indirect jobs.
# $1.16 billion in regional economic output.

At the Amarillo refinery
# 44 new jobs.
# 286 new indirect jobs.
# $11 million in new labor income per year from direct and indirect jobs.
# $134 million regional economic output.
In Texas
# 334 new direct jobs.
# 2,264 new indirect jobs.
# $92.7 million in new labor income per year from direct and indirect jobs.
# $1.35 billion in regional economic output."

THE NEGATIVE COSTS TO OPENING:
#  50 million to clean-up a site like Helena Montana (El Paso site is worse)
# 1 Billion to clean-up Asarco contaminated sites in the USA
# 24 million alone to clean up the Asarco contamination beneath the old upper american
canal by the smelter in El Paso TX
#  Dying and ill workers (some costing $1000/day in experimental drugs to stay alive)
#  hidden costs of asthma, people dying slowly from C.O.P.D., costs of medical care/oxygen
#  hidden costs to police, schools and other public agencies from children exposed to heavy metals
    at an early early age causing explosive-anger, learning disabilities, emotional disabilities
#  hidden costs to residents of this region from brain, nasal, skin and other cancers
#  hidden costs to families whose babies suffered birth defects from the poisons



Friday, June 22, 2007

TCEQ failing to enforce identification and cleanup of contamination from illegal burning of toxic waste by Asarco El Paso

To:  TCEQ complaint

sb:  TCEQ failing to enforce identification and cleanup of contamination from illegal burning of toxic waste by Asarco El Paso

I am filing this as a formal complaint asking the TCEQ to run a full spectrometer analysis of the material dredged from the bottom of the 100 year old Asarco pond and sent to TX US ecology for storage, with the purpose of identifying the chemical compounds left here from the illegal sham-recycling by Asarco.  I also ask that a full spectrometer analysis be done of the present-bottom of that same pond at the Asarco site and where the most runoff would have contacted soil during the 9-4-06 collapse of Asarco rubber lake.  Also, please run an analysis from a scraping of the Asarco primary smoke-stack; and from the Ionics brine concentrator's concentrate chambers.  This analysis should include ash-incineration-technique to check for alpha and beta particles.

High level officials in the TCEQ and the EPA are violating honest services provision of the mail and wire fraud act by
  • failure to identify and enforce cleanup of the toxic poisons incinerated/stored by Asarco El Paso from its subsidiary in Corpus Christi, TX.
  • pretending to carry on a legitimate permitting process on the El Paso Asarco smelter while continuing to ignore that this site has NOT BEEN DECONTAMINATED from the burning of these wastes
  • failure to identify the wastes left here from this incineration/handling
  • failure to explain the resulting health effects to the community  
Public officials have known that these toxins are now in our water, the alluvial sediments and aquifer.  The TCEQ is failing to continue metal testing of the river below Asarco saying it "isn't necessary any longer".  The TCEQ is failing to identify the toxins left in our water supply from the decade of illegal Asarco sham-recycling.






Sham Environmental Justice?

To: Mr. Hook, Env. Justice Director EPA Region 6

sb:  EPA visit to El Paso June 20

Please send us a copy of your agenda during your visit to this region.  If necessary,please consider this an FOIA request for that information.   I would like to know the purpose of your visit to El Paso and this region, and whom you spoke/met with while here.

I live 3 miles from the Asarco smelter that burned toxic waste for nearly a  decade without a permit and contaminated our aquifer, much of that time on your watch.  I suggest that like the TCEQ's sham-permitting-process for Asarco's sham-recyling, you possibly are in charge of sham-environmental-justice and it is time you delivered actual justice to this regions' peoples.
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/5dc6087040a927d3852572a000650c01/b8c7edeba47531b5852570d6005e7e5c!OpenDocument
 
During that time you had to be aware of the largest TCEQ (Texas-EPA agreement state)hearing ever conducted on the Sierra Blanca nuclear dump, and were on watch when NYC's organized crime railed-and-dumped NYC sludge on the tiny minority town of Sierra Blanca.

Since your visit here, Asarco has canceled a public meeting for this weekend defending their position on re-opening this contaminated smelter.  If you visited with anyone connected with Asarco or representing Asarco interests, please let us know.

I am bc'ing this email to media contacts. 


Asarco sends up smoke screen

Letters published in El Paso Times

Asarco sends up smoke screen

Mr. Lairy Johnson, Environmental Manager of Asarco, has been addressing local groups with a PowerPoint presentation which is not entirely accurate.

Mr. Johnson has stated that the Asarco smelter has not burned hazardous wastes and Asarco's El Paso smelter has not been fined for burning hazardous wastes.

The truth, per a New York Times article and related EPA report, is that the EPA fined Asarco $20 million for burning hazardous chemical weapons waste for several years: (Google New York Times Asarco and look at the third listing, or go to http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/us/11toxic.html?ex=1318219200&en=3ee634faa2197f28&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss).

Mr. Johnson has stated that the Asarco smelter will not emit more air contaminants than 230 El Paso households.

The truth is that little or no sulfur dioxide would be emitted per year from 230 households, but over 6,000 tons per year of sulfur dioxide would be emitted into El Paso's air per year if Asarco were to reopen per Asarco's permit application

20345: (Google El Paso's smoke and lots or mirrors and look at the first listing, or go to http://www.elpasotimes.com/search//ci_6040830).

Noel Roberts
West El Paso

Cancer Risk From Environmental Arsenic Can Last for Generations

Cancer Risk From Environmental Arsenic Can Last for Generations

Chilean study finds rates for malignancy were still high decades after clean-up

TUESDAY, June 12 (HealthDay News) -- Decades after residents of a region in northern Chile were exposed to high levels of arsenic in their drinking water, they still suffer from high lung and bladder cancer death rates, concludes a study by U.S. and Chilean researchers.

The finding indicates a pattern of long-term arsenic-related health effects that hasn't been documented before, said the authors of a study in the June 12 Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

"The results show that the risks of concentrated arsenic exposure are extraordinarily high, and that they last a very long time, both after initial exposure, and after the exposure ends," principal investigator Allan Smith, professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, said in a prepared statement....

SOURCE: University of California, Berkeley, news release, June 12, 2007
U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, sent a letter this week to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, asking the commissioners to reject Asarco's request to renew its air quality permit."..."I'm posting the whole letter here, so you can read it yourself:Download asarco_tceq_letter_6.18.07.pdf
"

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Sault Ste Marie - low water exposes dangerous sediment

[sounds like the Rio Grande below Asarco El Paso....]

Low water levels along the St. Mary's River have likely uncovered more than a century's worth of contaminated sediment, says a member of the joint U.S. and Canadian group charged with monitoring the troubled waterway.....

This message was sent to you via the Sludge Watch list serv
http://list.web.net/lists/listinfo/sludgewatch-l

US Gov. says that Bankruptcy doesn't protect Asarco from YAK Tunnel Colorado mine environmental cleanup

Asarco LLC, a bankrupt mining company, can`t use bankruptcy and a
joint-venture structure to absolve itself of the need to prevent a
disaster at its former lead and zinc mine, the US government said.
http://www.mining-journal.com/Breaking_News.aspx?breaking_news_article_id=2904


Tuesday, June 19, 2007

EPA Water Headlines - June 18, 2007 (arsenic)

Water Headlines for June 18, 2007 Benjamin H. Grumbles Assistant
Administrator Office of Water

Water Headlines is a weekly on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water

In This Week?s Water Headlines:
1) New Products Released to Help Small Systems Meet Regulations Controlling Arsenic in Drinking Water
2) EPA Seeks Drinking Water Utilities for Contaminant Warning System Pilot Projects
3) Watershed Academy June 21st Webcast to feature STORET?EPA?s repository of water quality monitoring data
4) Subscribe to Water Headlines

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/arsenic/compliance.html

ASARCO Is Deceiving the Public

ASARCO Is Deceiving the Public

ASARCO can’t be trusted. The people of El Paso have
not been fully informed about the prior occurrences
with ASARCO, nor as to the validity of any research
that ASARCO claims will show that they never polluted.

ASARCO illegally burned DOD hazardous chemical weapons waste here in El Paso during the 1990’s, and they didn’t have a license to do so. They did it once and they will do it again. The CONTOP tower that they hold so highly is used by many European smelters to process hazardous wastes; they used it here in El Paso to process hazardous wastes. They broke the law and got a slap on the wrist when they were caught. Why? Because America (the rest of the country) is foaming at the mouth, or looking for, a place to get rid of all its toxic garbage, and El Paso seems a nice out of the way place to do so.

The aspect of creating jobs is acting as a smokescreen
to keep the focus off of the real issue of environmental racism.
Scott / Central El Paso

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

TCEQ and Sham Permitting

To:  Mr. Harrison, Mr. Patterson and Mr. Nelson, OPA and OAG contacts
Fr:   Heather McMurray, El Paso TX
cc:   Mary Mahaney

sb:  Sham Permitting

Thank you for your email.  The Permit 4151 is a sham in regards to "no-increase".  There is no way to re-open the ore-handling process on that ore-handling-pad at Asarco El Paso and say that emissions won't increase unless the TCEQ is ignoring the Toxic Contamination from Encycle, Corpus Christi, TX.  There has been no "decontamination" of this Asarco El Paso site.   The smoking gun memo (authenticated) that the SOAH Judges refused to allow as evidence during the 2005 Asarco El Paso Air hearing lets us know that contamination is being concealed from the peoples of this region by high officials in the EPA and the TCEQ.   To discuss the 4151 permit as a "no-increase" permit as if it is a legitimate process is ludicrous when we now know that illegal toxic-waste was brought in, handled and incinerated in our ConTop furnaces for profit, and that it was stored on that ore-handling pad.

The contamination is still being concealed, and we would like to know what is being concealed, before any more permits are renewed or allowed.   The entire permitting/SOAH process has become a sham-process because the TCEQ and EPA continue to hide the contamination from Asarco's sham-recycling; and, the ConTop's permitting in 1992 conned the public into thinking that these furnaces were there to reduce emission when they were there to make monies as hazardous waste incinerators.

We want the responsible EPA and TCEQ officials to step down, and for honest officials to take their place, to let us know what contamination has been concealed, and for clean-up to begin.

Mary Mahaney wrote:
Good afternoon Ms. Murray:
 
The renewal application for Permit 4151 is a "no-increase" renewal, therefore there will be no comment period after the RTC (response to comments document), and no period for filing further hearing requests.  The RTC will be mailed out with a letter setting the date for Agenda.  The timely hearing requests (those received within 15 days of the original notice) will be considered at Agenda.
 
The comment period for this permit renewal application closed 15 days after the original notice.  There will be no further opportunity to comment.
 
If I can be of further assistance, please contact me at (512) 239-2427 or by e-mail (mmahaney@tceq.state.tx.us).
 
Sincerely,
 
Mary Mahaney
Air Permits Division
Open Records Coordinator

>>> <heamc@earthlink.net> 6/7/2007 1:02 PM >>>
Thank you, Mary,
Since the technical review is still on-going for the Asarco El Paso ore-handling permit #4151, please confirm that the public comment period remains open for this permit?

Attached is my original request for party status on this permit.

Heather McMurray

Monday, June 11, 2007

Rocky Flats workers told to go home and die

(Rocky Mountain Arsenal quench water came to El Paso for smelting)

URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5580337,00.html

"Rocky Flats workers face likely denial of compensation

Board members say their hands are tied

By Laura Frank And Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News
June 11, 2007

Barring any "shocking" revelations, there is "little chance" that a White House advisory board will vote Tuesday in favor of immediate compensation for most sick Rocky Flats workers, said the board member in charge of the Flats case....."

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Water and Air to breathe may become more precious than Copper

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2643033.ece <http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2643033.ece>
The wrath of 2007: America's great drought By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles Published: 11 June 2007

America is facing its worst summer drought since the Dust Bowl years of the Great Depression. Or perhaps worse still....
...the long-term implications are escaping nobody. Climatologists see a growing volatility in the south-east's weather - today's drought coming close on the heels of devastating hurricanes two to three years ago. In the West, meanwhile, a growing body of scientific evidence suggests a movement towards a state of perpetual drought by the middle of this century. "The 1930s drought lasted less than a decade. This is something that could remain for 100 years," said Richard Seager a climatologist at Columbia University and lead researcher of a report published recently by the government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).....Across the West, farmers and city water consumers are locked in a perennial battle over water rights - one that the cities are slowly winning. Down the line, though, there are serious questions about how to keep showers and lawn sprinklers going in the retirement communities of Nevada and Arizona. Lake Powell, the reservoir on the upper Colorado River that helps provide water across a vast expanse of the West, has been less than half full for years, with little prospect of filling up in the foreseeable future.....According to the NOAA's recent report, the West can expect 10-20 per cent less rainfall by mid-century, which will increase air pollution in the cities, kill off trees and water-retaining giant cactus plants and shrink the available water supply by as much as 25 per cent....

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Multimedia Consent decree stated that all operations at the Facility would have materials tracked and a x-ray fluorescence spectrometer used

After twelve months of efforts to get a copy of a full chemical analysis of the material dredged from the bottom of the Asarco El Paso 100 year old pond, after it was dredged in July of 2006, the TCEQ Regional Director begs the question by stating that the TCEQ under law does not require that TX US Ecology release (or collect) such data.

However, the multimedia consent decree stated that [it] :

Encycle shall manage waste
at the Facility in accordance with this Waste Analysis Plan, which
shall supersede the WAP referenced in the Permit. Immediately upon
entry of this Decree, Settlors shall apply the WAP attached to
this Decree to all operations at the Facility. Settlors shall use
their best efforts to install and operate as soon as possible an
x-ray fluorescence spectrometer for use in analyzing metal content
in Solid Feedstock for compliance with Feedstock acceptance
criteria. Between entry of this Consent Decree and the date on
which the x-ray fluorescence spectrometer is operational, which
shall be no later than June 1, 1999, except for CC-5112,
preshipment samples of bulk Solid Feedstocks shall be taken to
confirm compliance with all applicable acceptance criteria,
including those contained in Paragraph 28 herein. During this
period, confirmation samples shall be analyzed on receipt of each
shipment. If the preshipment sample demonstrates compliance with
the acceptance criteria but the confirmation sample does not
confirm such compliance then future shipments of such material
shall not be unloaded prior to receipt of analysis results
confirming that the materials meet acceptance criteria.


Notice that this paragraph says "ALL OPERATIONS AT THE FACILITY". Even dredging and taking that stuff away to TX US Ecology?

http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/decrees/civil/mm/asarcophs2cd.pdf

Since TCEQ deny ever requiring a spectrometer to analyze the waste coming from El Paso to the
dump site then they should explain why they failed to do this when the US DOJ / EPA consent decree required
this be done to "weed out" improper feedstock/materials even after Asarco-el paso closed.
TX US Ecology cannot accept all waste - in order to determine the proper disposal method, a spectrometer or
equivalent sensitive analysis needed to be done because that pond-dirt contains all the stuff that was "missed"
when Encycle had failed to run these tests from 1992 through 1999.

Again, back in December 2006: "We do not usually do not release this client information to anyone other than a regulatory agency without the clients c

Here, the TX US Ecology General Manager explained that the Regulatory Agency (TCEQ) is allowed to have a copy of the identifying analysis. Fast forward to now, June 9, 2007 and we see that the TCEQ Regional Director says that TCEQ is not required under law to ask for it (even when a State Senator asks TCEQ to request it). Instead of the Regional Director or the Austin TCEQ offices asking TX US Robstown to turn over any spectrometer or equivalent analyses (raw data, even lab books), the TCEQ begs the question.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: FW: [Fwd: PIR# 06.11.20.15]
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 06:06:52 -0700
From: Ken Knibbs <kknibbs[at]usecology.com>
To: <heamc[at]earthlink.net



We do not usually do not release this client information to anyone other than a regulatory agency without the clients consent. I would be happy to forward this request to our client.

-----Original Message-----
From: heamc[at]earthlink.net [mailto:heamc[at]earthlink.net]
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 8:13 PM
To: Ken Knibbs
Subject: Re: FW: [Fwd: PIR# 06.11.20.15]
Hi, Ken,
Is there a problem with this request?



Ken Knibbs wrote:
Please contact me regarding this request.

Thank you,
Ken Knibbs
General Manager
361-387-3518 ext. 267

-----Original Message-----
From: Beth Payne [mailto:bpayne[at]americanecology.com]
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 11:01 AM
To: Ken Knibbs
Subject: FW: [Fwd: PIR# 06.11.20.15]

~Beth~

-----Original Message-----
From: Jill Albert [mailto:jalbert[at]americanecology.com]
Sent: Monday, December 11, 2006 6:33 AM
To: 'Beth Payne'
Subject: FW: [Fwd: PIR# 06.11.20.15]

Beth not for sure about this
Jill Albert
Customer Service Manager
US Ecology Texas
361-387-3518 Ext. 255

-----Original Message-----
From: heamc[at]earthlink.net [mailto:heamc[at]earthlink.net]
Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2006 2:27 AM
To: jalbert[at]americanecology.com
Subject: [Fwd: PIR# 06.11.20.15]

Dear Ms. Albert (U.S. Ecology Customer Service Manager),
The TX TCEQ referred me to your company for a copy of the following information, under my Public Information Act Request, PIR 06.11.20.15 .
Asarco El Paso recently dredged materials from its central pond, dried it in its bedding building and then shipped it to US Ecology in Robstown.

They would have been required to fill out a "Waste Product Questionnaire (WPQ)" and they may also have provided an identifying analysis and an applicable Material Safety Data Sheet(s) (MSDS).

Would you email me a copy?

thank you

Back to December 2006 - TX US Ecology Attorney specifies that TCEQ must place a written demand for such information (under law they are allowed to request a copy)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: FW: [Fwd: PIR# 06.11.20.15]]
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 08:30:36 -0700
From: Wayne Ipsen <WIPSEN[at]americanecology.com>
To: <heamc[at]earthlink.net>
CC: Ken Knibbs <kknibbs[at]americanecology.com>
Re: [Fwd: Re: FW: [Fwd: PIR# 06.11.20.15]]

Ms. McMurray:

There is not a specific person/office from which the request must come, however, our ability to provide confidential customer information to the TCEQ  (stemming from a third party request) will depend on the TCEQ's written demand for such information.

Regards,

Wayne Ipsen

-----------------------
Sent with ChatterEmail+ (EX)
Direct Exchange Email for the Treo Smartphone
http://get.chatteremail.com

-----Original Message-----
From: "heamc[at]earthlink.net" <heamc[at]earthlink.net>
Date: Monday, Dec 18, 2006 7:42 pm
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: FW: [Fwd: PIR# 06.11.20.15]]

       Thank you, Mr. Ipsen.  Who in the TCEQ must write you that letter? What office/administrator?

Correspondence from 1-14-07 through 2-16-07 trying to get release of Robstown US Ecology Asarco manifests, waste profiles and chemical analyses from Stephanie Bergeron, TCEQ Austin

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Fwd: American Canal cont., and request for letter to US Ecology from TCEQ]
Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 08:53:33 -0600
From: Stephanie Bergeron <SBERGERO@tceq.state.tx.us>
To: <heamc[at]earthlink.net>, "Javier Martinez" <Javier.Martinez[at]mail.house.gov>, <thornton.wood[at]oag.state.tx.us>, "Andrea Casey" <ACasey[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Celeste Baker" <CBAKER[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Charles Stokes" <CSTOKES[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Jim Hay" <JHAY[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "John Davis" <JODAVIS[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "WWW - WWW - WWW - OPA" <OPA[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Rosalinda Escalon" <RESCALON[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Ronnie Morgan" <RMORGAN[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Sharmein White" <SHWHITE[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Vickie Stone" <VStone[at]tceq.state.tx.us>


Heather,
 
Late yesterday I attempted to email documents described below but again I received an error message (attached) that delivery was unsuccessful.  Accordingly, we will mail a copy (and waive costs) of documents to you.
 
Thank you - Stephanie
*********************************************************************
Heather,
 
As mentioned, attached please find waste profiles and manifests for shipments made from ASARCO El Paso to US Ecology in Robstown in 2006.
 
Thanks - Stephanie
*****************************************************************
Hi Heather,
 
You have requested information relating to "material dredged from the ponds this summer (2006)/dried in the bedding building/and then sent for disposal to US Ecology near Corpus Christi, to you at TCEQ." You also stated the requested information is "not the stormwater containment pond(s)." Rather, "it is the 100+ year old pond in the center of the complex."  
 
To address your concern that the agency has not responded to your request, we contacted US Ecology and requested all manifests and profiles for waste received by US Ecology from ASARCO/El Paso in 2006. 
 
US Ecology has copied the documents and will be providing them to the Corpus regional office.  We will notify you when we have received documents to address how to make them available for your review.
 
Thank you - Stephanie


Subject:
Message status - undeliverable
From:
Mailer-Daemon[at]smtpgate.tceq.state.tx.us
Date:
Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:50:22 -0600
To:
SBERGERO[at]tceq.state.tx.us

The attached file had the following undeliverable recipient(s): 	heamc[at]earthlink.net  Transcript of session follows: 	  Command:  MAIL FROM:<SBERGERO[at]tceq.state.tx.us> 	  Response: 552 Message size 20975471 exceeds limits 14680064 	
 
Received: from GATEDOM-MTA by smtpgate.tceq.state.tx.us with Novell_GroupWise; Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:50:19 -0600 Message-Id: <s5d48f4b.045[at]smtpgate.tceq.state.tx.us> X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise Internet Agent 6.5.6 Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:49:47 -0600 From: "Stephanie Bergeron" <SBERGERO[at]tceq.state.tx.us> To: <heamc[at]earthlink.net>, "Javier Martinez" <Javier.Martinez[at]mail.house.gov>, <thornton.wood[at]oag.state.tx.us>, "Andrea Casey" <ACasey[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Celeste Baker" <CBAKER[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Charles Stokes" <CSTOKES[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Jim Hay" <JHAY[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "John Davis" <JODAVIS[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "WWW - WWW - WWW - OPA" <OPA[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Rosalinda Escalon" <RESCALON[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Ronnie Morgan" <RMORGAN[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Sharmein White" <SHWHITE[at]tceq.state.tx.us>, "Vickie Stone" <VStone[at]tceq.state.tx.us> Subject: Re: [Fwd: American Canal cont., and request for letter to US Ecology from TCEQ] Heather, As mentioned, attached please find waste profiles and manifests for shipments made from ASARCO El Paso to US Ecology in Robstown in 2006. Thanks - Stephanie ***************************************************************** Hi Heather, You have requested information relating to "material dredged from the ponds this summer (2006)/dried in the bedding building/and then sent for disposal to US Ecology near Corpus Christi, to you at TCEQ." You also stated the requested information is "not the stormwater containment pond(s)." Rather, "it is the 100+ year old pond in the center of the complex." To address your concern that the agency has not responded to your request, we contacted US Ecology and requested all manifests and profiles for waste received by US Ecology from ASARCO/El Paso in 2006.

>>> <heamc[at]earthlink.net> 2/5/2007 12:53 PM >>>
Hi, Stephanie,

Please write the letter to Mr. Ipsen and quit dodging.

Regional Office follow up is not what I asked for and will not get the job done.  The report should have been on file with my state regulatory agency already and it is not - that is the responsibility of TCEQ Austin, who fined US Ecology in Robstown just last summer.   The lack of information on file with TCEQ is keeping me from accessing this data under open records and I don't appreciate this continued run-around.

I have gotten a public commitment from my State Senator about this request.  I want a letter from TCEQ Austin asking for that report,  and I want access to it under open records, as a citizen living 3 miles from that dredged site.

Please write this letter to Mr. Wayne R. Ipsen, Corporate Counsel at the American Ecology Corporation Fax 208.331.7900 in Corpus Christi (Robstown, TX) and formally ask him to release the Waste Product Questionnaire, identifying analysis, and any applicable Material safety data sheets from the material dredged from the ponds this summer (2006)/dried in the bedding building/and then sent for disposal to US Ecology near Corpus Christi, to you at TCEQ.

I do not want to release the name or date of letter to you without written-assurances that the author at TCEQ will not have any retaliatory action taken against them at the agency for releasing honest information to me.

I am bc'ing this email to interested parties, including press contacts.  I want to know what is in the material dredged from that central 100 year old pond, 3 miles from my house and above my drinking-water-supply (the old upper american canal).  And I don't appreciate the hedging or stalling from TCEQ legal.  If you won't write the letter then someone else on this distribution list should be writing it - Mr. McCalla, Mr. Stokes, Mr. Harrison, Ms. Baker.  To pass it along to Regional (Mr. Clouse) is unacceptable when the Asarco illegal hazardous waste burning and cover-up was done at the highest levels of TCEQ and EPA; and, this chemical analysis will show what the TCEQ and EPA are hiding.

We are tired of the cover-up, we are tired of not being told what was burned, and what metal(s) are being hidden.  We are tired of seeing inept data reports, like recent ones showing extremely high strontium levels released from storm ponds at Asarco, but no follow-up by TCEQ to ask which isotopes of strontium.   If anyone on the distribution list is not helping us uncover what it is, then you are part of the cover-up in my opinion; and, liable for those actions. 

Heather McMurray



Stephanie Bergeron wrote:
I will have our regional office follow up again with US Ecology.  Do you have a date for the TCEQ document/communication in your possession?
 
Thank you - Stephanie
 
** Attorney Client Communication **

>>> <heamc[at]earthlink.net> 2/5/2007 11:39 AM >>>
Dear Ms. Bergeron,
I have a TCEQ communication in my possession stating that dredged material was shipped to American Ecology in Robstown TX (US Ecology). I have communicated with that company, and they will not release the manifest and chemical analysis.

Now you want me to believe that the shipment never was made?  This was *NOT* the stormwater containment pond(s).  This was the 100+ year old pond in the center of the complex.  The material was removed long ago, and dried in the bedding building before it was shipped out.  I have been trying to get a copy of the analysis since last summer -- almost six months, now.  That is unacceptable and the hedging and problems-emailing are transparent.

All you have to do is write a letter to American Ecology (US Ecology) in Robstown (the same site you fined last year) and request a copy of the information that TCEQ is allowed to legally acquire, being our State regulatory body.   The company DOES have that information and I want a copy of it through TCEQ under open records law.

It was shipped to Robstown, I want a copy of the chemical analysis, and I want honest services.



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: American Canal cont., and request for letter to US Ecology from TCEQ
Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2007 10:20:49 -0600
From: Stephanie Bergeron <SBERGERO[at]tceq.state.tx.us>
To: <heamc[at]earthlink.net>
CC: Javier Martinez <Javier.Martinez[at]mail.house.gov>, <thornton.wood[at]oag.state.tx.us>, WWW - WWW - OPA <OPA[at]tceq.state.tx.us>


I have just been advised by our IR staff, that the PDF documents that I was trying to send are apparently what is resulting in undeliverable error message.  We will mail these to you.
 
Thank you - Stephanie
********************************************************************
Due to error messages indicating that the email exceeds text limits, I am re-sending emails that are limited only to the most recent inquiry and our response. 
 
Thank you - Stephanie
**************************************************************************
Hi Heather,
 
As noted in my 1/19/07 email, I stated I would follow up concerning your request for information regarding dredged material from the ASARCO ponds. 

 

After we received your email, we ran a report of our database regarding waste sent from ASARCO to US Ecology.  Based upon our review, we did not locate shipments of dredged material from ASARCO to US Ecology.  We also contacted US Ecology in Corpus and verified that they have not yet received stormwater pond dredged material.   Attached for your review is ASARCO’s Notice of Registration (NOR) and US Ecology’s List of Shipments received from ASARCO.  Let me know if you would like to have an agency employee go through these documents with you.

 

The dredged material from the stormwater ponds remains on-site and has not yet been sent to US Ecology for disposal.  Dredging activity was not completed until late November due to the stormwater events in August and September; the water in the ponds had to evaporate before dredging could continue.  Appropriate waste characterization must be conducted on generated wastes and waste must be shipped under hazardous waste manifest.  These documents are available for agency review when we conduct on-site investigations at generating facilities. 

 

Thank you,

 

Stephanie

 
*************************************************************************
Hi Heather,
 
In response to your first concern, I believe you may be to referring to water quality data which was provided to you in response to your request for information on 12/16/05 regarding "all information concerning the EPA, TCEQ and 'other agencies' handling of the 4-Sept-06 spill of the stormwater containment pond."  We do not have information concerning the exposure of the water supply to ASARCO groundwater contamination by the collapse of the canal panels which is what I believe you originally requested.  If there was any misunderstanding of your original request on our part, I apologize for that.  We have endeavored to be responsive and acted in good faith to your requests for public information.
 
With regard to your request for information regarding dredged material from the ASARCO ponds sent to US Ecology for disposal, we will contact the facility.  I will follow up once I have further information.
 
Thank you,
 
Stephanie

>>> <heamc[at]earthlink.net> 1/14/2007 4:13 AM >>>
Dear Ms. Bergeron,
I have just received data from the TCEQ regarding the water quality data due to recent shifting of the slabs for the American canal.  The data specifies the same distance above and below the collapsed slabs and shows the increase in metals below that point.   This data was available since at least 9/4/06 but you said that the TCEQ did not have any data.


Please review the records again and send me any information regarding water quality in the old upper american canal as impacted by those collapsed panels, any leaking panels, and the recent '06 storm runoff.  I have the material sent from our regional office. I took photos of runoff from the Asarco property entering a public street and onto Paisano - which was later cleared by TXDOT vehicles.  Asarco's waste and storm-water permit does not allow the company to direct storm-water to a street, because the company never specified that this would happen. 

I am also concerned because I have been trying to get a copy of a chemical analysis that is available to the TCEQ but not available under open records (TCEQ says it doesn't have it) and the US Ecology company Counsel refuses to release it without a formal letter from the TCEQ.  The TCEQ is allowed to have a copy as the environmental regulatory body.

Would you write this letter to Mr. Wayne R. Ipsen, Corporate Counsel at the American Ecology Corporation Fax 208.331.7900 in Corpus Christi (Robstown, TX) and formally ask him to release the Waste Product Questionnaire, identifying analysis, and any applicable Material safety data sheets from the material dredged from the ponds this summer (2006)/dried in the bedding building/and then sent for disposal to US Ecology near Corpus Christi, to you at TCEQ so that you in turn could release a copy to me under the TX open records law?  I find it very distressing that it is so difficult for a citizen living only three miles from that dredged-pond to get a copy of the chemical analysis of the pond dredgings, that are supposed to be stored in the public view.

If you can't write the letter, please explain why. 

thank you,
Heather Mcmurray
El Paso, TX