Plan for Hazardous Chemicals (USA EPA
Administrator to witness)
Scroll to end: click web view. Heather Mcmurray 's work exposing the poisoning of 1000 square miles around El Paso by Asarco smelter through what the EPA & US DOJ said was illegal burning of illegal hazardous/radioactive wastes 1991 to 1998. We have never been told what actinides are present from illegal Asarco actions(see 73 page 1998 conf. for settlement purposes only DOJ EPA Asarco doc,10/06 nytimes) see "Asarco secret document"
Please donate (see sidebar) to help recoup costs of the work to uncover and blog the information contained here"THE ONLY THING NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING"
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
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) |
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Date: | Sun, 03 Jun 2007 22:29:34 -0600 |
To: | lgilo[at]elpasotimes.com |
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
-- Robert Preidt
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, 2007Low 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.....
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Board members say their hands are tied
By Laura Frank And Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News
June 11, 2007
Subject: | RE: FW: [Fwd: PIR# 06.11.20.15] |
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Date: | Tue, 12 Dec 2006 06:06:52 -0700 |
From: | Ken Knibbs <kknibbs[at]usecology.com> |
To: | <heamc[at]earthlink.net |
Subject: | Re: [Fwd: Re: FW: [Fwd: PIR# 06.11.20.15]] |
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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> |
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?
Subject: | Re: [Fwd: American Canal cont., and request for letter to US Ecology from TCEQ] |
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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> |
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.
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 - StephanieDear 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 ASARCOs Notice of Registration (NOR) and US Ecologys 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,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