Downtown Bridge Blues by Sito Negron// link to the EPgtlo blog

note:
If these are the east-west rail lines that are serviced by the crossings (mentioned by Rep. Reyes below) then this issue has something in common with ASARCO.

The rail lines run right through the ASARCO site and over the toxic land. ASARCO is owned by Grupo Mexico (an investor is CARLYLE GROUP), who owns 1/2 the freight right-of-way in Mexico. ASARCO sits in Railroad district 8, whose headquarters is in MIDLAND TEXAS, home of the Bush Family who are principle investors in the CARLYLE group. All the nuclear dump sites proposed in the last 16 years here, were sited in Railroad District 8..... the sludge dumps -- here.... the toxic burning at ASARCO... here. Everyone made money on burning and dumping waste here. Now we have the Andrews County (railroad district 8) nuclear dump; they are reopening the MERCO sludge dump; they want to restart the toxic-waste-burning ASARCO ConTop furnaces. And, the federal government is putting money into making our downtown rail crossing safer. DO YOU FEEL SAFER YET?????

DO YOU THINK THAT REP.REYES REALLY WILL PUSH THE GAO TO INVESTIGATE THE TOXIC WASTE AT THE ASARCO SITE WHEN THIS ALSO IMPACTS RAILROAD DISTRICT 8 rail lines?

Downtown Bridge Blues by Sito Negron

"The merchants who already were upset about the work being done at the city’s international bridges are fairly apoplectic about a proposal to raise bridge fees. And the upcoming move to shift pedestrians from the current El Paso Street entrance to temporary inspection that will empty to Oregon isn’'t helping the mood. The International Bridge Commission will discuss the issue next week. ....
Posted on July 13, 2007

The federal project is overseen by the General Services Administration, and involves the Department of Homeland Security because of the inspection issues involved at the international border.

“The construction will be inconvenient and I understand the frustration of business owners in the
area,” said Congressman Silvestre Reyes. “I encourage
customers to continue visiting the affected businesses
during the construction period. The safety of our railroad crossings, though, is extremely important, and the long-term public safety benefits of this construction will serve our entire community.”"

August 2005 Rally at the Border Against Asarco

The Onslaught of Pro-Asarco News begins ...

$$$ Since July 16.... $$$  $$$ The Onslaught begins $$$


July 26:
Reclaman en El Paso gasto por campaña vs Asarco

July 21:
Asarco: ‘¿El texto como pretexto?’

July 20:
Generaría Asarco 21 mdd en impuestos: informe

July 19:
Emitió el incendio en basurero 44 ton de contaminantes
Apertura bajaría impuestos a la propiedad: regidor paseño

July 18:
Calculan impacto de reapertura en 1,000 mdd al año
Amenazan con tomar las instalaciones de la planta
Acuerda Cabildo de EP contratar empresa para aclarar desinformación

July 17:
Cartas: opina sobre Asarco
Sin pruebas, impacto ambiental
Protección al ambiente, el argumento

July 16:
Asarco... lucha de intereses
Quién es el Grupo México
Sepulta modernización a una vieja planta
Crece el frente opositor
Historia de Asarco
Proceso de la compañía por obtener el permiso de emisiones número 20345 ante la TCEQ
Eximen estudios a la fundidora
Verdad sin prejuicios

see http://www.diario.com.mx/search.php

(for online translation, to get the gist of the articles for English-only-readers, please go to:
http://world.altavista.com/

Number of environmental cops decreasing

Number of environmental cops decreasing
http://www.onelocalnews.com/duntonsprings/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=137607
Staff and agencies
26 July, 2007

By RITA BEAMISH, Associated Press Writer 14 minutes ago
Fewer U.S. environmental cops are tracking criminal polluters these days, their numbers steadily dropping below levels ordered by Congress. They are pursuing fewer environmental crimes in a strategy by the Bush administration to target bigger polluters.
An internal memorandum from one of the agency‘s top lawyers, obtained by The Associated Press, said the EPA is violating the U.S. Pollution Prosecution Act of 1990, which requires the agency to employ at least 200 criminal investigators.
In the legal memo, criminal office counsel Michael Fisher said Congress intended to increase criminal prosecutions under pollution laws by setting minimum staffing levels. Fisher wrote the memo to Assistant Administrator Granta Nakayama. Fisher did not return telephone calls and e-mails from The Associated Press over two days.
Schaeffer heads an advocacy group, Environmental Integrity Project, that compared five-year averages of the Bush and Clinton administrations and found a significant decrease in the numbers of criminal pollution investigations and civil lawsuits and the amounts of fines assessed under President Bush.

Ant Bait (a Parable about toxic waste)

A Tale

Once upon a time there were many tiny ants that were hungry and looking for food. They were very busy and were looking in so many places that the housewife put out peanut butter, with sugar in it, and boric acid. The ants didn't know that the poison was there: it kept the ants busy, working hard.

The ants were so excited that they swarmed the peanut butter. More and more ants came, and slowly took the food away.

And the hidden poison in the peanut butter and sugars that the ants couldn't taste, eventually killed them.

The END

WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES (NO ONE HAS TESTED FOR THE TOXIC WASTES)

http://www.eldiariodechihuahua.com/notas.php?IDNOTA=71983&IDSECCION=El%20Estado&IDREPORTERO=Gabriela%20Minjares
(web page translated by Babelfish)

It restrains to Asarco the interests

Without scientific bases, competing groups to the reapertura of the fundidora have delayed the beginning [WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES?]

Gabriela Minjares The opposition that exists for the reapertura of the fundidora Asarco on the part of several sectors of the border Juárez-El Paso-Sunland Park lacks scientific arguments and solid bases to demonstrate that an environmental damage in the region has been caused.[this is not correct - see the link in the beginning of this blog to the EPA SECRET DOCUMENT TO THE DEPT.OF.JUSTICE about the illegal and secret burning of toxic waste by Asarco in El Paso] The producing copper plant, located in the Surponiente of the Passage from 1887, closed its operations in 1999 before the fall of the international prices of this metal. When in 2002 the company tried to reinitiate its workings and managed the renovation of its permissions of emissions (that had won), was with this ample competing front that has prevented the reapertura to consider that the plant will contaminate the medioambiente of this border region.[Asarco's new ConTop furnaces did reduce sulfur dioxides in the air - but, Asarco did not tell the community that the ConTop was designed to burn Toxic Waste AND the El Paso plant was not ever given a permit to officially/legally burn toxic waste].[WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES?] Nevertheless, in agreement with an ample investigation made by the Newspaper, many of the arguments of the groups that are against the reapertura of the fundidora are based on presumptions and disinformation, investigated situations that to the being left in the open I interest other people's to the environmental cause. [Who supplied the data for this story?][WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES?] None of the environmental studies - independent officials and made by several agencies, Mexican and American dependencies and organizations have determined that Asarco is the main source of contamination in this border[both Weston Solutions and the Sierra Club in separate studies showed the link between Asarco and the lead contamination] That conclusion one reaches after making a revision to the diverse studies that the competing groups have used like foundation to sustain their opposition to that the permission of reapertura to Asarco is granted, of all which the Newspaper has copy in their power.[WE NEED TO TEST FOR, MEASURE AND TALK ABOUT THE ILLEGAL TOXIC WASTES BURNED BY ASARCO] Although some of those studies conclude that when the fundidora used lead in its process he was partially responsible for the contamination of the border ground, the data used in those reports correspond to information of three decades ago, every time the company let use the lead in 1980. In addition, it eliminated the fundidora of lead in 1985. In addition, most of these reports they do not take into account the technological changes made by Asarco in the decade to the 90,[umm are we talking about ConTop here? ] as well as they do not establish either that now the plant is prepared to fuse copper, that completely eliminated the lead use and that the company not even is the same one[Asarco's own 4151 Ore handling permit and emissions state that the ores will contain and that it will emit lead (Pb)] The American Smelting and Refining Company (Asarco) was a North American company until in 1999 it sold in his totality the Mexico Group, Mexican mining company that from 1965 had the 49 percent of the actions.[Asarco is now owned by Grupo Mexico, who owns over 50% of the Freight Railroad right-of-way in Mexico; and whose investors include the CARLYLE GROUP] The commercial relation of the Group Mexico and Asarco goes back at the beginning of 1900, when they established mining operations in Mexico and they developed to the mine Santa Eulalia and the smelting of Chihuahua, through a denominated subsidiary Mining Company Asarco. In 1965, as a result of a change in the Mexican legislation that imposed restrictions to the foreign participation in the share capital of Mexican mining societies, the company was reorganized and several Mexican investors acquired most of the share capital of the society. With the passage of time, the Mexico Group grouped several companies until becoming at world-wide level the second bigger company of copper reserves, the third copper producer and the fourth producer of silver. [THEN THEY CAN AFFORD TO CLEAN UP THEIR TOXIC WASTES LEFT IN THE PASO DEL NORTE REGION?!] To the group Germa'n Larrea presides over at the present time Speck Velasco, one of the richer Mexican industralists of the world, that simultaneously is advisor of Banamex and the Television Group. Between its directors they appear Valentin Diaz Morodo, ex- vice-president of the Group Modelo; Claudius X. González, president of Kimberly Clark of Mexico and director of General Electric [note: Carbon Dioxide, SO2, NO2 and other emissions-amounts are TRADEABLE ON THE OPEN COMMODITIES MARKETS], Kellogs, Home Depot, Carso Group and Television Group; Striking Juan Thurlow, member of the Sugar Group Mexico; and Juan Rebolledo Gout, who was private secretary of Carlos of Gortari and Saline undersecretary of Outer Relations in the administration of Ernesto Zedillo. The studies made by the Agency of Environmental Protection - dependency of the Government of the United States who is in charge to direct the environmental policies; EPA, by its abbreviations in English -, they reflect that Asarco is not the main source of contamination of the air in the Step. [but no one has tested for the Toxic Waste --- so, WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTE?] The emissions to the air that Asarco registered in 1999, their last year of operations, were not greater to the emissions than they had other nine companies in 2000, which they are at the moment in operation in the Step, nor exceed the limits established by the State of Texas, indicate the reports of the EPA. The Study of the Released Toxic Inventory (TRI, in English) emitted by the EPA in 2002 informs that companies established in the Step, such as the manufacturer of floors of loseta Dal Tile Corporation, the refineries Western and Chevron, Fort Bliss and four companies more, emitted more polluting particles than the registered ones by Asarco in 1999, three years before. [wiw, how about that. WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTE?] The companies mentioned in this report declined to comment out on the matter and, as the EPA has not returned to evaluate the emissions in the community, the present levels are not known [TRUE THE LEVELS OF TOXIC WASTE CHEMICALS ARE UNKNOWN]. "the opening of Asarco is not a threat to the medio.ambiente. From the implementation of ConTop, the things have changed ",[YES, CONTOP ALLOWS THE BURNING OF TOXIC SLUDGES AND OTHER WASTES] assures Lairy Johnson, manager of medio.ambiente of the fundidora in the Step. The ConTop technology (Continuous Top-Feed Oxigen Process), is a system that allows to fuse copper to one more a higher temperature, reason why the process is faster and the emissions are reduced in a 90 percent to the atmosphere. [WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES?] Nevertheless, the technological advances implemented by the company are not considered by the ample front of opposition that has been integrated against the reapertura of the plant. Integrated by several officials government, like the mayors of City Juárez, Héctor Murguía; of the Step, John Cook; and of Sunland Park, Safe Rubén; as well as environmental and civil legislators and associations of both sides of the border, the opposition front affirms that Asarco represents a great danger for the region. One of the main opponents to the reapertura of the plant is the government of the Step, reason why it has launched a campaign in which it has invested almost million dollars (around 11 million weights, according to the type of present change) of the contributors in legal expenses and advertising announcements to act and to pronounce themselves against the fundidora. "We do not love an industry that sends 80 thousand tons of polluting agents every year. We do not think that he is right for the medio.ambiente since is a threat for the health of people and the economic development ", says John Cook, mayor of the Step. Cook affirms that their arguments are based on the request of permission that put under Asarco before the Commission for the Quality of the Medio.ambiente of Texas (TCEQ by its abbreviations in English) to obtain from new account the authorization and to reinitiate operations, but the document that the mayor paseño mentions does not contain the data that refer, since the same be in possession of the Newspaper. However, Cook mayor has not only continued with his campaign but that in addition for sale offered lands of Asarco to developer of diverse branches without the fundidora acceded to carry out these negotiations.[WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES?] "They - the Town hall of the Step wants the land more than another thing. We have been blocked by the government, does not fit doubt; a great campaign against Asarco exists ", affirms the manager of the fundidora.[WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES?] Johnson is not mistaken when she indicates that a "great campaign" against the company exists, since from the beginning of the proceeding of reapertura in 2002 a binational network formed to fight against the same one.[WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES?] Headed by the international organization environmentalist Mountain range Club and with the endorsement of American senator Eliot Shapleigh, the front has extended to Mexico and has had greater resonance in Juárez through civil organizations who have summoned the same neighbors of the plant, that to legislators and authorities of the three levels of government. "We are an international organization that we have contact with countries as Mexico and our interest to maintain closed Asarco is by social and taken care of justice to the medio.ambiente", asserts Mariana Chew, leader of Mountain range Club in the Step. Nevertheless, the speech of opposition of this front is based on studies with untimely data, that do not consider the technological changes made by the plant [CONTOP][WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES?] and reject the conclusions of governmental agencies like the TCEQ, that determined that Asarco is within the normal standards of emissions and can to authorize the operation leave. [THE SMOKING GUN MEMO LETS US KNOW THAT THE TCEQ IS HIDING THE TOXIC WASTE] A new turn far from the ecological question The battle joined by Asarco and the diverse blocks of opposition by the reapertura of the fundidora plant have acquired a new moved away turn of the ecological question. The land in which is the company has taken a great importance in the litigation.[THE EMISSIONS ARE WORTH MONEY INTERNATIONALLY] The lot property of Mexico Group is located in the 2301 the West of the street Of the same country in the Step and have an extension of more than 161 hectares of which 50 correspond the structure of the fundidora of copper. According to paseño Alexandro exposes the regidor Lozano, the land property of Asarco has enviable characteristics due to its logistic location and. It indicates that the land in which account with wagon infrastructure is located the fundidora plant and geographic position that allows connections with other towns and, mainly, with Juárez City, reason why are an ideal place for the development of very diverse projects.[WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES?] Official documents indicate that the government of the Step met with eight developers in order to analyze the possibilities of creating new projects in the land in which is the fundidora of Asarco copper. "a conflict of interests on the part of the City Exists. They want the land ", assures the manager the plant.[WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES? DOES THE CITY AND DO THE TAXPAYERS REALLY WANT TO TAKE ON THE UNCLEANED UP, UNMEASURED, UNDECLARED CONTAMINATION/POISON?] In order to prove this suspicion, the Asarco asked for by means of the Law of Access to the Information of the United States (FOIA, by its abbreviations in English) the documents that they establish that the government of the Step met with eight developers of several branches. In these documents, of which the Newspaper has in its power a copy, one settles down that Chuck Hendrix and Rick Goff, of the park of diversions Six Flags; Jason Leinehan, of The Place; Mac McClure, of the Main group Investment; Brad Snow and Katy Kier, of Reliable multicast Transport; Travis Gilbert, of Koontz-Mc Comb; the Cabelás company and personnel of the Foundation Brownfield Stewardship, met with civil employees of the Municipality in answer to the call of the City. Only which they visited the plant was the representatives of Six Flags, route who did at the beginning of this year by means of a request made by the government of the Passage through the lawyer who takes the case of bankruptcy of the company, indicates the director of Asarco, Lairy Johnson. The civil employee of the fundidora explains that they agreed in which the representatives of Six Flags visited the plant [WOW DID THEY WEAR HAZMAT SUITS ... WHY DID THE EPA WEAR HAZMAT SUITS TO TAKE SOIL SAMPLES IN THIS REGION?] [WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES?]like part of the obligations that establishes the bankruptcy procedure, to maintain a policy of open doors and to offer visits guided the people interested in the operations of the company. "the request made by the city of the Step made us ask for the public opening of documents in last March. The documents that we received do not detach all the content or the intentions of the city to put themselves in contact with developer and to look for valuations of our land ", add. On the matter, Cook mayor explains that the city of the Step only offered alternatives to Asarco to do something with its property in case that the permission of emissions did not renew to them. "When Asarco signed the bankruptcy process, we wanted to know the terms in which are the lands and how much it would cost to again clean them in order to be developed", it adds. The regidor Lozano says that the position of the City is a weapon of double edge since, to occur the reapertura, Asarco it could demand them. It refers as antecedent the closing of the nocturnal center Foxy's in the Step, that it demanded to the City by a million dollars after which outside the local government the one who requested his closing. "In exchange for not paying that number, one remembered that we (the municipal government) would not have authority on them. The same it could happen with Asarco, but this time we would be speaking of one (demand by one) much greater number ". Lairy Johnson mentions that Asarco takes a file with the documents that guarantee the actions of the government of the Step and which they try to give his version of the facts whenever it occurs to know information erroneous. [WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTES?]

Monday, 16 of Julio of 2007

Blank FOIA request & Instructions

ConTop engine

Please use this URL to get nice concise list of EPgtlo posts

http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&tab=wb&ie=UTF-8&q=asarco+blogurl:http://epgtlo.blogspot.com/&scoring=d

Just a Little Rain

by Malvina Reynolds

---

Just a little rain falling all around
The grass lifts its head to the heavenly sound
Just a little rain, just a little rain
What have they done to the rain?

Just a little boy standing in the rain
The gentle rain that falls for years
And the grass is gone and the boy disappears
And the rain keeps falling like helpless tears
And what have they done to the rain?

Just a little breeze out of the sky
The leaves nod their heads as the breeze blows by
Just a little breeze with some smoke in its eye
And what have they done to the rain?

Full Committee Hearing - Water Technology Related Legislation
Thursday, October 20, 2005

Mr. Edmund Archuleta El Paso Water Utilities -- on water reuse, including stormwater [which means treating that stormwater to remove bad things so that it can be reused]

"My utility in El Paso must work with multiple jurisdictions including the United States and Mexico, Texas and New Mexico, and multiple counties, all of which face the challenge of providing water resources to a growing population in an arid region of our country. This experience, and my service as Chairman of the AwwaRF Board of Trustees and as a Board Member of the Water Reuse Foundation has convinced me that it is essential for our nation to identify and develop new technologies to treat new sources of water, including brackish groundwater, and to do so in the most energy efficient manner possible." [the utility will eventually treat storm water - and no one has talked about ASARCO's liability for the clean-up and removal of what it dumped here that we, the taxpayers, will ultimately bear the costs for clean-up --- this means, our stormwater]
" WaterReuse members use advanced treatment processes and monitoring to produce water of sufficient quality for the intended purpose from treated municipal and industrial effluent, storm water, agricultural drainage, and sources with high salinity such as seawater and brackish water. "

http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Testimony&Hearing_ID=1508&Witness_ID=2828


Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Annual Report;City of El Paso and TxDOT El Paso District -- TPDES Permit No. WQ0004527000 March 26, 2007
"BMP A4-5: Use Retention Basins for Storm Water Treatment-- Currently, 271 storm water retention basins are in place throughout the City to accept and retain storm water run-off for flood control. Twelve small retention basins were incorporated into the City through new development during the 2006 reporting period." (these become mini-toxic-waste-dumps with wind and run-off deposition accumulating among other things, Asarco's ENCYCLE wastes)
http://www.elpasotexas.gov/environmental_services/_stormwater/2006%20Annual%20Report.pdf


"...the City immediately re-prioritized capital projects and was able to utilize the general operating fund to initiate the redesign and reconstruction. Additionally, the City Manager has recommended to Council the creation of a Stormwater Management & Utility District, under the possible auspices of the El Paso Water Utilities to fund such future infrastructure needs."
https://www.elpasotexas.gov/omb/_documents/fy2007_budget/BUDGET_BOOK_2007.pdf

Notice of Water Quality Applications
The following notices were issued during the period of January 24,
2006 through January 27, 2006.

"CITY OF EL PASO AND TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION,
which operate the City of El Paso Municipal Separate
Storm Sewer System (MS4), have applied for a renewal of NPDES Permit No. TXS000801 which authorizes storm water point source discharges to surface water in the state from the City of El Paso Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4). This permit will be renewed as TPDES Permit No. WQ0004527000. The MS4 is located within the corporate boundary of the City of El Paso, in El Paso County, Texas."

31 TexReg 908 February 10, 2006 Texas Register

Motion to Overturn Asarco Storm Water Permit

Asarco water contamination costs are picked up by you, the Taxpayer....

We discovered that Asarco rewrote their Storm water permit Notice of Intent last summer to discharge to a city storm water system (we had an MS4 ("municipal separate storm sewer system") but Asarco had always claimed to be zero runoff - we had no storm water utility).

What then happened is that state and federal representatives went to their legislative bodies and got funding passed for City storm water system this past winter, because of the big 500-yr flood of AUG-2006.

Then, the City/County in spring this year in an un-televised 10'th floor City Council special meeting [City Council member Ms. Byrd told me that this meeting was audio-recorded] voted to authorize a Storm Water district, funded by the taxpayers. Taxpayers will not vote on this during elections.

No one has told the taxpayers that the unsampled/undisclosed toxic waste that runs off into the storm system will transfer liability now from Asarco to the taxpayers.

The Federal/TX general sector storm water permit was automatically renewed and authorized by TCEQ on June-25-2007 from the NOI (notice of intent) filed end of Aug-2006 by Asarco. Any Motions to Overturn must be submitted by 5 pm Austin time, tomorrow 7-23-07.

Just like the City-contracted Attorney, Erich Birch [whom I respect, but also respectfully disagree with], ignored the Federal Title V permit renewal last summer, not notifying local groups to send in comments/filing nothing; the renewal of the water permits have been ignored. The only permit being fought is the air emissions permit - and those emissions are worth cash-money on the commodities trading market as "emission credits" internationally to whomever owns them [I confirmed this with an International Sierra Club expert on such credits, sending them the list of Asarco allowable emissions]. We cannot find out who those credits go to if Asarco loses its permit.

In front of our own eyes, unknown sometimes to us, Asarco's environmental liabilities/costs are being "shed" and the company is emerging as a renewed-entity, with no liability for the toxic waste left unreported in the Paso del Norte region.
[thank you, Susie - I updated it per your email 7/24]

new album

Asarco Flooding 4-Sept-06

Contract not Renewed

Found out today that I am banned from teaching in not only the YISD District but also Socorro because YISD voted to not renew my contract last May. It becomes a black-mark on your record with the bigger districts - they have so many candidates that they don't even ask the details. It doesn't matter that the Principal resigned and left; and, it doesn't matter that coincidently both my H.S. administrator and the school board member who first moved to terminate me either ran the water district for 25 years or are married to the current general manager of the same. Or, that all the punitive steps (the write-up and the scheduling to get the memorandum of termination) happened within about 3 days of contacting certain people in the EPWU about our concerns on water quality (1st instance, we got data that they insisted that they never had; 2d instance, a letter to the El Paso Inc. outlining the water contamination). Coincidence?

There was another punitive step: removing me on administrative leave for a never-named charge, and simultaneously barring me from communicating with anyone in the District. Fellow teachers just knew that I'd suddenly disappeared. I wish that it was as easy to get Asarco contamination to disappear.

I am the only H.S. science teacher involved in trying to find out what Asarco contaminated us with. The only one, in the entire region. I have 4 years teaching experience on the college level (labs), and students who told me that I was the best teacher that they'd ever had; but, can't get past that black mark on the record. Had I been willing to resign, I was told that I could be set up with several interviews - one with SISD. So the black mark has nothing to do with my teaching ability and everything to do with me speaking out when I saw racism and when I see environmental racism in this community.

Was the problem with my teaching (which I was told was typical for a 1st yr h.s. teacher) or was the problem that I spoke out? A friend who has worked on the Asarco contamination problem in her community with me, told me when I called about the termination, "Well, you expected it, No?"
Her community and the children have been literally sacrificed for 3 generations to Asarco contamination. When the Board (2 against because there was no evidence, 2 for (one now facing FBI investigation), and 1 who voted against me not because I had done anything wrong but instead on a technicality) many of the children from the community came to support me. Even with a contract termination and blacklisting, my life is far easier than those kids' lives and they give me courage I would not otherwise have. They are wonderful children in Anapra/Sunland Park. So were my students at Bel Air - excellent caring kids.

A 2001 post about Newspaper/Journalism teachers describes my own situation in teaching real science to kids (Chapter 1 of our state-approved text covered the topic of "conflict of interest" and ethics in science):
http://www.splc.org/report_detail.asp?id=793&edition=20

"...As Nelson’s example shows, it is possible to stand up to authority without paying the price of your employment. But one adviser who was not so lucky, and has suffered as a result, warned advisers that they should know the risks that come from taking principled positions.

“Tell your students the whole truth; they make decisions that will affect very much the rest of your life,” Lach-Smith said. “We try to teach students to make responsible editorial decisions because they affect their sources’ lives [and] also whole organizations. I think we often fail to tell them how their decisions affect our lives…. Be prepared to lose in more ways than one.”

As for Ransick, he said his sacrifice may have been well worth the price.

“Oddly enough, I think the students learned the lessons better by watching what happened than they would have in the abstract by reading it in a textbook. They’ve gotten the lesson better than they ever could have otherwise.”

Asarco wins extension in trial

"...Asarco wins extension in trial

Tucson-based Asarco LLC, a bankrupt copper producer, won a 90-day extension of its exclusive right to file a reorganization plan, according to a company lawyer, Jack Kinzie. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Richard S. Schmidt in Corpus Christi, Texas, ruled Friday that Asarco has until Nov. 12 to file a reorganization plan, Kinzie said.

Asarco has about 1,800 Arizona employees and operates the Mission mine near Sahuarita, the Silver Bell mine west of Marana, the Ray mine near Kearny and the Hayden smelter 30 miles north of Oracle...."
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/192712

FL: residential limit for arsenic in soil or fill is 2.1 milligrams per kilogram

"...But the lake's shrinkage has also left a monumental cleanup headache: a bathtub ring of toxic sludge from dumped wastewater and the objects hurled in by hurricanes and litterbugs. The slimy gray lining, if not a silver one, is that the drought has given water managers an opportunity to scoop out the muck and refresh the shoreline habitat for Okeechobee's flora and fauna. In little more than two months, contractors with the South Florida Water Management District have hauled away 2 million cubic yards of sludge — enough to fill nine football stadiums from the field to the nosebleed seats, said Tom Debold, water district supervisor on the muck-removal project. After the muck was scraped and temporarily stored in 20-foot-high mounds set back from the shore, scientists discovered that much of it contains excessive levels of arsenic from pesticides and fertilizers used until the 1960s. Water district and Army Corps of Engineers officials who maintain much of the lake's surrounding levee and its intricate network of canals, sluices and pumps had hoped to sell the excavated sludge to builders for landfill. But after analysis, they concluded that "it can't be used near any kind of housing facility," said Susan Gray, a biologist and deputy director of watershed management for the district. The residential limit for arsenic in soil or fill is 2.1 milligrams per kilogram; the Okeechobee muck had as much as 9 milligrams per kilogram, Gray said. The concentration of arsenic, which cannot be treated or neutralized, is intensifying as water evaporates from the sludge and the desiccated piles compress. Removal of the muck has allowed fresh shoots of bulrush and tape grass to sprout and will improve the habitat for the bass and crappie that draw thousands of anglers to the lake each year.... --http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-lake19jul19,1,1305309.story?coll=la-headlines-nation from: Okeechobee's treasures and toxic muck Archeologists gather clues to South Florida history as water managers work to clean up the sludge left by drought. By Carol J. Williams, Times Staff Writer July 19, 2007

12.5 million instead of 200 million... @ 5% of estimated liability

"...Experts for Asarco estimated the company's liabilities would have been $14 million, far less than the U.S. estimate of more than $200 million. Under the settlement, the company will pay $12.5 million to Colorado and the United States. Shelby Jordan, a lawyer for Asarco with Jordan, Hyden, Womble, Culbreth & Holzer in Corpus Christi, didn't return a call for comment. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Richard S. Schmidt in Corpus Christi is scheduled to hear Asarco's motion to approve the settlement next Friday...."
http://www.azstarnet.com/business/192586

Reply from Carlos Rubinstein : Complaint remains unanswered and dismissed

To: Carlos Rubinstein
fr: Heather McMurray

sb: Requests not considered as a complaint

I am amazed, Mr. Rubinstein, that my complaint asking the TCEQ to sample and identify chemical compounds left here from the illegal sham-recycling by Asarco is not regarded as a complaint. After all, those chemicals were deposited here from nearly a decade of sham-recycling and the environmental regulatory agencies have not looked for these. I want the toxic waste that was deposited here by the illegal actions investigated. The chemical analyses I asked for would let us know what was smelted here - why would that a huge problem for our environmental regulatory officials? If you cannot accept requests for testing under "complaints" then why did you ignore the complaint's text stating that illegal sham-recycling was done here and there is unknown contamination that needs addressed? I am reporting contamination to TCEQ through the complaint option, because that contamination has not been measured/addressed in our community.

1) The consent decree required that the company run spectrometer analyses asap, because historically they hadn't.
2) TCEQ is allowed to request these; you claim that there aren't any.
3) You are telling me that TCEQ refuses to run scientific tests (spectrometer, for example) that would reveal what contamination is there ["These requests are not considered as a complaint according to TCEQ. >"] Instead, all the remediation analyses you refer to looked for metals that Asarco would have been able to smelt/sell.
4) The 100 year old central Pond at Asarco is historically known, and even featured on postcards. You are not familiar with this pond? It handled all the circulating wastewater recovered as part of their storm and waste-water handling and routed it to the brine concentrator that was rated to removed radioactive waste.
4) "released some stormwater..." It was not "some" It was over 200,000 gallons, it spilled into our drinking water and the incident was never sent to EPA to enter in their spill database so that NOAA could respond with an ORR which they are legally allowed to do since that spill also entered the Rio Grande.
5) As you pointed out, all the TCEQ records for Asarco are on file with the Regional Office and they tell us that they do not have Asarco El Paso's EMS (environmental management report). Why is that missing?
6) "US Ecology is required to know what type of waste they receive for disposal. The agency is not required to receive analytical data of ASARCO’s waste. " TCEQ is allowed by law to request the analysis on file with TX US Ecology. The manifests TCEQ sent me were general and did not characterize the hazardous wastes -- in order to determine that the shipment was not radioactive (whereupon TX US Ecology should ship it to its other facility in WA state) that test had to be run. It is missing.
7) "The TCEQ has previously responded to your Public Information Act requests on the same subject." TCEQ continues to evade and not answer the question: What is here in El Paso from the burning of toxic-waste for profit by Asarco. Since we know that toxic waste was illegally and deliberately burned here for profit and the TCEQ continues to evade PIA's, I am assuming that the TCEQ is not giving me all the information available under the PIA, and I wish to direct the OAG's office to this continuing dilemma.
8) I believe that I have a letter from the Regional Director telling me that they do not cap; yet you use that term to describe remediation for one of the ponds.
9) Mr. Rubinstein, I am concerned that you do not treat my request for a scraping of the main stack seriously. You wrote that this, "would not be representative of overall emissions from the site". I am not talking about overall emissions. I am asking that the TCEQ use all options, including that one, to determine what toxic wastes we have been contaminated with. Since TCEQ does not possess any stack samples at all from Asarco El Paso, this omission is glaring.



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Fwd: Re: Please explain no answer to either TCEQ filing: TCEQ failing to enforce identification and
Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 19:55:03 -0500
From: Carlos Rubinstein <CRubinst[at]tceq.state.tx.us>
July 18, 2007

VIA EMAIL[...] & CERTIFIED U.S. MAIL


Re: ASARCO-El Paso facility

Dear Ms. McMurray:
This letter is in response to your June 23, 2007 email to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ) internet site that receives complaints from citizens across the state. Your email states that you were filing a formal complaint asking the agency to conduct very specific technical analyses at ASARCO.
First, you asked the TCEQ to run a full spectrometer analysis of the material dredged from the bottom of the 100 year old ASARCO pond and that was sent to TX US Ecology near Robstown for storage, with the purpose of identifying the chemical compounds left from the illegal sham recycling by ASARCO. Second, you asked TCEQ to conduct a full spectrometer analysis of the present bottom of the 100 year old pond and where the most runoff would have contacted soil during the September 4, 2006 collapse of the ASARCO rubber lake. Third, you asked staff to run an analysis from a scraping of the ASARCO primary smoke stack and from the ionics brine concentrator’s concentrate chambers. Finally, you stated that the analysis should include ash incineration technique to check for alpha and beta particles. These requests are not considered as a complaint according to TCEQ.
Nevertheless, your requests indicate that there is confusion as to the identification of various ponds, the removal and disposal of solid waste, and sampling requirements, analyses, and results at the ASARCO El Paso Smelter. Thus, we are providing additional information in an attempt to clarify the issues.

There are several ponds at ASARCO. Staff confirms that ASARCO has three ponds that the company has investigated (Pond 1, Pond 5, and Pond 6) at the El Paso smelter. The water in Pond 6 has been used primarily for general supply, stormwater collection, anode cooling and fire water supply. Pond 5 was used for boiler feed backup and some stormwater collection. Pond 1’s primary function is for stormwater collection.
ASARCO has investigated these three ponds and has performed remedial actions in relation to these ponds. The TCEQ Remediation Division staff has reviewed the characterization of ASARCO’s site and is currently monitoring ASARCO’s remediation activities. ASARCO’s analyses of sediments from these ponds can be found in ASARCO El Paso Copper Smelter Remedial Investigation Report Phases I (October 1998 Vol 1), Phase II (July 2000 Vol 1), and Phase III (November 2001 Vol 1). These reports will also contain plats which will have the location of these ponds so you can correctly identify the pond of concern. The sediments from these ponds are dried on-site and disposed of in an engineered repository (i.e. landfill). The repository is lined and will have a cap and subsequent groundwater monitoring when completed. This documentation is available for public viewing at our El Paso Regional Office.
In addition, ASARCO has a large stormwater collection pond called the “rubber lake” a term that you use in your email. Since El Paso receives an average of 8 inches of rain a year, the rubber lake is dry most of the time. During the El Paso flood event of 2006, the rubber lake overtopped and released some stormwater. However, the liner for the rubber lake remained intact. The TCEQ El Paso Regional staff has oversight of the rubber lake and not agency Remediation staff. To date, the TCEQ staff have not received any sediment sample results from ASARCO of the rubber lake.
Next, you asked about waste sent to US Ecology from ASARCO. As you may recall, the TCEQ previously provided documents to you relating to a number of shipments that ASARCO sent to US Ecology, with accompanying waste manifests. These documents show that hazardous waste was sent off-site for permanent disposal. No analysis of this waste is provided to the TCEQ. This waste is from ASARCO’s process and includes the following: 1) wash down water, 2) cleanup activities, 3) sludges, and 4) brine waste from the wastewater treatment plant. ASARCO is responsible for characterizing their waste which is shipped offsite. US Ecology is required to know what type of waste they receive for disposal. The agency is not required to receive analytical data of ASARCO’s waste.

The waste analysis records do not contain spectrometer analysis per se because the agency does not require the facility or the Company receiving the waste to submit that information to the agency.

This is in compliance with 30 TAC Chapter 335 Subchapter R:

Persons who generate industrial solid waste or municipal hazardous waste shall comply with the provisions of this subchapter. . . . Persons who generate waste in Texas shall classify their own waste according to the standards set forth in this subchapter and may do so without any prior approval or communication with the agency other than notification of waste generation activities pursuant to §335.6 of this title (relating to Notification Requirements) and submittal of required documentation pursuant to §335.513 of this title (relating to Documentation Required).
A reading of Section 335.313 includes cross references to Section 335.511. Section 335.511 requires a company to maintain a list of chemical constituents found in its waste but does not require specific documentation to support its results. Information regarding waste analysis of materials that have been deposited in approved on-site waste repositories as a result of ongoing on site remediation activities can be found in Phase I through Phase IV of the “remedial investigation reports” available for review at the El Paso Regional Office. Spectrometer analysis (paper read-out) has not been located/identified in the TCEQ records regarding waste analysis to determine an appropriate disposal method for excavated material that may have been shipped off-site.
Regarding your request for analysis of scrapings of the ASARCO primary smoke stack and from the ionics brine concentrator’s concentrate chambers; this type of analysis is also not required in as much as the findings and results would not be representative of overall emissions from the site.

The TCEQ has previously responded to your Public Information Act requests on the same subject. Legal staff copied several boxes of files and sent them to the El Paso Office for your review. Please contact Ms. Sally Williams in our El Paso Regional Office at (915) 834-4949 when you are ready to review the information.

Sincerely,
Carlos Rubinstein, Area Director

Field Operations Division
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality