Utah man poisoned from eating local fish says, "What do we do about it?"

Grim fish tale: Was mercury to blame for man's illness? By Judy Fahys The Salt Lake Tribune Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated:09/29/2007 12:16:43 PM MDT   Posted: 12:19 PM- Few things in life pleased Kayo Robertson more than sitting down to a meal of crappie he had plucked from a reservoir near his home in Cache County.[Utah].... Then the Smithfield man found out those scrumptious dinners might very well be making him sick, polluting his body with toxic mercury. For about five years, Robertson had suffered from what he thought might be gout or old age. His feet hurt. His arms would get numb at night. His joints ached. His hands cramped. He felt tired all the time. "I've never gotten old before," said the semi-retired educator, an active 59-year-old, "so I presumed this was what it was like."  But, while researching his symptoms, he formed a hunch. He caught five fish and sent them to a nationally recognized mercury-testing laboratory. He sent in a hair sample, too. The tests showed that not only were methylmercury levels high in the fish, but there was way more mercury in him than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers safe.".... But Robertson says he refuses to despair and feels more determined now.....  "We don't have this information out there," he said. "Why don't we have it out? ..... that's not right." He's not the only one who "can't drink the water, can't breathe the air and can't eat the fish" because of pollution, he said. And he hopes that he can inspire others disgusted with the status quo to transform their concern into action. "The next question," he said, "is, now, what do we do about it?"

[that is a good question for people along the Frontera facing the legacy of Asarco poison]
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7038749

CSWAB UPDATE: Pentagon Will Fight Wisconsin Water Standards

"September 26, 2007 CSWAB UPDATE: Pentagon Will Fight Wisconsin Water Standards
The Pentagon intends to challenge Wisconsin in regulating all forms of the explosive dinitrotoluene (DNT), Army officials announced on Monday.
Wisconsin is the first state in the nation to establish health-based guidelines for the pervasive military toxin that has contaminated groundwater and dozens of private wells near the Badger Army Ammunition Plant......." Website: www.cswab.org

Public Record request to TCEQ and questions to Terry McMillan about new water in Asarco Lake (between the Smelter cemetery and the overpass) IGNORED

(sent to TCEQ Open Records, the TCEQ Office Public Assistance, contact at the TX Office Attorney General, offices of Sen. Shapleigh, Offices of Rep. Reyes, and TCEQ Legal contacts)

To:  Ms. Debbie Wahrmund

Please explain to me why my request for information (information newer than any of the records you have previously made available) is not a records request.   I would like you to give me the legal reasons, please.

You sent me the letters I wrote to Mr. McMillan.  In those letters I ask:

1. "There is a lot of water at the site of the old natural ancient Asarco Lake, now.  Has anyone taken water samples and analyzed the samples for ENCYCLE wastes? If not, why?"
2. "I have not seen a single analysis from Asarco/TCEQ/EPA that shows that anything has been tested for the wide range of metals and chemicals that would have been incinerated/handled by Asarco from Encycle.   We know that a report exists because Archie Clouse referred to it in an El Paso Times interview.I have been unable to get a copy - please explain why

In the letter you quoted, I repeated the request for information again, saying that I had "ask[ed] if that water had been recently sampled for Encycle wastes." and that I had wanted "to get a copy of the full chemical reports regarding the ENCYCLE wastes."

In both, I am asking for current information -- information that has NOT BEEN GIVEN to me.   Again, please give me the legal reasons why these are not PIA's ---why these requests for information (information newer than any of the records you have previously made available) are not records requests. 

I am copying this to the two congressmen offices which have pushed for investigation of the ENCYCLE wastes that were burned in El Paso, TX at the Asarco smelter; and copying my list of media.

Why is the TCEQ, the EPA and Asarco so unwilling to hand over a full-analysis of the "lake"? or tell me that it has/hasn't been done?


(We'd also like to know why the TCEQ commissioners have not added the motion to overturn the Asarco stormwater permit to their Agenda when peoples from both nations have provided enough evidence to show that the permit should not be renewed.)

Letter: Story ignored on Asarco mass gathering

"Letter: Story ignored on Asarco mass gathering

Article Launched: 09/29/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

Sunday night a sea of El Pasoans got together for a photo. Not just any photo. Approximately 1,000 El Pasoans wanted to show that they stand against the reopening of Asarco.

An historic moment in our city's political life. This was a call to action that broke through the apathy and the cynicism and the unwillingness to speak up on issues that matter.

The El Paso Times editorial page often laments the lack of political participation in our community, so I was surprised, dismayed, angry to see that 1,500 people's participation in a democratic process only warranted one inch of newsprint and no photo in the El Paso Times.

I am including the photo as part of this letter to the editor. I ask that you run it on your editorial page to show El Pasoans what the newsroom thinks is worth only one inch of newsprint.

And I ask that you consider that your newsroom might be contributing to apathy in our community by ignoring the democratic impulses that bring our community together and galvanize us towards action.

Susie Byrd

City representative

District 2"
http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_7030329

ALL A SHAM: Asarco asks Bankruptcy court in Corpus Christi to accept El Paso Texas settlement

"Sept. 28, 2007, 10:40PM  Asarco asks court to accept settlement"  AP newswire "EL PASO, Texas — Asarco LLC said it filed a motion Friday in a Corpus Christi bankruptcy court asking a judge to accept a settlement of about $13.7 million with governmental environmental agencies for the cost of cleanups of lead and arsenic in the soil in some El Paso neighborhoods..."

[IBWC estimates it will cost 24 million ALONE to clean up contamination from Asarco beneath the old upper American Canal ... who will pay for the rest of the clean up? The Taxpayers - you and me.  EPA, TCEQ and ASARCO will not disclose the Asarco POISONS that taxpayers will eventually have to pay to remove/dispose of from our Storm-water utility runoff/sludges.  The innocent are left living in a pool of poisons while the previous Asarco Environmental Manager left the country for Peru (Asarco Southern Peru Copper company) cashing in Five Million dollars worth of stock options -- almost HALF OF WHAT ASARCO IS WILLING TO PAY YOU FOR CLEANUP HERE.]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5174183.html

Faces against Asarco

There is a tiny group of people who are caught up in the size of the crowd and numbers: none of them went to the event. I am amazed at how hyper-focused they are on size and numbers.

It was a large crowd, we had a good day, and we waved goodbye to Asarco and stood as a group in the photo and no one paid any of us to be there.

Nuff said.

Hi, David, you found the blog

September 26, 2007 Still No Picture of Faces Against ASARCO  I did find one picture on the Get Out the Lead blog (http://epgtlo.blogspot.com/2007/09/asarco-demonstration.html).  (They are big fans of me!!!) [not! ].... It would be a shame to think they dragged all those people out next to a huge sewage treatment plant on Sunday afternoon for nothing. " 
http://refusethejuice.typepad.com/thinkaboutit/2007/09/still-no-pictur.html

Ah, David, why would you have a problem standing beside the treatment plant?  It is only just above the canal that delivers a lot of our drinking water.  Do you know something I don't know about that plant?

The Epgtlo blog is not the GTLO blog - that is www.gettheleadout.net.   You can see that on the same fliers you mentioned.  Please get your facts straight.

"I also heard that there was some interesting visa swapping in order to get some Juarez folks over the border." 
Haven't heard this, David.  Perhaps you should ask the people directly.  Or are you relying on hearsay again?

Sign up for a google alert whenever "Asarco" appears.  I have seen many pictures of the event because of the alert.  You can always contact one of those bloggers for a better copy of their photo.

El Paso Times Letter to the Editor on 9-24-07

Facts hidden

We know that for nearly 10 years, Asarco illegally handled and burned toxic waste for big profits, and that they never told us. We know that our government hid that from us for eight years.

Some Asarco workers tell me that it never hurt them to work there; some tell me differently. But no Asarco workers have told me that they trusted Asarco to tell them what went through that plant -- even two people who tested the material for the metals that Asarco wanted to smelt.

We've been lied to by Asarco, the TCEQ and the EPA.

Now the toxins are hidden in the water pumped up the mountain and sent to the city. They are in the dust stirred up in our air, and the rain streaming off our properties. We'll carry the lie as a silent random poison in our lungs, our bones and our bodies and some of it may pass to unborn children from the mothers.

It is time to end the lie, close the smelter, demand honest services from our government and begin the long process of cleanup.

Heather McMurray
West El Paso

El Pasoans gather to protest ASARCO

By: Fernie Castillo (text and photo-credits)
Posted: 9/25/07
"Members of the community gathered in white T-shirts on Sept. 26 for a photo that will be sent to Governor Richard Perry to persuade officials not to grant ASARCO its air permit renewal."
http://www.utepprospector.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=a4017618-abb3-41d6-ac74-3ba96cb8ac21

David K. doesn't get out much...

This author needs to get out more. Yesterday he reported on the Sunday Faces against Asarco by quoting others, and today he reports on the event by reporting on what the NEWS said?

ETHNICITY AND CLASS ARE NOT THE ISSUES HERE however hard he tries to "re-frame" it that way -- the toxins that Asarco, the TCEQ and EPA are hiding do not discriminate between classes or races. The poisons affect us all.

Why is it so difficult to write about the secret EPA document that the DOJ released? It can be hard to face facts...

"September 24, 2007
Update on ASARCO story - Classes, ethiciities at war?

UPDATE: I watched the video of the event rom KFOX (http://www.kfoxtv.com/video/14186394/index.html)

http://refusethejuice.typepad.com/thinkaboutit/2007/09/update-on-asarc.html

Asarco asks to raise CEO's salary

"Asarco asks to raise CEO's salary

Bloomberg News

Tucson, Arizona Published: 09.25.2007

Tucson-based copper producer Asarco LLC is asking the bankruptcy court to raise the salary of its CEO, Joseph Lapinsky, from $425,000 to $500,000, pay him an $85,000 bonus, and make him eligible for another performance bonus payable at the discretion of the board up to 75 percent of his salary, Bloomberg News reported....."

http://www.azstarnet.com/business/202844

Sour Grapes ...

ASARCO Turnout - Small, Very Small [from Refuse the Juice by David K. the conservative pro-Asarco guy who obviously didn't drive over to the FACES event and see for himself - reporting news from "here-say", Dave?]

The anti-ASARCO crowd is quietly claiming a successful "Faces Against ASARCO" outing this past Sunday. Paul Strelzin, who is a part of their media machine, made sure to focus on the turnout of the pro-ASARCO crowd and less on the anti-ASARCO. I guess the anti-ASARCO group's turnout wasn't worth talking about? [not when Asarco had to PAY their participants 50$ each to show up!] They said they'd have 25,000 people and I've heard numbers from 500 to 1000. Not quite a big turnout.

ASARCO's guest were invited specifically for the commercial they were doing. I saw no call to the public from them, so I didn't expect them to have a bunch of folks.

As for the anti-ASARCO folks, I think they need to rethink their message that all of El Paso wants ASARCO to remain closed. If you give them the higher of the two reported numbers (1000) and you divide that by our estimated population of around 600,000 you get .0016 percent. That means that less than 1% of the people of El Paso cared to gather against ASARCO. So much for "all of El Paso" caring enough about ASARCO to show up in opposition of it. [um, how about recalculating that percentage by the number of people living within the 3 mile EPA official contamination area??]

I think we've been led to believe that there are all kinds of regular El Pasoans up in arms over the opening of ASARCO, when it's obvious that it's only a core group of people who consider themselves "activists." [I would say that Refuse-the-juice classifies as an activist the same as anyone else ... so why imply that being active on community issues is a bad name?] It's the same group who says "no" to everything. They are trying to create a situation where a vocal minority controls the quiet majority. [does this mean that since only a few people in our community are "rich" that those will "create a situation like opening the smelter where a vocal minority (the rich) controls the quiet majority (the ill, the unborn, the babies and the aged)???] Let's hope they are not successful." [Amen, David, the rich shouldn't get off Scot-free from paying their environmental liabilities off or being responsible citizens]

[still no mention of the Toxic waste burning? Why not? Don't want El Pasoans to know?]

http://refusethejuice.typepad.com/thinkaboutit/2007/09/asarco-turnout-.html

Faces against Asarco Event

"Faces against of Asarco" photo event. Around 5:30, we assembled on land owned by CEMEX at the intersection of I-10 East and Executive Center. Photographs were shot from a crane until about 6:45. We got to see a lot of good friends: Lee, Bobby, and Johnny Byrd; representatives Beto O'Rourke (with new baby) and Suzie Byrd, her husband Eddie Holland, all the little Holland-Byrds; and Rosie Salazar (she's fine, working two jobs). Also, I got to speak to Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (we talked about giving the feds hell about the state of the Ft. Bliss National Cemetery), stood near Nancy from Bordersenses, and was happy to see Mayor John Cook there as well. In all, many, many old and new friends stood in solidarity against Asarco.

All in all it was a great day (impending storm and all) as I believe well over a couple of thousand people stood, raised their hands together to send a message to Austin and wave good bye to Asarco. Thanks to CEMEX for letting us assemble on their land, the EPPD, Ardovino's Desert Crossing (Charlie’s idea for the pix), and all who stood for a very important message: we do not need, nor do we want Asarco to reopen its smelting operations in El Paso, Texas."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chacal/1431054805/

Asarco demonstration

"After hearing Guitar Slim I drove over to the west side of El Paso where there was what to me was the largest demonstration I have ever been involved in. Here in El Paso, Texas the large and heavily polluting ASARCO copper smelter wants to re-open. There were probably 5,000 participants there. Maybe more. It was an interesting group of people. Virtually everyone was either in their late teens to early twenties, or old farts with grey hair who remembered how terrible the air pollution was prior to the smelter closing down.

The mayors of El Paso and Anthony were there as anti-ASARCO demonstration participants. I met a guy who teaches linguistics at UT El Paso and had a nice chat. The artist Hal Marcus was also there.

The neatest guy I met was a fellow who had a long full grey beard much like my own. His name sounded like “Q” the evil fellow on Star Trek, but I finally got it right as Pew. Like myself he grew up in El Paso, and recently lived 20 years in Europe working. He lived in Germany about 50 miles east of my house in Cologne, Germany. He worked for the symphony there. He had also worked for the one in Frankfurt. I really can’t say I am a real symphony buff, but I have attended symphonies at the opera houses in Liege, Belgium, Cologne and Frankfurt. Another example of “Wow, what a small world.”

After the demonstration was finished and I was driving away I took this picture. ... H Paul Garland at 8:22 AM"

http://hpgarland.blogspot.com/2007/09/political-demonstrations.html

Stand against ASARCO

"Sunday, September 23, 2007

Stand against ASARCO

They say a picture's worth a thousand words. I sure hope so. There was a demonstration today to photograph protesters at the foot of the Asarco smelter to put in the hands of the governor. Many hope this will help sway the reopening of this environmental hazard in the community's favor. It was great to see many people from my neighborhood and the surrounding area at the rally.

The local copper smelter has been a part of this city's existence for the last 120 or so years. It helped spur it's rapid growth, but as the community grew so did the health dangers literally in their backyard. My neighborhood is situated in the shadow of one of the tallest smokestacks in the world. The smelter has been closed down since the 90's. However, the community is in danger once again as Asarco is seeking to regain permission to start up operations this fall. For those of you who haven't seen this monolith, it is huge. And it is equally out of place in the middle of an international community of 3 million people. Hopefully the TCEQ (which will be ruling on this issue) will vote in favor of the community. Our livelihoods and the positive momentum of the region depends on it.

More info about the rally HERE."
http://epfoursquare.blogspot.com/2007/09/stand-against-asarco.html

Faces Against ASARCO

"Faces Against ASARCO

• Sep 23, 2007 at 8:18 PM

We just got back from a "Faces against of Asarco" photo event. Around 5:30, we assembled on land owned by CEMEX at the intersection of I-10 East and Executive Center. Photographs were shot from a crane until about 6:45. I took a lot of pix too, and will have them up tonight on Flickr, in addition to updating this post. We got to see a lot of good friends: Lee, Bobby, and Johnny Byrd; representatives Beto O'Rourke (with new baby) and Suzie Byrd, her husband Eddie Holland, all the little Holland-Byrds; and Rosie Salazar (she's fine, working two jobs). Also, I got to speak to Sen. Eliot Shapleigh (we talked about giving the feds hell about the state of the Ft. Bliss National Cemetery), stood near Nancy from Bordersenses, as well as being happpy to see Mayor John Cook there as well. In all, many, many old and new friends stood in solidarity against Asarco.
A great day (impending storm and all) and I believe well over a couple of thousand people stood, raised their hands together to send a message to Austin and wave good bye to Asarco. Thanks to CEMEX for letting us assemble on their land, the EPPD for traffic control, Ardovino's Desert Crossing (Charlie’s idea for the pix), and all who stood for a very important message: we do not need, nor do we want Asarco to reopen its smelting operations in El Paso, Texas."
http://chacal-la-chaise.vox.com/library/post/faces-against-asarco.html?_c=feed-atom

Opinion...

Thank you, Asarco, for poisoning me with Toxic Waste and not telling me?
Thank you, Asarco, for putting it into our river and our aquifer??
Thank you Asarco for this great news that re-opening a smelter next to our drinking water is good science???
http://newspapertree.com/opinion/1674-re-open-asarco

El Pasoans Take a Stand Against Asarco with Community Photograph 9-23 SUNDAY 6 PM!!!

El Pasoans Take a Stand Against Asarco with Community Photograph
Newspaper Tree - El Paso,TX,USA
However, on Sunday, September 23, thousands of El Pasoans--family, friends and neighbors opposed to the re-opening of Asarco--will gather together in a ...

Faces against Asarco at Executive Center

"(5.30pm Sunday)

September 21, 2007

The cities of El Paso, Ciudad Juarez and Sunland Park are trying to block the reopening of a massive copper smelter in the heart of town. It’s been mothballed since 1999, but the current owners are trying to get permission from the state of Texas to start up again. I wasn’t here at the time, but apparently when it was open, the pollution was pretty bad on the west side and in Anapra. In any event, this 19th century smelter would provide no significant economic benefit and would run counter to all the recent positive developments in the city.

This is a genius idea from Robert Ardovino. It looks like there’ll be thousands of people in front of Asarco for a photo which will be sent up to Rick Perry and co., posted on billboards in Austin etc. They ask that we show up at 5.30 and wear a white shirt. The picture will be taken at 6pm

Here’s the flyer:

http://gettheleadout.net/files/news_70.pdf "

http://johnsymons.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/mass-photo-in-front-of-asarco-530pm-sunday/

This Sunday Sept.-23'rd 5PM Executive Drive Wear White shirt

click on image to magnify it for reading!!

Arizona Governor's statement regarding Hayden and Asarco:

"I am asking that the EPA delay final decision on listing until March 31, 2008.  This would provide ample time for the EPA, in close coordination with ADEQ, to enter an agreement with ASARCO to conduct remedial actions..."
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7107451&nav=HMO6HMaW

Asarco loses approval to reimburse union

Asarco loses approval to reimburse union

Copper company earlier permitted to pay another $1 million for union's legal expenses.

One of the USA Founding Fathers: John Quincy Adams' quote

"...you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve
your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."

Leon Metz article in El Paso Times

"But talking to Asarco supervisors is like talking to a body in the company cemetery. They all promise to look at the record ... and get back to me.  Well, maybe their phones aren't working."
- Leon Metz

Leon Metz hit it exactly.  They are like bodies in the Smelter Cemetery.  And trying to get real information is like talking to dropped-call.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_6847684?source=email

https://www.geezmagazine.org/article/finding-the-eyes-to-see

"They sell the righteous for silver,...

... and the needy for a pair of sandals – they trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way. Amos 2:6b"

"Ah you who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statues, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right. Isaiah 10:1-2a"

"Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land. Amos 8:4"

"Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire . James 5:1-3a"

...You see, slavery still exists. It is alive and well, it’s just that we’ve pushed it far enough out of sight so that we don’t have to confront it daily. But, have no doubt about it, our t-shirts, dinner plates, and tooth brushes – delivered by the container-full – our cheap gold necklaces and wedding bands, are all made by slaves while the earth lies dying. Our job, as those in the north and the west, is to wake up and to resist, to create links of love and friendship with others in far corners, all working to preserve the earth, her creatures, and the fragile communities that have built networks of dependence on one another and on right living.

Our goal as Christians must be to stand as witnesses to what the God of Life came to earth to teach us: to sacrifice wealth and comfort, and to build real alternatives to exploitation with communities like Sipakapa. It is our job to say that what is being done in the name of “Canadians” is not okay by us. Martin and his cows are more important than Mr. Telfer and his share holders. Corn is worth more than silver. Life is worth more than gold.

"Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you. James 5:4-6

The Reverend Mother Emilie Smith is an Anglo-Catholic priest at the parish of St. James in Vancouver’s downtown eastside. Her most scary monster is greed."
http://www.geezmagazine.org/issue07/demons-rip-creation-where-humans-forget-their-calling

20070920 Asarco Asks Bankruptcy Court to Dismiss $68 Million Claim Filed by State of Texas

"From EnergyLaw360

By Christine Caulfield , christine.caulfield@portfoliomedia.com

Wednesday, Sep 19, 2007 --- Bankrupt copper mining company Asarco LLC has urged a bankruptcy court to quash a $68 million claim by Texas officials for environmental damage to the state's coast, a claim it argues was filed too late.

In an objection lodged with the court on Friday, Asarco said the damage claim filed in July 2006 by the Texas attorney general on behalf of the state's natural resource trustees was barred by the statute of limitations.  The claim, just one of scores against the bankrupt copper producer for environmental damage, relates to the company's Corpus Christi facility, which processed mineral ore in the production of zinc.

The Tucson, Ariz.-based company, which no longer operates the facility, argues the state was aware of the release of toxins from the site more than three years before making a claim to the court.  Claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, otherwise known as Superfund, have a three-year statute of limitations, and that statute begins to run on discovery of a possible claim, Asarco told Judge Richard Schmidt. [our "discovery" from 7/2006 is now over 1 year old]

“The Trustees had knowledge of the alleged release and losses well before July 14, 2003, three years prior to filing a claim,” the company said.  The state's knowledge was outlined in the attorney general's own proof of claim and expert report, Asarco told the court, both of which contained surveys, notices, memoranda and orders from the state warning the site was releasing dangerous metals into the Corpus Christi harbor and bay.

“It is undisputed that the state possessed knowledge of the alleged loss and its connection the alleged releases of hazardous substances at the site long before 2003,” said Asarco.

Even assuming the court were to rule that the claim was not time-barred, all portions of the state's claim relating to damage that occurred before the December 1980 effected date of Superfund were barred, the company added.  Last month, Judge Schmidt approved a $31 million settlement between Asarco and the federal government over cleanup at its hazardous California Gulch smelter site in Leadville, Colorado.

The settlement resolved a $200 million lawsuit brought by U.S. environment officials and the state of Colorado more than 20 years ago. The site, which encompasses the entire town of Leadville and an 11-mile stretch of the Arkansas River, was added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's national priority list as a hazardous wasteland in 1983.  In approving the settlement, Judge Schmidt ignored the protests of Asarco's parent company, Asarco Inc., which earlier this month asked the court for an order forcing the company to seek its consent before entering into settlements “over the parent's strong protest.”

The company had slammed Asarco's haste in settling the California Gulch claims, saying the debtors had entered into an agreement despite expert analysis showing the claims were highly inflated.

“Alarmingly, the California Gulch settlement may be just the first of many settlement seeking to resolve the environmental claims that are the subject of the ongoing estimation proceeding and that are asserted in the aggregate amount of over $6.77 billion,” said the company, which lost power over Asarco in December 2005, when the court approved a corporate governance stipulation which shook up the board of directors and effectively excluded it from participation in governance matters.

Asarco, which has been active in mining, smelting and refining for over a century, still faces environmental claims at nearly 100 other sites. Those claims have been asserted by the federal government, state governments, Indian tribes and private parties.  The company also faces more than 95,000 asbestos-related personal injury claims, court documents have revealed, with the total value of all claims estimated to be potentially as high as $25 billion.  Asarco filed for Chapter 11 protection on Aug. 9, 2005, listing assets and liabilities in excess of $100 million."

El Paso not listed in Superfund ASARCO sites

ASARCO's name is attached to 19 Superfund sites around the U.S. They are:

1. The Interstate Lead Company facility in Alabama;
2. Vasquez Boulevard and I-70 in Colorado;
3. Lowry Landfill in Colorado;
4. California Gultch mine and river systems in Colorado;
5. Summitville Mine in Colorado;
6. Globe Plant in Colorado;
7. Bunker Hill Mining in the Coeur d'Alene River Basin in Idaho;
8. Circle Smelting Corporation in Illinois;
9. NL Industries/Taracorp lead smelter in Illinois;
10. Cherokee County lead and zinc mine and surrounding area in Kansas;
11. Oronogo-Duenweg mining belt in Missouri;
12. East Helena smelter and surrounding residences in Montana;
13. Kin-Buc Landfill in New Jersey;
14. Tar Creek (Ottawa County) iron and zinc operations and surrounding residences in Oklahoma;
15. Tonolli Corporation smelter in Pennsylvania;
16. Ross Metals smelter and surface water in Tennessee;
17. Murray smelter in Utah;
18. Richardson Flat tailings in Utah;
19. Commencement Bay, Near Shore/Tide Flats smelter, groundwater, and residences in Tacoma and Ruston, Washington.
20. Former location of South side Park in Chicago, old home of the Chicago White Sox

http://www.answers.com/topic/asarco

Check out this stack photo

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/04/02/magazine/04cover.386.jpg

Blood lead levels were inversely related to the distance to the smelter.

July 2000

RISK ASSESSMENT OF LEAD POISONING IN THE SMELTER'S ADJOINING AREA IN CIUDAD JUAREZ; CHIH: MXICO. DAVID REYES, SANIN L, ROMIEU I, DÍAZ-BARRIGA F, ORNELAS-HICKS M, LACASAÑA M. Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. EMail: iromieu@insp3.insp.mx

"We carried out an assessment of the residual risk of lead poisoning in the area close to the ASARCO smelting plant in Anapra where remediation occurred in 1973, and determined major predictors of blood lead levels in mothers and children. ...."

"Their blood lead levels ranged from 3.5 - 23.6 μg/dL with an arithmetic mean of 7.35 μg/dL (s ± 3.50), and a percentage of 30% = 10 μg/dL. Blood lead levels were inversely related to the distance to the smelter.

Steelworker Attorneys get a piece of the Asarco pie

The slicing up of the Asarco Pie continues by attorneys, banks, companies... and all at the expense of the people living around the smelter(s) in still-hidden chemical contamination from the illegal toxic waste burning.   What are the chemicals and metals contaminating us?  We aren't being told, because all complete metals analyses, all complete raw data, all complete chemical reports are missing.

It is hardly "Green" to sacrifice the Paso del Norte Region to toxic-waste so that carpetbaggers can make a profit on the South -- in this case, slicing up the Asarco company to "get away" with the profitable sections while dumping/not-disclosing the environmental liabilities.   This isn't the Civil War days anymore or the days of Railroad Robber barons (although you've got to admit it is very strange that this all happens within Railroad District 8, headquartered in Midland, TX).   We have an educated community who realizes that they are being flim-flammed by the environmental agencies, by Asarco, by the very officials put in place to protect them.  And it is hitting our elderly, our ill, our unborn and our children the hardest - and the families' hearts are torn apart watching their loved ones slowly die.  The innocent are sacrificed as surely as if we were in a Mel Gibson Mayan-movie, with our hearts ripped out to ensure a plentiful harvest.

"Tucson-based Asarco LLC was authorized by the bankruptcy court to pay another $1 million to the United Steelworkers, mostly to reimburse them for attorneys' fees spent in litigation with Asarco's nominal parent, Grupo Mexico SA de CV.   The parent unsuccessfully opposed the request. Last year the bankruptcy court allowed Asarco to reimburse the union for $500,000 in expenses."

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/202070

Family poisoned by arsenic dump

http://www.startribune.com/slideshows/rich_media/1428227.html
http://www.startribune.com/10237/v-print/story/1428996.html

link given by the arsenic newsletter:
http://www.noccawood.ca

EPA "Green Group" fast-track air permitting.... approval to pollute in the guise of greening America

From "high desert reports" blog
http://laurapaskus.blogspot.com/2007/08/epas-flexible-air-permits.html

"Wednesday, August 29, 2007
EPA's "flexible" air permits

I just received a press release from the EPA, which is proposing changes to its air quality permitting rules -- which would include operating permits and New Source Review programs. According to the press release, the agency is doing this to "encourage pollution prevention; provide increased flexibility, enable industrial facilities to make rapid changes to respond to market demands; save resources for state permitting authorities, and improve public information."

EPA will accept comment on this proposed rule for 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register.

More about the proposal: http://epa.gov/nsr/actions.html#aug07

Information about EPA's New Source Review program: http://epa.gov/nsr/  "

From the EPA site: [Remember that ASARCO EL PASO said it was using BACT in 1992 when it installed CONTOP -- and then it proceeded to secretly handle and burn toxic waste]

"The proposed revisions to EPA’s NSR program describe how industrial facilities would obtain advance approvals of certain future changes under major NSR through the use of a new permit option called a “Green Group.”  A Green Group consists of a collection of emissions points ducted to a common, high performing air pollution control device.  This emissions control device must meet “best available control technology” (BACT) or “lowest achievable emission rate” (LAER), as applicable. The total annual emissions from all the new and existing emissions activities included in the Green Group are restricted to a level determined to be protective of the applicable national ambient air quality standards and the increments established to protect visibility and other air quality values.  The state, tribal or local permitting authority would retain the ability to determine if the Green Group permitting approach would be appropriate in a particular situation.

Sources may make changes within the scope of a Green Group approval without further review or approval by the permitting authority. To establish a Green Group, a source must go through the major NSR permitting process and obtain a permit which would limit future emissions growth over a 10-year period."

Smelter Cemetery 2007

Smelter Cemetery 2007

Smelter Cartoon

Texas Sayings...

during the toxic-waste burning years, the EPA said that the smelter made a LOT of money burning the illegal untracked waste.  It was "Ridin' the gravy train with biscuit wheels"

and now I think that the piles of black slag look like... "Hind legs of destruction"

Company convicted by D.O.J. in 1990 for Superfund toxic cleanup fraud becomes contractor to test Asarco El Paso waste streams....

In 1995, Hudock (EPA) provided the services of the contractor, SAIC, to TCEQ for sampling Asarco El Paso's waste streams, soils, and monitoring-wells, because of TCEQ's "limited Jurisdiction and Resources".

Citizens for Legitimate Government (CLG) has learned that so-called DC Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 'confirms for the first time that another individual with very high government security clearance -- Ronald Roughead of SAIC -- was also a customer.' (9/07)

see this link for the following:
http://www.politicalfriendster.com/showPerson.php?id=5624&name=Science-Applications-International-Corporation-(SAIC)

"In 1990 SAIC was indicted by the Justice Department on 10 felony counts for fraud in its management of a Superfund toxic cleanup site. (SAIC pleaded guilty.) “In 1993 the Justice Department sued SAIC, accusing it of civil fraud on an F15 fighter contract.

I was an Asarco Hostage

I Was an Asarco Hostage
Newspaper Tree - El Paso,TX,USA
"I was an Asarco hostage. Really. The day started out normal enough. After polluting our community for over a century, leaving a multi-million lead ..."

Summer's account of what happened to her is terrific, and everyone should read it!

1993: "You can't sweep your mess under the rug, and we felt that is what they (ASARCO) were trying to do,"

March 13, 1993
Page: 1A Howard Pankratz; Denver Post Legal Affairs Writer DENVER POST

A Denver jury yesterday found that ASARCO Inc. negligently permitted cadmium and arsenic to spread from its Globeville smelter and refinery, and it awarded hundreds of families in the north Denver neighborhood millions of dollars in damages.

"You can't sweep your mess under the rug, and we felt that is what they (ASARCO) were trying to do," said Mark Emmons, one of the jurors who returned two different multimillion-dollar verdicts on behalf of 567 Globeville families. ASARCO attorneys said the company will appeal.


....Pamela Aylsworth, the jury forewoman, said the jurors felt that for decades ASARCO had inadequately controlled dust and other emissions from the plant, .....During the 5-week trial, lawyers Macon Cowles and Kevin Hannon claimed that hundreds of thousands of pounds of dust blowing from the plant had scattered cadmium and arsenic throughout Globeville. Those metals, they claimed, left residents at higher risk for cancer and other illnesses.

"ASARCO thinks that a home's worth is measured only in square feet and has nothing to do with raising babies and growing gardens," said Kane. "ASARCO also thinks that health risk is measured by statistics, not individual human beings - mothers, fathers, children. But the people of Globeville know better and, when they could trust promises no more, they turned to the courts for the justice so long overdue."

ASARCO said there was no proof that the metals harmed anyone. [sound familiar?]...... He said by fighting ASARCO he and his neighbors were sending a message to corporations that if they pollute neighborhoods, those neighborhoods won't tolerate it.
http://www.marykanelaw.com/articles/globevilleSmelter.cfm

TENORM radioactive waste in copper mining and waste

V. Enhanced pollution due to technological processing. Waste elements that are put into the waste heaps release toxins into the environment, in an affect called “technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials” (TENORM) by Environmental Protection Agency. In other words, when you bring toxic metals, which are buried in the ground with no potential to harm human health, to the surface, put them in waste dumps exposed to the air, and subject them to various technological processes, there is a potential for adverse affects on human health. This is particularly true in Arizona where there are abundant deposits of radioactive metals and poisonous arsenic. In 1999, Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D. C. published a report on this uranium and radioactive chemicals in the “Copper Belt” of Southern Arizona. Following is an excerpt from that report:

Nearly all rocks, soils, thorium, radium, radioisotopes,naturally occurring radioactive purposefully or inadvertently technologically enhanced naturally as any naturally occurring human exposure has been activities (NAS, 1999). . . .

Levels in excess of the federal MCLs and state guidelines were found in groundwater and surface water samples, as well as soil and sediment samples at abandoned and active copper mines. TENORM exceedences were also found in groundwater at active and inactive copper mines. Uranium byproducts were recovered from heap leach dumps and in-situ operations that feed SX-EW and ion exchange circuits at several copper mines. Radioactivity was discovered in copper mineral processing waste streams. Elevated levels of radioactivity were also found to occur in the process solutions and process wastes.

For entire report, see: www.epa.gov/radiation/docs/tenorm/402-r-99-002.pdf

http://www.savethesantacruzaquifer.info/Superior.htm

May 2007: Los Alamos National Security related-company named as possible buyer for ASARCO AZ copper mines

Contract paves way for mine reopening  May 4, 2007
Washington Group International of Boise, Idaho, has won a $310 million contract to perform mining services at the Pinto Valley Mine near Globe, which is being reopened in response to soaring copper prices. A related company, Washington Corp., has been mentioned as a possible buyer for Asarco LLC's Arizona copper mines, and the Pinto Valley contract gives the organization a foothold in the area. (AZCentral -- Business)

Security lab may face $3.3m fine for data leak  Jul 14, 2007
Los Alamos National Security is made up of Bechtel National Inc., BWX Technologies Inc., and the Washington Group International Inc. as well as the University of California, which had managed the lab on its own since its inception in 1943. 2007 The Associated Press. (MSNBC -- Technology)
http://news.surfwax.com/biz/files/Washington_Group_Internat.html

Quote from Atomic scientist

"If you pollute when you know there is NO safe dose, with respect to causing extra cases of deadly cancers, then you are committing premeditated random murder.”
Dr. John Gofman
September 21, 1918 – August 15, 2007

Air pollution 1985: cost benefit

Arsenic, ASARCO, and EPA: Cost-benefit analysis, public participation, and polluter games in the regulation of hazardous air pollutants.
Call, GD
Ecology Law Quarterly [ECOL. LAW Q.]. Vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 567-617. 1985.

The first part of this comment examines section 112 of the Clean Air Act. The second part discusses the ASARCO smelter as a setting for the regulation of arsenic emissions. The third part examines the first substantive issue, the use of cost-benefit analysis in regulating the emissions of hazardous air pollutants, including the application of cost-benefit analysis to situations where increased emission regulation may lead to plant shutdowns. This part also contrasts standards based on a cost-benefit approach with standards based on a health effects approach. The fourth part examines the role of the public in making decisions regarding hazardous air pollutant emissions. This comment examines public participation through both market and nonmarket mechanisms and then contrasts public participation, in general, with expert decisionmaking. The final part examines the extent to which regulated firms engage in strategic behavior to deceive the regulator and the ability of EPA to prevent such behavior.

Descriptors: {Q1}; Clean Air Act; arsenic; smelting; industrial emissions; pollution control; EPA

Daniel Novick Reports: Asarco Re-Opening Causes Debate - Video - KFOX El Paso

http://www.kfoxtv.com/video/14062922/index.html?taf=elp

FACES AGAINST ASARCO WIDE FORMAT photo event

WHERE WILL YOU STAND? FACES AGAINST ASARCO --

EL PASOANS TAKE A STAND AGAINST ASARCO WITH COMMUNITY PHOTOGRAPH SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23 AT 6:00 PM

When: Sunday, September 23 at 6 p.m.

Where: Executive Center between I-10 and Paisano Drive, enter from Paisano

Attire : Casual white shirt

Parking: Enter Executive Center from Paisano and look for signs 

For more information, call 544-1990

TCEQ in 2002 : Shameful SHAM recycling requirements put in place, while hiding from EL Paso community that ASARCO had committed gross SHAM RECYCLING

"...Shameful Sham Recycling Requirements?
[from 2002  http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0QNZ/is_2002_August_9/ai_n6244533/print]

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on August 7 [2002] was poised to adopt rules aimed at ridding the state of "sham" recyclers, as mandated by section 9.03 of House Bill 2912 (the agency's Sunset legislation). Even after hearing significant complaints that the rules as drafted were unworkable, they held out hope that some compromise might be found between late morning and mid-afternoon, when a related rules package was also up for adoption.............   - the proposed rules did not require financial assurance to cover cleanup costs for sham recyclers that go out of business....  El Paso Disposal noted the rules contain no provision for financial assurance to cover cleanup costs for a sham recycler and argued, as did others, for creating such a mechanism. Staff disagreed that financial assurance is needed for recycling facilities that meet the standards and operational requirements of the new rules. There was, they added, no legislative intent to regulate a compliant recycler as a solid waste facility. Moreover, other rules and penalties apply to illegitimate recyclers, including civil suits and criminal prosecution of those who dispose or allow or permit the disposal of over 5 lb of solid waste for a commercial purpose at a site that is not an approved solid waste management site....."

Houston Texas Asarco Thorium contaminated site

"September 13, 2006 George FitzGerald, P.G., Project Manager MC-221
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
PO Box 13087
Austin, TX 78711-3087

Ref: Your letters of June 22 and 23, 2006 re: Comments to ASARCO's
Characterization of Radioactive Materials and Comments to January 19,
2006 Groundwater Sampling Report, Federated Metals State Superfund Site,
Houston, Texas.....

.....The site is presently fenced and gates are locked to prevent intrusion.
The perimeter is placarded to alert potential trespassers to the
presence of contaminated materials.....
http://www.terai.com/Ltr_Robbins_to_TCEQ_9_11_06_with_my_section.doc

Asarco trying to get out of environmental liabilities and leave the costs to you, the taxpayer

"This is only one part of the shenanigans surrounding this situation. The current owner of the dam, Asarco, is also trying to get out of paying for anything by pleading poverty, even though it is owned by a hugely wealthy Mexican multinational corporation. That's the M.O. in today's corporate culture: Pass the buck, and try to make taxpayers foot the bill. davidsirota :: When Polluters Don't Want to Pay..."

Asarco sheds environmental liabilities & oversees its own cleanup (fox watching the chickencoop) and the Labor Union cooperates...

"....The union's support has been reciprocal.  Last week in Hayden, as Asarco argued its position for leading an environmental cleanup there instead of letting the federal government designate it a Superfund site, the union was at the company's side.   United Steelworkers representative Tony Meza told Hayden town officials to let Asarco manage the cleanup...."
from:  Asarco, unions achieve harmony: Turnaround in labor relations credited to bankruptcy court's takeover in 2005

By Gabriela Rico Arizona Daily Star  Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.03.2007

1994 Asarco authorized to emit Hexavalent Chromium; meanwhile Erin Brockovich in 1993 had begun work against PG&E... the case was settled in 1996

"...Additionally, ASARCO will emit other compounds, which are included in its PM and VOC emissions. In November 1994, an uncontested amendment to Permit No. 20345 was granted by 17 the Commission. The purpose of the amendment was “ to adjust heavy metal emission rates from the original representations to actual rates that were measured during required stack sampling.”18 According to that amendment, the following compounds were authorized to be emitted at various 19 locations and in various amounts:
(from Oct. 27, 2005 SOAH Judges' statement)

"

"Erin Brockovich-Ellis (born Erin L. E. Pattee June 22, 1960 in Lawrence, Kansas) is a legal clerk who, despite the lack of a formal law school education, was instrumental in constructing a case against the $28 billion Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), of California in 1993....The case alleged contamination of drinking water with hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium (VI), in the southern California town of Hinkley. At the center of the case is a facility called the Hinkley Compressor Station, part of a natural gas pipeline connecting to the San Francisco Bay Area and constructed in 1952. The case was settled in 1996 for $333 million, the largest settlement ever paid in a direct action lawsuit in U.S. history." (Wikipedia)

Radioactive waste from old nuclear weapons is being sent to domestic landfill sites across the USA

"Landfill Scam:
Radioactive waste from old nuclear weapons is being sent to domestic landfill sites across the USA, the country's Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) has revealed.

In a new report, the NIRS traced the legal and technical routes that have allowed the Department of Energy to dump radioactive, plastic and chemical waste into unsuitable landfills.

The authors found that the Department was auctioning waste to 'processors', who are then free to ignore radioactive handling requirements and treat the waste as domestic rubbish".

The Ecologist Mag. pp. 10-11 July/Aug. 07

From Rio Grande/TCEQ Watermaster Rubinstein in answer to open records request

Dear Mr. Rubinstein,

The response says that the chemical analyses for the 1996 zinc stack demolition project were made and therefore do exist. Your own reply says that you are responsible and permitted under the law to find existing information. SO, WHERE ARE THE ANALYSES/DATA? The reply from the TCEQ that they can't locate "the specific analyses" is not answering my request and the excuse that it is too difficult to look is pathetic when this zinc stack demolition occurred under a 1996 agreed order (SEP).

We have authenticated written evidence that both the TCEQ and EPA are hiding metals-contamination from Asarco found both in El Paso and Corpus Christ (attached). The TCEQ repeatedly fails to provide any full-analyses (total metal analyses - SIC), any stack samples, any raw data (spectrometer analyses), any location of physical core samples, the analyses of the ENCYCLE loads that the EPA made for the consent decree --- ALL ARE MISSING. This belies all valid scientific laboratory and scientific-academic procedures where such data must be kept on record for legal challenges to patents, for report-interpretations, etc.

This begins to be a tiresome wearisome pattern and in this particular case of the stack demolition, when your own reports describes the analyses of the stack walls -- and this lack of data falls appallingly short. I am copying an OAG contact because I feel that this pattern shows a circumvention of the Open Records Law: the TCEQ does not have to give out the records if they fail to keep the data on file.

Repeatedly the TCEQ insists that there is no evidence of many toxic-wastes (e.g. radioactive material) because they fail to find the reports just mentioned. We do understand that the evidence is MISSING --- the TCEQ is guardian of this data, and as such has failed its responsibility to safeguard the public health.

The TCEQ begs the question that they know all the wastes that contaminated us, without the proper evidence -- does the TCEQ think that El Pasoans are ignorant and dumb? The TCEQ even shows a disregard for the public here by failing to hold the Asarco Air Permit #20345 renewal hearing here, in El Paso (the City has offered to cover the TCEQ's expenses incurred holding the meeting here and not in Austin, TX).
It is becoming increasing clear that there is a huge span of missing samples and full-analyses that would, if provided, let this region know what toxins rained down on us from Asarco El Paso.

I received your summary 7/23/07 of our telephone conversation but did not receive a reply to the concerns listed in that summary.

Asarco case twists again

Tacoma, WA - Monday, August 27, 2007 Asarco case twists again
Court filing says former directors pillaged it
LES BLUMENTHAL; The News Tribune
Last updated: August 27th, 2007 01:23 AM (PDT)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The heads of one of Mexico's wealthiest families and
other former executives of Asarco "systematically liquidated" its most
valuable assets, leaving the mining and smelting company in bankruptcy
and facing billions of dollars in environmental and asbestos-related
claims, according to a new court filing.

The complaint, filed by a group of Asarco's creditors, seeks at least
$100 million in damages from German Larrea Mota-Velasco and his brother,
Genaro Larrea Mota-Velasco, along with seven other former directors and
officers of Asarco. At the same time they were running Asarco, the
Larreas and others held similar positions with Asarco's parent company,
Grupo Mexico, S.A. de C.V.

"Almost from the beginning, the actions by the directors and officers
demonstrated that their loyalties were to Grupo Mexico … resulting in
devastating financial loses to Asarco," according to the complaint.

Officials at Grupo Mexico did not return phone calls or an e-mail
seeking comment.

Among the allegations are that the nine named in the complaint
engineered the 2002 sale of Asarco's majority interest in two highly
coveted Peruvian copper mines to another of Grupo Mexico's subsidiaries
in a "sweetheart deal" worth about $765 million. By some estimates, the
mines then were worth more than $1 billion. Today, as the price of
copper has soared, they could be worth $7 billion to $8 billion.

Washington state, which has filed $600 million worth of environmental
claims against Asarco, did not join in the complaint. But the state
could benefit if the mines were returned to Asarco and the company had
more cash to pay off claims.

"This case keeps getting layers added to layers," said Elliott Furst, a
senior counsel in the Washington Attorney General's Ecology Division. He
said the state was too focused on proving its environmental claims to
join in the case against Grupo Mexico and Asarco's former directors and
officers.

For more than 100 years, Asarco operated a copper smelter on the border
of Tacoma and Ruston. The state claims arsenic, lead and other toxic
substances emitted from the smelter contaminated more than 1,000 square
miles in Pierce, Thurston and King counties.

The smelter, closed in 1985, has been demolished, the site mostly
cleaned and sold to a developer. The state, however, insists that water,
air and soil were contaminated in the tri-county area. It will have to
defend its claim in late September in the Texas bankruptcy court hearing
the case.

Washington state's claim is the second-largest filed. Overall, nearly
$11 billion worth of environmental claims have been filed by 16 states,
two Indian tribes, the federal government and private parties. If Asarco
is unable to pay for the environmental cleanups at more than 75 sites
nationwide, federal and state taxpayers might have to foot the bill.

In addition, 95,000 asbestos-related claims have been filed against
Asarco, up to $2.7 billion.

Grupo Mexico, which bought Asarco in 1999, is the third-largest copper
producer in the world. The Larrea family is considered part of Mexico's
"fantasticos," the 100 or so superrich families in that country who are
socially, politically and economically connected.

Though he wasn't named directly, the complaint suggests that another of
Mexico's superrich, Carlos Slim, might have benefited from the sale of
the Peruvian mines.

Slim, who made much of his fortune in the telecom industry, might have
recently surpassed Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the richest man in
the world.

The complaint quotes Genaro Larrea as saying Slim, a "close associate"
of Grupo Mexico's principals, and his Mexican bank had bought $100
million of Asarco bonds at a deep discount. As part of the proceeds from
the mine sale, those bonds were paid off at face value, according to the
complaint.

Suing the directors and officers of a company that has sought bankruptcy
protection is not unusual.

"It is not uncommon to bring an action against officers and directors of
a bankrupt company for breaching their fiduciary responsibilities," said
Leif Clark, a University of Texas law professor and a federal bankruptcy
judge. But in the Asarco case, Clark said, it might become complicated
because those named in the complaint are residents of Mexico.

According to the complaint, the former Asarco officials not only
stripped the company of its interest in the Peruvian mines, but also
neglected Asarco's core mining business, sold lands with confirmed
copper reserves at raw land prices and cashed in insurance policies that
covered potential environmental and asbestos-related liabilities to fund
ongoing operations.

The nine directors and company officials resigned after the Peruvian
mines were sold to Americas Mining Corp., a Grupo subsidiary.

Asarco is now being run by directors approved by the bankruptcy judge.

The complaint was filed in the bankruptcy court earlier this month. The
case is scheduled for trial next spring.

Even as the legal battles unfold, Furst said some banks and other
financial institutions have approached Washington state and other
claimants in the bankruptcy about buying their claims at a discount.

The banks, believing the demand for copper worldwide will continue to
grow, hope the claims they buy at a discount might eventually be worth
more or, as Asarco emerges from bankruptcy, they could receive stock in
the company.

"There is a lot of speculation Asarco could be worth more than people
think," Furst said. As for Washington state selling its claims, Furst
said that "it might make sense to do it at some point."
Les Blumenthal: lblumenthal@mcclatchydc.com

Originally published: August 27th, 2007 01:23 AM (PDT)
1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742
© Copyright 2007 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company

Gov. Perry to appoint the 3rd person to the TCEQ Commission

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_6727014

Asarco supporters, opponents await new TCEQ nomination

By Brandi Grissom / El Paso Times El Paso Times

Article Launched:

AUSTIN -- Asarco friends and foes in El Paso are watching closely as Gov. Rick Perry prepares to make an appointment that could determine whether the copper smelter gets a green light to restart operations. Perry will choose someone to replace Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chairwoman Kathleen Hartnett White whose term expires at the end of August. Those who support Asarco hope the new commissioner will weigh the economic impact the smelter could have in El Paso. Opponents want someone who will consider environmental concerns about Asarco's operations above all others. "The governor is going to put someone on the board who recognizes that they have to hear the concerns of the local communities and balance that against the overall needs of our state," said Perry spokesman Robert Black. Asarco's smokestack on the edge of the city stopped working in 1999 when the price of copper tanked. With prices of the metal rising again in 2002, Asarco sought to renew its air quality permit with TCEQ, which would allow smelting to restart. More than five years later, the commission, which has never before denied such a permit, has still not decided whether to grant Asarco's request. At each step in the permitting process, El Pasoans and others in the region who oppose Asarco's reopening have been contesting the company's request. The vacant spot on the commission could delay a decision on Asarco's permit even further. TCEQ spokeswoman Andrea Morrow said the three-person commission can take votes with only two members present, but a split vote would result in postponement of the issue until a third commissioner was available. Mayors and other elected officials from El Paso, New Mexico and Juárez, have called on TCEQ to deny the permit. They argue the company has a history of polluting the ground and air and of sickening area residents. "We're looking for somebody at TCEQ who has the health and safety of the people of Texas foremost in their mind and particularly here in El Paso," said Jim Kelly, spokesman for Get the Lead Out Coalition. Kelly said he doesn't mind if the appointment of a new commissioner further delays a decision on Asarco's permit. "Right now, they are not authorized to operate, and I like that," he said. "I like the fresh, clean air we have now." Lairy Johnson, environmental manager at Asarco's El Paso plant, said the company could work with whomever Perry appoints. The company has contended its operations are clean and meet state environmental standards. "We have confidence in the process," he said. Jimmy Dominguez, a former Asarco employee anxious to see the plant open again so he can get his job back, said he would like to see a new commissioner appointed and a decision made soon. "For me, it is kind of gut-wrenching to wait and just wait, but there's nothing we can do," he said. Dominguez said Asarco's opponents exaggerate negative effects of the smelter's pollution. His father and uncles, he said, worked in the plant for years and remain healthy. Along with other Asarco backers, Dominguez points to the high-paying jobs the company would provide. A study by the Institute for Policy and Economic Development at the University of Texas at El Paso released in April estimated reopening Asarco would generate more than $1 billion in the local economy and create about 1,800 new jobs. "We just want to go back to work and live a life I had that opportunity to live," said Dominguez, who now works at a state prison making less than he did at Asarco. "I was making really good money; my kids, my wife were well taken care of." Perry spokesman Black said the governor has not yet decided whom he will appoint to the board. Perry would rather get it done right than get it done quickly, he said. But he said Perry would want a commissioner who could balance environmental responsibility with the state's economic needs and growing energy requirements. "The governor does not believe TCEQ should be an agency that is anti-industry, but by the same token, it cannot cater to the industry," Black said. Buddy Garcia, whom Perry appointed to the commission earlier this year and made chairman this week, said he could not comment specifically on the Asarco permit or when the board might vote on it. He said, though, that assuring the public that the commission is working to protect the environment is one of the agency's biggest challenges. "This is a trust issue for me," Garcia said, "and it's all about balance." Brandi Grissom may be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com; (512) 479-6606.

Quote from the CCA-wood Arsenic poisoning newsletter

What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.

Albert Pine

(Asarco El Paso emitted Arsenic)

Peace of Mind

Knowing that ASARCO El Paso deliberately burned toxic-waste for profit is a terrible thing to realize. Years ago someone told me, when we suspected it - "We can't let the City know." And then she and another lady moved their families out of here ... "job changes"... most families raise their children to send them out of state to work somewhere else.

I look at the children whom I know, or the students I taught -- many sick. They can't pick up and move away. They can't work full-time and live their lives yet. They are children, and have their lives to live.

We can face it and gradually remove the poisons that economically will enslave them; or we can chose not to: that is our choice. And whichever choice we take requires a sacrifice.

"Merciful Father, I have squandered my days with plans of many things. This was not among them.....
For all we ought to have thought and have not thought;
All we ought to have said and have not said;
All we ought to have done and have not done:
I pray thee, God, for forgiveness.
—Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan, in the film The 13th Warrior (1999)"

Faces against Asarco

Asarco must Go (song)

Asarco must Go

Comments to EPA re: Ozone - Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2005-0172

2007 Proposed Revisions to Ground-Level Ozone Standards
http://earth1.epa.gov/air/ozonepollution/naaqsrev2007.html

http://earth1.epa.gov/air/ozonepollution/naaqsrev2007.html#howto

How to Comment

* EPA will accept public comments until October 9, 2007.
* Comments should be identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2005-0172
and submitted by one of the following methods:
o Federal eRulemaking Portal (http://www.regulations.gov); o
e-mail <a-and-r-docket@epa.gov>
o Mail (EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail
code 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460);
or
o Hand delivery (EPA Docket Center, Environmental Protection
Agency, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington,
DC).