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

Monday, November 5, 2007

GAO Report has not been finished or officially released

...where did this "GAO" report come from when other sources tell us that it isn't finished or released yet?  And why only talk about Rocky Mt. Arsenal (RMA) material?  Why not Tooele UT material?  Why not NASA or the Army Depot waste that came to El Paso's Asarco smelter? ...  Is it a coincidence that Asarco's response to the NYTimes Oct. '06 story a year ago (the secret DOJ document) was to immediately post previously unrevealed/unseen RMA chemical weapon quench water contracts on its official website? 

"Feds find Asarco clean on hazmat charges By Mike Mrkvicka
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has thrown cold water on the claim by Asarco opponents that tons of hazardous waste were burned illegally at the El Paso smelter.

In a 42-page report obtained by El Paso Inc., the Congressional investigative agency discounts much of the anti-Asarco speculation surrounding a “secret” EPA memorandum uncovered last year by Heather McMurray, a local school teacher and Asarco opponent.

The hazardous material came to the El Paso smelter from 1993 to 1995 from the former Army chemical warfare depot at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal outside Denver....."
http://www.elpasoinc.com/showArticle.asp?articleId=1831


Judge lets Asarco sue Mexican owners

"By Les Blumenthal McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has refused to throw out a lawsuit filed by Asarco against its Mexican owners in a ruling that eventually could help the bankrupt U.S. mining and smelting company recover billions of dollars to help pay off environmental and asbestos-related claims, including hundreds of millions in claims from Washington state.

The lawsuit alleges Americas Mining, a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico, S.A. de C.V., "fraudulently" stripped Asarco LLC of its lucrative holding in two Peruvian copper mines just as Asarco was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, Texas, clears the way for a trial next spring. In preparing for the trial, Asarco lawyers say they will question members of one of Mexico's wealthiest families, brothers German Larrea Mota-Velasco and Genaro Larrea Mota-Velasco, as part of the case.

The Larrea family controls Grupo Mexico, the largest Mexican mining company and the third-largest producer of copper in the world. The Larrea brothers have been executives of Grupo Mexico, Americas Mining and Asarco. The family is considered one of the 100 or so richest in Mexico, dubbed the "fantasticos" because of their economic, political and social clout.".....
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003994345&zsection_id=2003925728&slug=asarco05&date=20071105

Sunday, November 4, 2007

The ASARCO Press onslaught begins....

The New Plant Manager, Bob Litle writes an opinion piece in the Sunday paper (El Paso Times) and coincidently the EP Inc. (Nov.4-11)  releases the first news about the GAO investigative report, which says that nothing wrong ever happened -- it was all a paperwork error.  Amazing that the Federal Dept. of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency and also ASARCO felt it necessary to keep this "paperwork error" secret from the Paso del Norte community and the world for eight years!

No one has explained why we have never gotten a copy of the chemical-analysis of the Encycle material(s) or the old ASARCO lake's "new" water, or the pond mud that got railed/trucked clear-back to Corpus Christi's TX US Ecology dump.  No one explains the 20010628 meeting-memo that lets us know the EPA and TCEQ are hiding something from us, likely a metal.

Bob Litle writes, "The opposition to Asarco is not about the environment, it is about the land."  And all he will talk about is lead (Pb) in the dirt - not any other metals. None at all. 
http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_7362521

I don't know about anyone else but I know that my opposition is not about land.  It is about the WATER, and about getting an honest answer to the question "what is it?".  What is poisoning us from the almost-decade of burning untracked/unmanifested toxic wastes in the ConTop furnaces?  Why did the consent decree tell Asarco to pave streets for six years, not five or ten years?  Why did the consent decree require that all materials going out of Encycle have spectrometer analysis after that?  Why, when the ConTop was designed to burn sludge (dirt) has no one talked about NORM waste?  WHAT ARE THEY CONTINUING TO HIDE?

Mr. Litle writes "Wouldn't it be great to have an additional $2.2 million in tax revenue every year to curtail the raising of taxes and help our schools?"

In reply, I can't help but think, "wouldn't it be nice to have 24 million dollars from Asarco to clean up the huge Arsenic plume beneath our drinking water (the old american canal) so that the 70+ year old canal might be replaced?"  Wouldn't it be nice if the El Paso City schools got the money from Asarco to clean up Asarco's waste in the old schools?

If years of toxic waste burning was a "paperwork error" then how can we trust the paperwork figures from Asarco telling us how much poison is in our Paso del Norte environment from their illegal waste disposal?  When Asarco removes 2 inches of dirt from Anapra yards and says that they are cleaned up, and in Maryland a smelter removes two feet of dirt before deciding that they cleaned-up enough -- what are we to believe?  What are we to believe when the Fox tells us that the chickens are safe?

In my opinion the simultaneous release of these El Paso Times and EP Inc. pro-Asarco articles is suspicious, and leave a lot out --- when we get to see the full analysis of the ENCYCLE dirt that caused the EPA and the DOJ to slap a five-state multi-million dollar settlement on Asarco, then we might be getting closer to the truth.


















(click on image to see full-page)
From "Rails of the Pass of the North" by TX Western Press, El Paso

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Latino Policy Forum and others report on those at risk from industrial air pollution...

" The 2007 report found that of the more than 9 million people estimated to live within 1.8 miles of the nation's 413 commercial waste facilities, more than 5.1 million are people of colour.

Other research has confirmed similar disparities. A 2000 study by the Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas-Dallas found that almost half of the nearly 2 million federally-subsidized apartments for low-income people were within about a mile of factories releasing toxic emissions.

A 2001 report by the Latino Policy Forum determined that 68 percent of African Americans live within 30 miles of coal-fired power plants, compared to 56 percent of whites. And a 2005 Associated Press investigation found that blacks are 79 percent more likely than whites to live in areas most at health risk from industrial air pollution."
from: "
ENVIRONMENT-US: Toxins Threaten to Uproot Entire Town"
By Mark Weisenmiller
http://www.propeller.com/viewstory/2007/11/01/florida-toxins-threaten-to-uproot-an-entire-town/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ipsnews.net%2Fnews.asp%3Fidnews%3D39889&frame=true

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Arsenic

"Test wells drilled into the intermediate aquifer underneath the [E. Helena MT] Asarco smelting property in 2001 revealed arsenic present at 31 to 34 parts per million (i.e. 34 ppm in the water) — more than 3,000 times the federal standards for drinking water."
Asarco to present public updates (article from E. Helena MT Asarco plant)

Arsenic in Canal-water above the El Paso Water Utilities' (EPWU) Canal-street treatment plant near Asarco El Paso was 37 ppm, according to TCEQ (TNRCC) samples from '95. (DAMAGE CASES AND ENVIRONMENTAL RELEASES FROM MINES AND MINERAL PROCESSING SITES 1997 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, page 215)




EPA in 1997 reports on TCEQ 1995 EL PASO ASARCO WATER CONTAMINATION: arsenic concentrations in ground water seeping into the canal,from ASARCO property were 37 mg/l

"The American Canal, which originates near the facility, also is nearby. The canal distributes water
diverted from the river to downstream users, including El Paso Water Utilities, via a system of canals and
ditches. For approximately 1,100 feet, the canal is adjacent to ASARCO's main plant. Downstream from the
ASARCO plant the canal is referred to as the Franklin Canal. El Paso's public drinking water is withdrawn from
the Franklin Canal for treatment prior to distribution
. The withdrawal point from the canal is approximately two
miles from the dam on the river that diverts water into the canal. On December 4, 1995, the Texas Natural
Resources Conservation Commission (TNRCC) conducted a case development inspection of the American
Canal in the immediate vicinity of ASARCO's El Paso Plant. TNRCC collected ground water and sediment
samples from three points in the canal, in which arsenic concentrations in ground water seeping into the canal
from ASARCO property were 37 mg/l [i.e. 37 ppm],
which is above drinking water standards - sediment in the canal had
arsenic concentrations of 13 parts per million (ppm).

Type of Impact/Media Affected: TNRCC personnel have concluded that the American Canal was affected
by arsenic contamination from ground water seeping into the canal."
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/hazwaste/ldr/mine/damg3-97.pdf
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” - Orwell

El Paso Texas showed one of the highest Beta Radiation levels in the nation winter of 1998

"...during particular months El Paso sometimes had the highest reading or one of the highest readings of Beta-particle radiation for the field analysis performed approximately five hours after sample collection.  The data generated after those same samples are taken back to the laboratory for analysis generally show El Paso with average Beta readings, or somewhat above national average..."

- George Brozowski EPA Region 6 Radiation Health Physicist/EPA Region 6
technical contact for RadNet

"... The system is not designed to perform source apportionment nor to do detailed studies in each location"






















(click on text to read full-size-text)

Asarco page for Environmental Mgt. Practices for the closed sites (i.e. El Paso)









http://www.asarco.com/closedsites.html

2005 old Newspapertree links to Asarco Filings and info.

Newspaper Tree presents a look back at filings in the case:

1. Original Petition, filed by Plaintiff (ASARCO INCORPORATED)

2. Original Answer of Defendant (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or "TCEQ")

3. Plaintiff's Initial Brief (Part one)

4. Plaintiff's Initial Brief (Part two)

5. Plaintiff's Initial Brief (Part three)

6. Brief of the City of El Paso, Intervenor (filed January 10, 2005)

7. Amicus Curiae Brief of the Latina/o Law Students Association, at the University of Wisconsin Law School

8. TCEQ Brief (Part One)

9. TCEQ Brief (Part Two)

10. The City of El Paso's Intervenor Brief

11. ASARCO Reply Brief (Part One)

12. ASARCO Reply Brief (Part Two)

13. ASARCO's Amended Original Petition

14. ASARCO's Motion to Strike the Amicus Curiae of the Latina/o Law Students Association

15. The Latina/o Law Students Association's Response to [ASARCO's] Motion to Strike Amicus Curiae Brief

16. The Court's Order of March 9, 2005

* * *

Previous ASARCO-related articles from NPT:

1. City Contract with Baron & Budd, P.C. (June 27, 2005)

2. Getting to the Bottom of the Superfund (June 13, 2005)

3. Two-fifths of a Paving Contract (May 28, 2005)

4. Sunset Heights ASARCO Controversy (May 12, 2005)

5. Demystifying the Open Records Process (April 27, 2005)

6. City Seeks to Enforce 1999 Asarco Penalty (March 30, 2005)

7. ASARCO Incorporated (ASARCO) v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) (March 15, 2005)

8. Briefs on ASARCO Case (February 14, 2005)

9. Background on ASARCO Case (February 1, 2005)

10. Notes on SOAH Preliminary Hearing (January 27, 2005)

11. Birch & Becker, LLP (January 17, 2005)

12. Clean up or Cover up? (Reprinted from the Texas Observer) (November 1, 2004)

* * *

Industry/Government/Community Links:

1. ASARCO, Inc. (El Paso)

2. EPA in El Paso

3. Texas Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program

4. Get the Lead Out Coalition

5. El Paso Acorn

6. Sierra Club (El Paso Regional Group)

Health/Studies Links:

1. ATSDR study showing MS/lead risk for EP

2. SCERP Study

3. Encuentros Binational Community Lead Project

* * *
from July 11, 2005 newspapertree article
http://newspapertree.com/politics/641-asarco-links

Updated federal report finds greater hazard in arsenic

"Sat 27 Oct 2007 The Baltimore Sun
Closer look for cancer near park: Updated federal report finds greater hazard in arsenic from closed plant
By Tom Pelton
Oct. 27--Baltimore's health commissioner plans to study cancer deaths in the neighborhood around South Baltimore's Swann Park in light of a new federal finding that arsenic in the soil poses a greater health risk than previously reported.

The U.S. Department of Health said in June that there was "no public health hazard" to children who have played in Swann Park, unless they ate a tablespoon or more of dirt. But the federal agency revised that assessment yesterday, saying that "recent and historic exposure to Swann Park soil is considered a public health hazard."

"This means that there is a low but potentially real increase in cancer risk for people who have a significant exposure over years to the park," said the city's health commissioner, Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein. "It justifies why we closed the park and why we need to clean it up."

The city closed the park in April after tests showed that its soil has high levels of arsenic, a known cancer-causing agent, from dust that blew from an adjacent Allied Chemical Co. pesticide factory that closed in 1976.

An EPA-funded study done in the 1970s by a Johns Hopkins scientist found lung cancer deaths more than three times the normal rate in the neighborhood around Swann Park.
The deaths were linked to arsenic dust from the factory next to the park and from train cars carrying the carcinogen.

But until yesterday, city and federal health officials said there was almost no risk to the public from arsenic left in the soil after the factory shut down in 1976.

Now, federal officials are saying that children, coaches and grounds workers who used the park at least 182 days a year might have an increased cancer risk from inhaling dirt particles and touching their mouths after getting their hands grubby.

......

On Oct. 6, the city and Honeywell submitted a plan to the Maryland Department of the Environment to remove 3,200 cubic yards of contaminated dirt at the park, then cover the site with two feet of clean soil. Under the plan, the park would reopen in 2008......

tom.pelton@baltsun.com

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-te.md.ci.arsenic27oct27,0,2067591.story"

from arsenic newsletter...

Friday, October 26, 2007

EMERGENCY NOTICE OF ASARCO BANKRUPTCY FRAUD sent by SPGEG to the US Trustee on October 16, 2007 (part 2)




EMERGENCY NOTICE OF ASARCO BANKRUPTCY FRAUD sent by SPGEG to the US Trustee on October 16, 2007 (part 1)

(click on image to read full-page)




Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox 1915

"PROTEST

To sit in silence when we should protest
Makes cowards out of men. The human race
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised
Against injustice, ignorance and lust
The Inquisition yet would serve the law
And guillotines decide our least disputes.
The few who dare must speak and speak again
To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God,
No vested power in this great day and land
Can gag or throttle; Press and voice may cry
Loud disapproval of existing ills,
May criticise oppression and condemn
The lawlessness of wealth-protecting laws
That let the children and child-bearers toil
To purchase ease for idle millionaires,
Therefore do I protest against the boast
Of independence in this mighty land.
Call no chain strong which holds one rusted link,
Call no land free that holds one fettered slave
Until the manacled, slim wrists of babes
Are loosed to toss in childish sport and glee,
Until the Mother bears no burden save
The precious one beneath her heart; until
God's soil is rescued from the clutch of greed
And given back to labour, let no man
Call this the Land of Freedom."

Monday, October 22, 2007

The New Mexico State University College of Engineering received a gift of $1.5 million to establish the Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Water Quality Laboratory. The gift was made by the Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=7245183&siteId=557

Can anyone say, "Conflict ... of... Interest"?  [see Biological Sciences for Sophomores Dragonfly Book, the opening chapters for a good explanation of how to look for conflict of interest in scientific research ...]


"NMSU receives $1.5M for water quality lab
By New Mexico State University
Las Cruces Sun-News
Article Launched:10/22/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

The New Mexico State University College of Engineering received a gift of $1.5 million to establish the Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Water Quality Laboratory. The gift was made by the Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation.[Freeport-McMorRan is the company that purchased Phelps-Dodge, which ran smelters in and near El Paso during the years that Asarco was found to be illegally burning toxic waste.  Information released by FOIA inquiry states that Asarco contaminated the river and aquifer, i.e. the water.  Asking the industry to set up a water quality lab might be like asking a fox to guard a henhouse; or (in the words of a friend), "handing a burglar the keys to your home". ]

"We are very pleased to be a partner with NMSU to ensure that the academic and research needs of the state and region are met in an effective manner," said John Galassini, senior vice president, Freeport-McMoRan Americas. "The establishment of this new water quality lab represents new, cutting-edge research capability that does not currently exist within the state or the region. The lab will also be an important addition to the campuswide natural resources research cluster initiative, which supports the development and implementation of strategies that build sustainable water, energy and land resources." "

[??seems like the industry will run out of excuses for not telling us what Asarco toxic-waste-handling/burning released into our water??]

Bankruptcy court approves raise for Asarco CEO

"Bloomberg News Tucson, Arizona | Published: 10.22.2007 A judge ruled that Tucson-based copper producer Asarco LLC can raise the salary of CEO Joseph Lapinsky from $425,000 to $500,000, pay him an $85,000 bonus, and make him eligible for another performance bonus for as much as 75 percent of his salary payable at the discretion of the board, Bloomberg News reported...."
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/allheadlines/207336.php

Friday, October 19, 2007

The people paying the cost - are the elderly, the ill, the children and the unborn of this region...

"...Teresa Montoya [Asarco Media Firm] is about the only money I can say EPISD is spending correctly [Montoya now also gets paid by EPISD for media]. There's clearly no conflict, but working for ASARCO or supporting ASARCO could end up being a punishable offense in this town soon! -- David K [El Paso radio host]"   [EPISD has a one million dollar contaminated schools cleanup legal claim against ASARCO (anon)]


City Refuses Asarco Demand to Take Down Video
Asarco should never ever be allowed to re-open in MY city. I have been here since 1978 and know the entire history, their bankruptcy to get out of paying for a clean-up, and their continued distortion of what exactly will be leaking into our skies, and our soils.

What I want to know is who is paying for the slick [Asarco] propaganda brochures which have been mailed to my address 3 times now, and their TV ads????
Whose paying for all that?
-- Miki Cutler

http://newspapertree.com/opinion/1742-readers-respond-10-19-07

[The people paying for all of that are the elderly, the ill, the children and the unborn of this region]

Thursday, October 18, 2007

New El Paso Asarco Environmental Manager studied Hueco Bolson Aquifer (UTEP)

"A gravimetric study of the thickness of the unconsolidated materials in the Hueco Bolson Aquifer, Juarez Area, Chihuahua, Mexico"
Arturo Burgos, University of Texas at El Paso

Bob Litle worked at East Helena MT Asarco smelter from the beginning of the ENCYCLE Recycling years (1998) to 1996...

"Mr. Litle, 47, has been serving as manager of the East Helena Plant since 1992... was named operations manager at East Helena in 1988."
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Litle,+Shaw,+Castor+named+to+new+posts+at+ASARCO-a018037636

Litle: 2004 contact for GLOBE Asarco Smelter Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment Covenant (agreement)

Asarco Globe Plant Site Environmental Covenant Summary
Covenant ID: HMCOV00014
Covenant Information:
Covenant Date: October 4, 2004
Self Reporting: No
Media of Concern: Surface Water: No Groundwater: Yes Air: No Soil: Yes Other: No
Contaminants of Concern: arsenic, cadmium, lead
Property Restrictions:
1. Prohibits use of property - no residential or raising of crops or livestock
2. No child or animal daycare facilities allowed
3. No use of groundwater
4. No excavation or disturbing of soil cap unless previously approved by the Department
5. No excavation of or building on the Former Neutralization Pond

Site Information:
ID: 007063530Name: Asarco Globe Plant SiteAddress: 495 E. 51st AvenueCity: DenverState: COZip Code: 80216Legal Description: County: Adams, Denver
Site Contact Information:
Asarco Globe Plant Site
Name: Bob Litle
Address: 495 E 51st AvenueCity: DenverState: CO Zip Code: 80216
http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/

Upper Arkansas River Natural Resource ...

In 1999, Bob Litle was a designated ASARCO representative serving on the Public Participation Work Group for the Upper Arkansas River Natural Resource Damages ... Public Participation Plan (Plan). [It was] intended to outline the process for public involvement set forth in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) entered into by the United States, the State of Colorado, ASARCO Incorporated, Newmont Mining Corporation, Resurrection Mining Company, and the Res-ASARCO Joint Venture (collectively, the "MOU Parties") dated and effective April 15, 1999."
http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/nrda/Reports/Finalppp.pdf

Bob Litle co-authored paper on Lead exposure for Asarco CA Gulch Site

"Addressing Multiple Sources of Lead Exposure with a Community-Based Environmental Health Program
Kathy Tegtmeyer, MFG, Inc., 4900 Pearl East Circle, Suite 300W, Boulder, CO  80301, Tel: 303-447-1823, Fax: 303-447-1836
Amy Morrison, MFG, Inc., 130 W. 9th St., Leadville, CO  80461, Tel: 719-486-3538, Fax: 719-486-3556
Bob Litle, Asarco Incorporated, 495 E. 51st Ave., Denver, CO  80216, Tel: 303-296-5115, Fax: 303-298-7869 
An integrated environmental remediation and community health program, known as the Lake County Community Health Program, was selected as the remedial action for residential areas within the California Gulch CERCLA Site (Colora
do)."
http://www.umasssoils.com/posters2002/heavymetals.htm#Addressing%20Multiple%20Sources%20of%20Lead%20Exposure%20with%20a%20Community-Based%20Environmental%20Health%20Program


Bob Litle co-authored a paper in 2001 attributing Denver Arsenic soil aberations to Pesticide use, not the Asarco smelter


(click on abstract above to read it full-page) for the full article see:

Bob Litle was the Unit Manager for the Asarco Omaha Plant in 1997, before the multimedia consent decree was levied against five Asarco locations...

http://oaspub.epa.gov/enviro/tri_formr_partone.get_details?rpt_year=1997&fac_id=68102SRCNC500DO&ban_flag=Y

Is the new Asarco El Paso manager coming here to do environmental "damage control"? (he is a former spokesperson for environmental damages at Leadville, Omaha, Denver...)

"10/10/2004...
The Denver Coliseum, near Brighton Boulevard and I-70, now sits on land where the smelter once was located, said Robert Litle, environmental services manager for Asarco, a Phoenix-based metals and mining company.
The EPA agreed to scrape and replace dirt from about 850 properties near the old smelter, Litle said; to date, the government has cleaned 389.
Last week's agreement between the EPA and Asarco calls for the company to cover the cost of cleaning 100 of the remaining properties, Litle said.
He estimated that it will cost between $10,000 and $20,000 to remove and replace the soil from each contaminated property.
Asarco has experience doing such cleanups at another nearby location - its former Globe smelter site near East 51st Avenue and Washington Street.
Litle said Asarco cleaned up the yards of about 850 homes near the Globe facility, where smelting operations to remove impurities from gold, silver, lead and copper began in 1886."
http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Litle_Bob_141358057.aspx

see also:
Leadville
http://www.leadvillechronicle.com/home.php?content=article&article=1310&PHPSESSID=7a512db65358e5671b8ff227f5c3e503
Published on: 9/12/2004... Bob Litle, of Asarco, said the treatment of the new water might take some "trial and error" because the water from the Black Cloud is expected to have a somewhat different chemistry.

see also:
www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0  ...
Published on: 10/28/2002  
Bob Litle, an Asarco spokesman, also acknowledged that the company owes the city a total of about $325,000 for two other items.
The company also faces potential responsibility for toxic cleanups in cities throughout the country, especially in Western states.

Asarco LLC announced today that a new management team for their El Paso Plant is in place

"El Paso, Texas - October 18, 2007 .....

Bob Litle, new Plant Manager, has an extensive background in managing Asarco’s core businesses and operations that includes non-ferrous metals, specialty chemicals, environmental operations, and regulatory compliance. A native of Bozeman, Montana, Mr. Litle received a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Montana State University

Art Burgos, new Environmental Manager, has critical experience managing environmental programs to ensure compliance with local, state and federal environmental regulations. Mr. Burgos is well-educated, including a bachelor of science in Geological Engineering from the University of Sonora Mexico and a Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures Spécialisées (DESS) (focusing in Mining/Hydrogeology) from the School of Mines of Paris, France. In addition, Mr. Burgos has earned a masters of science in Environmental Geology with a focus on Hydrogeology and Environmental Engineering and Science from The University of Texas at El Paso."
http://www.newspapertree.com/press_releases/195-asarco-announces-new-management-at-el-paso-plant


Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Arizona Copper smelter FLUE Dust contains elevated amounts of radioactive material from unknown source(s)

" The ADEQ detected elevated levels of TENORM [technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material] in the smelter flue dust at the Magma Copper Company's smelter and concentrator operations in San Manual Arizona. The exact source of the radiation is unclear, and it may originate from the ore concentrates, or the natural gas used in the smelter, or it may come from some other source."

"When the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality shared data with EPA on TENORM emanating from copper mines in mid 1992, the Agency began a study of the occurrence and distribution of TENORM at mines in the southwestern copper belt of Arizona. The following report is the result of that study. TENORM in SW Copper Belt of Arizona (PDF) (124 pp, 2,470 Kb) [EPA 402-R-99-002]"

"
Soils and rock in copper mining areas may contain naturally-occurring radioactive materials (NORM):uranium, thorium, radium"

see:
http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/tenorm/copper.html

[the Ionics Brine concentrator (distillation unit) at Asarco El Paso was rated to handle LLRW (low level radioactive waste) - we are not told if that feature was needed at Asarco El Paso or not...  Ionics has since been purchased by G.E. and the description of that unit is not available online]



Worldwide Press Freedom Index

"Most democracies improved their ranking, with the United States moving up to 48th place from last year's 53rd, Morillon said. Worldwide Press Freedom Index.....Outside Europe, no region has been spared censorship or violence toward journalists."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/16/AR2007101601843.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter

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

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

"The Water Supply" from the GIRL SCOUT HANDBOOK 1920

"In the country every home has a private water supply and takes pains to guard it.  In the city there is a common water supply and everyone is responsible for keeping it pure Where does the water come from that supplies your city or town?  How is it kept clean?  Who takes care of it?.... Girl Scouts will interest themselves in municipal or neighborhood housekeeping, for that is a responsibility which all share together"....

50-60% of the drinking water for El Paso now comes from surface water (the river: the Rio Grande) from mid-March to mid-October.  This water for the USA is diverted from the Rio Grande at the American Dam next to ASARCO.  The water for the USA (and El Paso drinking) then travels through the 70+year-old cracked upper American canal right past the smelter and railroad.   2.9 miles below the ASARCO smelter, the U.R. WTP (canal street Water Treatment Plant) pulls water out of the canal, treats it, pumps it up the mountain and mixes/distributes it throughout the city.


It is not the anti-Asarco folks dividing the Paso Del Norte peoples....

The pro-Asarco backer, David K., is desperate for picking a fight and
trying to find divisions and differences in the effort to hold a illegal
polluter accountable
(http://refusethejuice.typepad.com/thinkaboutit/2007/10/this-is-has-bee.html).
There are no differences
when it comes to what spewed out from Asarco from the illegal hazardous
waste incineration. Everyone, including David K., have been exposed.

I have not talked with a single person from El Paso including pro-Asarco
workers, who are not concerned for the children in this region. Or for
the elderly, the infirm or the unborn children. Not a single person.
And like an ex-Supervisor from Asarco told us, the workers in the past
prostituted themselves -- sold the future health of many for the gains
of the "now". That same retired Supervisor now is very sick, all his
fellow workers have died gruesome slow deaths from illnesses, and he
worries a lot about the children.

I hope that David K. will worry about the children, too - that is what
this is all about. I'm sure that he does worry for the health and
well-being of the children of this region: he wants their parents to
have the 300 jobs that Asarco promises. Before Asarco pays the 300 for
employment, I would like to see Asarco pay us, the taxpayers, for the 24
million of cleanup beneath the old upper American canal that IBWC
reported to the TCEQ and ASARCO years ago, though.

Right, David K.? Why should the taxpayers get hit with the costs for
cleaning up a company's mess? That comes out of every working person's
pocket.

We can just ignore the toxic waste and then no-one has to pay the
costs. Except for the children who live with illness, decreased IQ,
explosive tempers, self-medication, asthma, COPD as adults, diabetes,
M.S., cancers, etc.

Monday, October 15, 2007

City Refuses Asarco Demand to Take Down Video

"On Oct. 5, 2005, Asarco lawyers sent the city of El Paso a letter, addressed to City Attorney Charlie McNabb, demanding that the city take down an anti-Asarco video. [video]

On Oct. 15, the city's lawyers, Birch, Becker and Moorman, sent a reply. The city would not be taking the video down."
http://newspapertree.com/politics/1730-city-refuses-asarco-demand-to-take-down-video

Montoya has a contract worth up to $70,000 with the El Paso City Schools

"Teresa Montoya of Montoya PR is a consultant for Asarco. A sharp reader mentioned, and it's been heard on Paul Strelzin's radio show on 1650 AM, that she also is a consultant for the El Paso Independent School District, which has a claim in bankruptcy court against Asarco.

It's true. Montoya has a contract worth up to $70,000. [episd agenda item]

In response to a question regarding the contract, school district spokesman Luis Villalobos issued this statement:

"Montoya PR is a leading public relations firm representing a diverse client base on a local, regional, and national [San Diego,CA office] basis. Montoya PR has a vast amount of experience and expertise in the education field.

"The District is implementing tough, strategic changes and we sought a public relations firm that was an expert in the community to help gather input and communicate our message to the community. Montoya PR is uniquely qualified because they also specialize in image and reputation management and crisis management and damage control. They understand the importance of getting our message out and they are helping us with media opportunities and other mission-critical projects.

"Montoya PR was hired as part of the District’s request for qualifications. Montoya PR came highly recommended by community and business leaders and they have helped us tremendously with getting our message out both internally and externally. Montoya PR has not done any work or been involved in any way on behalf of The District related to their representation of Asarco. ""
http://www.newspapertree.com/politics/1729-the-inner-loop-10-15-07

Sunday, October 14, 2007

What I learned in Kindergarten : Clean up your own mess

As long as the environmental regulatory agencies do not look for the toxic waste left here by years of illegal hazardous waste burning by Asarco, any monies made by the companies and people involved are made by sacrificing the health of our elderly, our ill, our children and the unborn.

"Grupo Mexico’s board of directors now includes directors of Kimberly Clark Mexico (the family business of U.S. Congressman James Sensenbrenner, author of last year’s anti-immigrant bill HR 4437) and the Carlyle Group (whose board included former President George Bush Sr.) In the 1990s, Grupo Mexico’s mushrooming capital gave it the resources to buy one of the oldest and largest mining companies in the United States, American Smelting and Refining Co." (8/11/06) 
http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?archiveDate=08-11-06&storyID=24842

"The former president [George Bush, Senior] and ex-CIA director is not unemployed these days. He's been globetrotting as a member of Washington's Carlyle Group, a $12 billion private equity firm ....The Carlyle connection means that George Bush Senior is on the payroll from private interests that have defense business before the government, while his son is president....As Charles Lewis of the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity has put it, 'in a really peculiar way, George W. Bush could, some day, benefit financially from his own administration's decisions, through his father's investments. And that to me is a jaw-dropper.' " http://www.carlylegroup.net

"This what i learned in kindergarten. Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess...." http://www.amazon.com/Really-Need-Know-Learned-Kindergarten/dp/034546639X


Grupo Mexico (asarco/Carlyle group/Bush) pays dead miners families $70,500 each

06 Oct 2007 01:54:44 GMT Source: Reuters - Mexico Congress blames mining company for disaster
MEXICO CITY, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Mining company Grupo Mexico <GMEXICOB.MX> is largely to blame for an explosion that killed 65 men in A northern Mexican coal pit last year, a Congressional commission said on Friday. Negligence on the part of Grupo Mexico, one of the world's top copper producers, allowed a build-up of methane gas and coal dust which exploded deep in the shaft and caused most of the mine to collapse, the commission said in a report on the accident. The lawmakers also said blame for the February 2006 explosion was shared by government labor officials and the mineworkers union, who allowed work to carry on despite evident danger. In April, a manslaughter trial of Grupo Mexico executives ended without prison sentences after one of the defendants paid damages of about $16,500 to each of the victims' families.   In Friday's report, the congressional commission recommended officials and company executives linked to the explosion be removed form their posts and banned from working in the industry. Only two bodies have been recovered since the blast. Industrial Minera Mexico, the Grupo Mexico subsidiary that ran the mine, abandoned the search because of unstable conditions in the mine. Grupo Mexico says it paid each family a one-off sum of close to $70,000 after the accident, plus several monthly payments." http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N05252332.htm

"What are local democrats like Shapleigh doing to promote high paying jobs with benefits that include health insurance for the kiddies?  Well, they are protesting ASARCO is what they are doing."-- a quote from David Karlsruher (David K. El Paso radio host) in his column/blog http://refusethejuice.typepad.com/thinkaboutit/  [maybe they are protesting a company who hired executives that Mexico congress now recommend be removed form their posts and banned from working in the [mining] industry... (see above)]



The stuff is too toxic for the entire state of New York... Alabama objects... Sierra Blanca TX objects... New York needs to keep their wastes in New York State...

Alabama objects... Texas (and likely Synagro ... now owned by "CARLYLE GROUP", who has shares in Grupo Mexico/Asarco) wants to dump it on the poor in Sierra Blanca (next to El Paso) AGAIN (where is our TEXAS Agricultural Commissioner???):
"Last week I wrote that Alabama deserves better than to become the nation's cesspool after residents in Limestone and Lauderdale counties complained of a terrible odor emanating from free fertilizer used on local farms.  The fertilizer was treated human waste from New York and apparently smelled much worse than a pig barn or chicken operation -- and those are pretty darned bad.

It looks like Mr. Clean paid a visit in the person of Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks who met with Synagro representatives and worked out some new guidelines for human waste fertilizer in Alabama. ...."I feel that we have to either clean up the process or stop the process altogether," he said. "It is my intention to work with the company to help them correct any mistakes that have been made. We will continue to monitor their efforts to ensure that this matter does not continue to grow as a public nuisance."

In addition, the company will stop distributing the product in Limestone County.  The County Commission there was preparing to file an injunction to stop the use of the product.  Since the 1901 Alabama Constitution doesn't give county commissions authority to do much of anything, including zoning and regulating manure spreading, going to court was the only option the Limestone Commissioners had.  Manure regulation: yet another reason to let the people vote on a new state constitution.".....

from:   Sludgewatch-l@list.web.net
http://list.web.net/lists/listinfo/sludgewatch-l

Chase Bank and the Federal Treasury Dept. aren't going to want Asarco to be paying Billions in environmental clean-up costs... look at this:

"Posted Oct 14th 2007 10:25AM by Peter Cohan
Filed under: Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS)
Hank Paulson's got an Enron-like crisis that could swamp Citigroup (C) and JPMorgan (JPM):
The New York Times [registration required] reports that Citigroup (NYSE: C) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) are working with the Treasury Department to create a $75 billion fund to bail out Structured Investment Vehicles (SIV) -- of which there are thought to be $400 billion
worldwide. What are SIVs? Why do they need to be bailed out? Why is the Treasury Department getting involved? Will the bailout plan work? Why should you care?"
http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/10/14/hank-paulsons-got-an-enron-like-crisis-that-could-swamp-citigro/

"
ASARCO Incorporated. Retained by ASARCO Incorporated in connection with an $80 million tax exempt bond offering placed by Bankers Trust Company to finance pollution control facilities at the Company’s Hayden, Arizona smelter. Counseled ASARCO on certain matters involving the Company’s $450 million Revolving Credit Agreement with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and several other leading banks."....."
http://www.jsslaw.com/attorney.aspx?id=ba82f042-ea5e-4e9b-a912-113bbb8519f4

"The deep impulse of our life in America, the ideal which is becoming a national idol enshrined in the hearts of the majority, is money," said the Rev. Samuel Schulman of Temple Bethel, New York City, in an address this evening on "Money as a Measure of Manhood" before the Knife and Fork Club of this city.[from the year 1908: 21 years before the great currency crash of 1929, and 24 years before the gold and silver confiscation act of 1933]
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F04EEDD113EE033A25757C2A9679C946997D6CF

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Friday, October 12, 2007

EPA SAID (quote!): "THIS ACTIVITY PLAIN AND SIMPLE WAS ILLEGAL TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL OF HAZARDOUS WASTE"

[bolded text are quotes from secret EPA document to Federal Dept. of Justice]

"Group alleges Asarco took in hazardous waste

" Opponents of the reopening of the Asarco copper smelter publicly repeated their request on Thursday that County Attorney José Rodríguez pursue a criminal investigation of the company's alleged illegal handling of hazardous waste.  'Asarco did something bad, and they were allowed to do it by our government,' said Heather McMurray, a member of the Get the Lead Out Coalition and of the Sierra Club.".... 

"Encycle routinely accepted wastes with little or no metals value and blended these wastes into its metals concentrates."

" 'GTLO and Sierra Club are essentially requesting that the public and news media ignore the official, well-documented record, and the rule of law in the state of Texas and in the United States with their meritless allegations,' Asarco lawyer Doug McCallister said in an e-mailed statement.

"As previously articulated, and outlined below, the Encycle submittal upon 'which the 1989 TWC letter was based, completely omitted a description of the SUBSTANTIAL direct mixing of unprocessed hazardous waste into its alleged "product". Nothing in the settlement statement effectively disputes these facts. As such, the TWC letter was inappropriately relied on by Encycle and ASARCO, because the application of the exemption to Encycle alleged ''products" was
legally erroneous"

He continued that the groups and the city of El Paso are 'expressing extremist views' in an effort to damage the company's reputation, follow a political agenda and take over the company's land.'

[the EPA wrote to the Federal Dept. of Justice : "EPA has made clear that sham recycling, as opposed to legitimate recycling, occurs when the hazardous waste purportedly recycled contributes in no significant way to the production of the product allegedly resulting from the recycling."]

McCallister said that the allegations that Asarco has engaged in illegal activities are untrue and that the company will "take appropriate steps to protect its reputation and the reputation of its employees."

The EPA continued its settlement document, writing (these are THEIR WORDS) "This activity, plain and simple, was illegal treatment and disposal of hazardous waste, since the wastes could not have contributed in any significant way to the production of the metals concentrates"


Newspaper Tree Opinion Page - Reader says to Sacrifice El Paso...

"Screw El Paso. The country needs the smelter.[Why not site the smelter in Austin TX? ] Otherwise China will smelt all of our copper without acid plants, and the SO2 will blow right on over here. We'll pay to ship the concentrate over there and pay to ship the copper back. -- Brian"
http://newspapertree.com/opinion/1724-readers-respond-10-12-07

Notice of Lodging of Proposed Settlement Agreement DOES NOT INCLUDE THE TOXIC WASTE!!!!!!!

"Notice of Lodging of Proposed Settlement Agreement Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)
Friday, October 12, 2007; Posted: 10:16 AM
Oct 12, 2007 (FIND, Inc. via COMTEX) -- AR | charts | news | PowerRating -- Notice is hereby given that on September 28, 2007, a proposed Settlement Agreement Regarding the El Paso County Metals Survey Site was filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in In re Asarco LLC, No. 05-21207 (Bankr. S.D. Tex.). The proposed Agreement entered into among the Untied States on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, State of Texas, and Asarco LLC ("Asarco") provides, inter alia, that the United States shall have an allowed general unsecured claim of $13,280,780 and the State of Texas shall have an allowed general unsecured claim of $419,220 for past response costs for the El Paso County Metals Surveys Site incurred prior to May 1, 2007.

The Department of Justice will receive comments relating to the proposed Agreement for a period of thirty (30) days from the date of this publication. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and either e-mailed to pubcomment- ees.enrd@usdoj.gov or mailed to P.O. Box 7611, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20044-7611, and should refer to In re Asarco LLC, DJ Ref. No. 90-11-3-08633.

The proposed Agreement may be examined at the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas, 800 North Shoreline Blvd, #500, Corpus Christi, TX 78476-2001, and at the Region 6 Office of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas 75202. During the public comment period, the proposed Agreement may also be examined on the following Department of Justice Web site, http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html . A copy of the proposed Agreement may also be obtained by mail from the Consent

[Page Number 58124]

Decree Library, P.O. Box 7611, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20044-7611 or by faxing or e-mailing a request to Tonia Fleetwood (tonia.fleetwood@usdoj.gov), fax no. (202) 514-0097, phone confirmation number (202) 514-1547. In requesting a copy from the Consent Decree Library, please enclose a check in the amount of $3.00 (25 cents per page reproduction cost) payable to the U.S. Treasury.

Bruce S. Gelber,

Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and Natural Resources Division.

[FR Doc. 07-5028 Filed 10-11-07; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4410-15-M

Vol. 72, No. 197"
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/696285/

Thursday, October 11, 2007

History: Synagro and MERCO Sierra Blanca Sludge dump

Synagro (pronounced "SIN-a-grow") was one of the biosolids (sludge) dumpers that MERCO contracted with to dump sludge at Sierra Blanca during the prior sludge-dumping years.

The State of Texas General Land Office bought the Merco sludge site last year for five million dollars and some of the same people connected with the old dumping are preparing to dump sludge there, again.

Harbinger settles disagreement with Asarco over documents

"Associated Press - October 11, 2007 5:55 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - Harbinger Capital Partners has settled a fight with Asarco over access to the mining company's financial records.

The agreement could open the way for the hedge fund to finance Asarco's exit from bankruptcy protection.

Details are in papers filed this week in bankruptcy court in Corpus Christi.

Asarco says it has changed the terms of a confidentiality agreement that potential investors are required to sign."
http://www.kxan.com/global/story.asp?s=7201920&ClientType=Printable

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

2/07 Carlyle bought Houston based SYNAGRO sludge dumper













(click on image to read full size)
http://wastenews.texterity.com/wastenews/20070205/?pg=6

New York City sludge HOUSTON company Synagro is owned by "Carlyle Owners", part of the Carlyle Group

SYNAGRO (NY City Sludge treatment Company, located in HOUSTON TEXAS) is owned by company that is part-owner of GRUPO MEXICO (ASARCO):

 "Parent is the sole stockholder of Merger Sub, and Parent is currently wholly-owned by CIP Grey Partnership, L.P. At the effective time of the merger, Parent will be owned by Carlyle Grey Partners, L.P., CIP Direct Partnership, L.P., CIP Grey Partnership, L.P. and CIP Coinvestment, L.P., which we collectively refer to as the “Carlyle Owners.The Carlyle Owners are managed by and act through their general partner, Carlyle Infrastructure General Partner, L.P., which we refer to as the “General Partner.” The General Partner’s sole general partner is TC Group Infrastructure, L.L.C., the sole member of which is TC Group, L.L.C. The managing member of TC Group, L.L.C. is TCG Holdings, L.L.C. Each of the Carlyle Owners and the General Partner is a Delaware limited partnership, and each of TC Group Infrastructure, L.L.C., TC Group, L.L.C. and TCG Holdings, L.L.C. is a Delaware limited liability company. The Carlyle Owners are a part of The Carlyle Group, which we refer to as “Carlyle,” one of the world’s largest private equity firms.

The business address for each of the Carlyle Owners, the General Partner, TC Group Infrastructure, L.L.C., TC Group, L.L.C. and TCG Holdings, L.L.C. is c/o The Carlyle Group, 1001 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004-2505."

[Remember, Texas G.L.O. is planning on resuming sludge dumping at Sierra Blanca on the old mob-connected NYC MERCO sludge dump/ranch -- at about the same time that Asarco is planning to re-open -- would that sludge dumper be Synagro sludge, also?]

http://google.brand.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?FetchFilingHTML1?SessionID=HI_MjTdF57jtWrB&ID=4951885

PRESS CONFERENCE THURS. OCT 11 at 11 AM

(click on image to see the full view)


Folic Acid Lowers Blood Arsenic Levels, Study Shows

Web address: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071008080137.htm
"Folic Acid Lowers Blood Arsenic Levels, Study Shows

Science Daily - A new study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman
School of Public Health finds that folic acid supplements can dramatically
lower blood arsenic levels in individuals exposed to arsenic through
contaminated drinking water. This toxic element, naturally present in some
aquifers used for drinking, is currently a significant public health problem
in at least 70 countries, including several developing countries and also
parts of the U.S. Chronic arsenic exposure is associated with increased risk
for skin, liver and bladder cancers, skin lesions, cardiovascular disease,
and other adverse health outcomes.


The researchers found that treatment with 400 micrograms a day of folic
acid, the U.S. recommended dietary allowance, reduced total blood arsenic
levels in the study population by 14 percent. Folate, a B vitamin found in
leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, beans, and whole grains, can also be taken
as a vitamin supplement, and in the U.S., is added to flour and other
fortified foods. ...."
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Article:  "Folic Acid Supplementation Lowers Blood Arsenic," in Am J Clin
Nutr 86:1202-1209 (2007)

http://www.noccawood.ca
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What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.
Albert Pine

Monday, October 8, 2007

TCEQ renews Asarco El Paso Water Permit despite protests and evidence

(click on image of TCEQ letter to see it full-size)

Sunday, October 7, 2007

San Antonio Express Gary Scharrer Austin Bureau

San Antonio Express - San Antonio,TX,USA
City councils in three states and two countries oppose reopening the ASARCO smelter, whose towering 828-foot stack competes with the neighboring Franklin ...

Reopening of El Paso copper smelter worries some

Smelter Cemetery slideshow

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mpaulda/sets/72157602299878407/show/

Friday, October 5, 2007

Book: The Secret History of the War on Cancer

by Devra Davis
"Grim but fascinating reading....Davis proposes a kind of truth-and-reconciliation approach to get industry and public-health experts mutually involved. But she notes that, unfortunately, it's simply not happening fast enough....One can hope, however, that Davis's book will assure that proper attention is paid." Kirkus Reviews

"Davis writes with passion, driven by the conviction that premature deaths among her family members resulted from exposure to industrial toxins....Davis presents a powerful call to action; recommended." Library Journal

An excerpt:
"Another region of the southern United States haunted by poisonous secrets is that of El Paso, Texas, home of the ASARCO lead smelter. In his 1975 article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Philip Landrigan detailed the toxic impact of lead residues on local children that forced the examination of every other smelter in the country. His work for the Centers for Disease Control showed that levels of lead that were insufficient to immediately sicken children permanently dulled their brains and nervous systems.

ASARCO's answer to this crisis was straightforward. Smeltertown families were booted out of their homes. When I visited the area in 2004, only the dead remained. The small local cemetery of marked and nameless graves was covered with blackened, windswept sand. Longer stones or slabs of poured concrete presumably indicate adults, and smaller ones outline those who died as children. The name and short life of Guadaloupe Carmona, 1925–1927, are handwritten on a poured slab1.

In the Environmental Law Institute's report for the Library of Congress in 1980, we described El Paso, along with Times Beach, as well-established cases of mostly historic interest, about which there was little left to learn. We knew that the lawsuit against the company had been settled and that the land surrounding the smelter had been bought by ASARCO for less than half a million dollars. The purchase was made on the condition that all the residents were to be removed so that their former home sites could be used to store acid tanks and railroad cars2.

But when I visited the region three years ago, I learned that some environmental solutions, unlike love, are not forever. El Paso's problems are not nearly as well resolved as I had believed. In fact the story has taken a strange turn. In May 1992, ASARCO set up two3 CONTOP (continuous top-feed oxygen process) furnaces. These hot-burning ovens never slept. All day every day, they burned tons of toxic wastes at 90 percent efficiency. This meant that just 10 percent of what they tried to burn ended up intact. Still, 10 percent of hundreds of thousands of tons of wastes fired over several years left enough metal poisons in the region that the furnaces were put out of business by the U.S. Department of Justice after operating just seven years4. Although many nearby businesses were long shut down, the smelter next to Smeltertown remained, along with the buildings supporting the U.S. Mexico dam and canal system.

A secret government memo released in 2006 from the EPA, written during the Clinton years, showed that so long as the furnaces were running, the company told the world it was recycling materials. Think back to the waste oil that Russell Bliss distributed or took to be burned in mills in Missouri. If this waste is laced with dioxin or heavy metals, then when it gets burned, thousands of tons of toxic agents get finely spewed back into the air over large regions. Recycling thus becomes a neat redistribution system, taking measurable solid wastes and turning them into immeasurable, ultrafine air pollutants.

Pollutants do not need passports. The residents of El Paso and Juarez know this, because they are joined by more than a century's worth of leaden soils and plumes that have crossed back and forth over the U.S.-Mexican border and left many zones uninhabitable. Commerce, of course, crosses borders as well. In 1999 ASARCO was bought for more than $1 billion and today is a completely owned subsidiary of Grupo Mexico5. They have declared their intention to reopen this century-old facility6. What happened to the hundreds of millions of dollars that ASARCO had set aside to pay for cleaning up El Paso? In a stunningly cynical move, Grupo Mexico was granted permission by the U.S. government to use that money to pay down corporate debt. Not a penny has been spent to remedy the damage from this longstanding pollution7.

At this time, ASARCO faces bankruptcy because of its responsibilities to clean up dozens of Superfund sites. Of an estimated $2 billion in cleanup costs for old ASARCO areas throughout the United States alone, the firm has set aside less than $100 million. The Steelworkers Union in Dallas used the Freedom of Information Act to unearth an EPA memo warning that any sampling of metals in El Paso could show that the smelter had burned illegal wastes for years. Many locals suspect the plans to reopen the rusted old smelter are just a ploy to keep the plant from being declared a Superfund site. If the company declares its intent to operate, it can't be prosecuted for having abandoned the area.

The signing and sealing of secrecy agreements about contaminated environments — just like those about defective cars or planes — is not a matter of child's play. It's perfectly legal and perfectly bad to allow health and safety information to be kept secret. Such secrets also handicap the ability of science to evaluate hazards. We are left with a policy that perversely allows that you can't ask about what someone doesn't want you to know.

As you open the pages of this book and join me at our web site, you will find long forgotten secrets exposed. You will also find a map that ensures that those of us who want the future of cancer to be different from the past, understand that keeping secrets about the things that cause the disease endangers all of us.

 

1 Residents of Smeltertown moved upstream two miles to Bueno Vista across from Anapra, New Mexico, and old Anapra, Mexico. In the 1980s New Mexico labeled Anapra, New Mexico, the most lead-contaminated spot in New Mexico and blamed it on the smelter. Since then three generations have grown up in Anapra, and the generations are suffering increasing horrific health problems. Word of mouth accounts are common about babies born without organs, born without a brain, fused-skulls at birth are common and doctors have privately told women it comes from drinking the city water when pregnant. The residents of Anapra have formed a community group and are fighting to get honest assessment of the extent of contamination from the smelter. Meanwhile, New Mexico, Mexico, and Texas continue to turn Anapra into the regional dumping ground — siting three sewage treatment plants, a regional dump, the electric generating plant, a quarry and other toxic developments at this residentially-zoned neighborhood (platted in the early 1900s).

2 Wal-Mart bought several hundred acreas of ASARCO-contaminated land just north of the old smelter cemetery for a whopping five million dollars, just after Wal-Mart was cited millions nationwide by the EPA for failing to observe storm water rules in construction of its properties.

3 The two largest CON0TOPs in the world, designed to smelt toxic waste (shredded automobiles, sludges) for "energy recovery" to provide additional heat for the concurrent melting of the ore concentrates. But ASARCO never got permission to smelt toxic waste — they were supposed to recover metals from all materials that they received.

4 The EPA began testing and residential cleanups in the early 2000s. ASARCO had shut down in 1999, claiming a historic low in copper prices. It wasn't until 2006 that the Federal Department. of Justice released an EPA secret memo from 1998, showing the fake recycling, the secret incineration of toxic waste for profit that ASARCO's ConTop furnaces had conducted for nearly a decade. The government had used ASARCO to dispose of Rocky Mt. Arsenal material (oil bearing materials, chemical weapon quench waters).

5 Carlyle Group is an owner of Grupo Mexico.

6 We believe that this may actually be a sham-intent, and that the fight is over ownership of the carbon credits from the Air permit 20345.

7 We also believe that the Asarco bankruptcy is a test-case for world-wide industrial interests to show how environmental liabilities can be shed — passed onto the people who actually suffered the damages in the first place.

÷ ÷ ÷

Devra Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H., is the Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. She was appointed by President Clinton to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board in 1994 and also served as Scholar in Residence at the National Academy of Science. She lives in Pittsburgh. Visit her website at www.devradavis.org."

TCEQ refuses to answer simple question

"I asked Terry McMillan (El Paso TCEQ regional office: water) and then the TCEQ Open-Records-Manager if anyone had sampled the new water at the Asarco Lake (a place between the historic smelter cemetery and the overpass, that gets flooded as a historic "lake" when there is a lot of rain. 

They will not answer the question and tell me that my request is closed.

This "non-answer" is backed by Charles Stokes, staff attorney for TCEQ.

It was a simple question.  Did they test the lake -- why/why-not?   The Toxic Wastes from ENCYCLE would be in that water, from the runoff.
WHY AREN'T THEY LOOKING FOR THESE?

It is getting more appallingly clear that they won't tell us what poison is in our environment from Asarco's illegal toxic waste burning.  WHY?  Why is it so difficult for a state agency or the federal EPA or anyone with a Chemistry set at a university to tell us what is really in our dirt, air and water from Asarco's illegal activity?

What is so bad that they can't tell us?"


Monday, October 1, 2007

Asarco to miss 2007 450,000 lb moly production target

"Henderson, Kentucky (Platts)--24Sep2007

US copper producer Asarco will not meet its goal of producing approximately 450,000 lb of molybdenum in 2007, a company official told Platts on Monday.

"We're at about half of our projected levels
," said John Low, Asarco vice president of mining operations. "It just wasn't in the ore.. It didn't turn out as we projected," he added.

Asarco resumed moly production last December at its Mission complex in Sahurita, Arizona.  Molybdenum, which occurs naturally in the Mission ore body, is produced as a byproduct of Asarco's copper operation.

Prior to the moly restart, Joseph Lapinsky, Asarco president and CEO, said restarting the molybdenum circuit would allow the company to better utilize its mineral resources and benefit from favorable market conditions. The company last produced molybdenum in 1996 but stopped because of low market prices and the absence of the mineral in the ore then being mined.

According to Low, Asarco is working on its 2008 moly projects. The company expects to complete its evaluation in about a month, he added.

--Bob Matyi, newsdesk@platts.com"
http://www.platts.com/Metals/News/6487669.xml?src=Metalsrssheadlines1

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Research Article suggests link between leukemias (including CCL and AML) and ionizing radiation over decades of exposure

"Ionizing radiation and chronic lymphocytic leukemia" - despite Government Insurance claims/standards, there may be a link between CCL and exposure to radiation.  There is with Acute Myeloid leukemia and other acute forms in the Nuclear defense industry.

From: Environmental Health Perspectives  |  Date: 1/1/2005  |  Author: Hoffmann, Wolfgang; Richardson, David B.; Schmitz-Feuerhake, Inge; Schroeder, Jane; Wing, Steve
http://www.encyclopedia.com/printable.aspx?id=1G1:136511527
"
It is well established that ionizing radiation has the ability to produce double-strand breaks in chromosomal DNA (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation 2000). The primary mechanism by which biologic damage occurs is believed to be via the creation of ionized atoms and molecules that become chemically reactive. This can occur directly via ionization of a critical molecule, such as DNA, or indirectly via ionization of nearby molecules, such as water."...

Please contact me if you know anyone with either CCL or AML

The google "Asarco" alert just pulled up an El Paso person's blog ( H Paul Garland - http://hpgarland.blogspot.com/ ) and they profile the CCL page (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia). That leads me to think that someone they know, maybe locally, has CCL. And THAT is interesting to me because we already have two cases in young El Pasoans of AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) who either worked at Asarco or grew up in the lower-valley plume. Another search in google came up with an interesting article showing that CCL and AML might be associated together as leukemias -- people might get one if they get the other.

"We cannot exclude a fortuitous association between AML/MDS and CLL, and this hypothesis could be supported by Copplestone et al. [6]. However, such conditions are more common with advancing years, but this was not the case for our two patients who developed AML/MDS within one year following diagnosis of their CLL."
http://annonc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/10/3/362.pdf

The El Paso person's website mentions that only 12 people die a year in the whole nation from CCL

If you know someone with CCL or AML please reply through the comment option on this post.
thanks!!

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http://209.194.209.110:8080/ramgen/asarco.rm