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

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Texas Observer article on County Attorney investigation of Asarco

No Wall Will Stop the Wave

Texas Observer - Austin,TX,USA


Litle has extremely quick response to ACORN press release - and no one is talking about the unknown TOXIC WASTE

ACORN v. Asarco
http://newspapertree.com/news/1819-acorn-v-asarco

by NPT Staff

Dueling news releases from ACORN and from Asarco.

Posted on November 16, 2007

Editor's note: NPT received these two news releases, the first from the group ACORN Thursday Nov. 15, 2007, the second from Asarco the following day

***

Nov. 15, Acorn

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, November 15, 2007 Contact:
Jose Manuel Escobedo, Head Organizer

EPA to Adopt New Lead Air Standards in 2008
Health professionals weigh in on new rules impact on
Asarco application for air quality permit

EL PASO – The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) lead expert panel has set standards more protective of public health. These new standards will directly impact Asarco’s Air Permit Application. Below is a summary of these impacts over the next ten months.

1. EPA is under a court order to adopt a new final lead air standard by September 1, 2008.

2. The new lead air standard will be no higher than 0.2 ug/m^3 and as low as 0.05 ug/m^3. The current standard is 1.5 ug/m^3.

3. ASARCO's newest air model said it would meet the highest end of the new lead standard, but it also suggests that ASARCO will have no margin of safety and the new lead air standard could be tighter than ASARCO's air modeling of 0.2 ug/m^3 meaning the smelter can not comply.

4. The new EPA lead air standard may be based on monthly averaging which would be more protective and more stringent than the current Lead NAAQS using quarterly averaging. ASARCO's air modeling is based on quarterly averaging and not monthly averaging.

5. The EPA is planning to issue the new lead proposal in March 2008, to
provide the public ample time to comment. Public comment period will
follow later in the spring.

6. EPA is required by a consent decree to issue a public proposal regarding the
lead standards by May 1, 2008.

WHO: El Paso County Medical Society, ACORN, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, representative from Senator Shapleigh’s office and available for questions via phone: Neil Carmen, Clean Air Program Director, Lone Star Chapter – Sierra Club, Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc – Chair, Department of Community and Preventative Medicine, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine

WHAT: Press Conference: Impact of new EPA rules on Asarco application for air permit
WHEN: Friday, November 16th, 1:30 PM
WHERE: 220 Lawton. Corner of Lawton and Mundy, outside of Vilas School
IN CASE OF RAIN: At the gazebo at Mundy Park at Porfirio Diaz and Yandell
WHY: To discuss impact of new EPA rules on Asarco application for air permit

###

ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low- and – moderate income families, with over 300,000 member families organized into 800 neighborhood chapters in 108 cities across the country. Since 1970 ACORN has taken action and won victories on issues of concern to our members, including better housing for first-time homebuyers and tenants, living wages for low-wage workers, more investment in our communities from banks and governments, and better public schools.

***

Nov. 16, Asarco

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 16, 2007

For additional information:

Teresa Montoya

Montoya PR

ASARCO’S RESPONSE TO

“ACORN ON NEW EPA AIR STANDARDS APPLIED TO ASARCO”

From Robert “Bob” Litle, El Paso Plant Manager

The same small group of opponents continues to use scare tactics and misinformation in their campaign against Asarco.

The facts are:

1. It is old news that the EPA is reviewing the current National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for lead for the entire country, not just El Paso. The NAAQS are air quality standards established to be protective of the most vulnerable populations – senior citizens and children.

2. El Paso’s air is already far better than the current NAAQS for lead. In fact, El Paso has been in attainment for lead since the mid-eighties.

3. Asarco’s allowable emissions are better than the current standard and better than ACORN’S numbers presented in their press release according to the most extensive air modeling ever completed which encompasses 30 miles of our plant including El Paso, Juarez, and New Mexico.

4. The scientific data shows that there will not be any negative health effects from Asarco’s allowable lead emissions.

***

Nov. 16, Acorn

EPA to Adopt New Lead Air Standards in 2008
Health professionals weigh in on new rules impact on
Asarco application for air quality permit

In a Follow up to today’s press conference outlining how new EPA rules will affect Asarco’s air permit application, we add the following comments:

As we know, the EPA is recommending a new, stricter standard that may be as low as .05 micrograms per cubic meter and as high as .20 micrograms per cubic meter. ASARCO claims that their modeling indicates that they will meet a new standard of .20 micrograms per cubic meter based on monthly averages. However, even if the EPA adopts a new standard of .20 micrograms per cubic meter, our region will risk being in non-attainment. This is because of
background lead concentrations in El Paso. According to ASARCO, those background concentrations are .07 micrograms per cubic meter. Once added to Asarco’s emissions, the total ambient lead in El Paso County would be .27 micrograms per cubic meter: we would not be in compliance and the County would once again be in non-attainment for the lead NAAQS.

For reference questions please call:

Neil Carman, Ph.D., Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, 512-288-0042

Verónica Carbajal, Attorney, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA), 915-585-5107

###

ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low- and – moderate income families, with over 300,000 member families organized into 800 neighborhood chapters in 108 cities across the country. Since 1970 ACORN has taken action and won victories on issues of concern to our members, including better housing for first-time homebuyers and tenants, living wages for low-wage workers, more investment in our communities from banks and governments, and better public schools.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Still no mention of looking for the undisclosed TOXIC WASTE from ASARCO...

Acorn on New EPA Air Standards as Applied to Asarco
Newspaper Tree - El Paso,TX,USA
These new standards will directly impact Asarco's Air Permit Application. Below is a summary of these impacts over the next ten months. 1. ...

Press Conference - Impact of New EPA Rules on ASARCO Application ...
By Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
WHAT: Press Conference: Impact of new EPA rules on Asarco application for air permit WHEN: Friday, November 16th, 1:30 PM WHERE: 220 Lawton. Corner of Lawton and Mundy, outside of Vilas School IN CASE OF RAIN: At the gazebo at Mundy ...

Monday, November 12, 2007

Conspiracies of Silence

Letters published in the Times
El Paso Times Staff
Article Launched: 11/11/2007 12:00:00 AM MST
http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_7427964

Silent on Asarco hazardous waste

Conspiracies of silence have for too long concealed Asarco's dismal health impact history. In an El Paso Times article, published Oct. 16, Asarco lawyers deny the city's accusation that Asarco smelted hazardous wastes. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) was silent during the controversy.

During Mayor Raymond Caballero's administration, his Environmental Task Force discovered a relevant internal memorandum at TCEQ's local office. The memorandum revealed that manifests of Asarco's alleged "recyclable" wastes under the TCEQ's jurisdiction had been impeached during the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) investigation.

The integrity of reports on Asarco's cargo manifests had been violated. When the EPA confronted the TCEQ employee responsible for inspecting Asarco's cargo manifests, he testified, on the advice of TCEQ's Austin attorneys, that he did not have the time or personnel to conduct a proper inspection. This striking disclosure presents unanswered questions about the quality, quantity, source etc., of Asarco's wastes.

This poses a more serious question. Was this failure over a long period of years a sign of a silent conspiracy?

Joe Piñón

Sunday, November 11, 2007

TENORM and NORM Waste: Problems in the Texas oil system near Dallas/Ft.Worth

http://www.texaskaos.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4251

Faces against the Dump today at 3 PM

Please gather today at 3PM at the Sunland Park Desert View Elementary
school.

People from the Sunland Park Grassroots environmental group, Colonias
Development Council, and others will gather for a photo against the
Regional Camino Real Landfill (DUMP), which is trying to renew a
ten-year permit.

This Dump is located on our water supply (the Rio Grande) just hundreds
of feet above the aquifer that feeds the Hueco Bolson at the Paso del
Norte; and right on an international border (despite the La Paz accord
(agreement) to not turn the border into a dump.)

The Dump is starting a methane-to-energy project. Only about 50% of the
gases coming off the dump are methane, we think -- the rest, only the
almighty apparently knows. Beneath the dirt at the dump lie toxic
waste recently disclosed by Phelps Dodge; and, loads of Zinc-stack
demolition debris from ASARCO (taken down during the Toxic-waste burning
years). The Dump accepts commercial waste from USA industries in Cd.
Juarez and El Paso and at least one person has seen a truck come here as
far away as Chicago...

Please come and stand with everyone.

Gas drilling's dirty side effect: Radioactive material....

Gas drilling’s dirty side effect: Radioactive material brought up from Barnett Shale during production
10:01 AM CST on Sunday, November 11, 2007 By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe / Staff Writer
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of four stories on radioactive material generated by natural gas production in the Barnett Shale.
http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_NORM1_11-11.1fb48b711.html

"
In Denton, Tarrant and Wise counties, all kinds of equipment — from pipes and separators to frac and brine-hauling tanks — have been decontaminated in [just] the past two years.

Texas Railroad Commission rules allow the industry to self-monitor for NORM, and many operators are slow to decontaminate the radioactive residue because of its cost, industry insiders say. Furthermore, only two of nearly 200 operators registered with the commission in the Barnett Shale’s core counties — Key Energy Services and Devon Energy — have provided for such decontamination in the past two years."

"Statewide, 140 such sites were decontaminated from January 2005 to the present, according to documents obtained from the Department of State Health Services, which oversees decontamination of the state’s hottest radioactive waste."

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Radioactivity found in the Copper Belt

"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

TENORM waste

"Only a crude estimate can be made of the annual total 226Ra activity transferred from oil reservoirs to the surface. A United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) study of 10 oil production wells analysed scale and sludge production rates. (11) The amount estimated was about 250m3 for a period of 20 years. The resulting amount of waste generated by one oil-producing well per year is about 2.25 tons, using a waste density of 1.8 tonnes.m-3. In order to derive an average 226Ra activity concentration, the same study used results of a large number of external gamma readings (6,274) taken in several oil production facilities and converted these to the activity concentration. There is a significant uncertainty attached to such a procedure because of the effects of equipment wall thickness, self-absorption of the radiation in the scale and thickness of the scale, and distribution of radium within the scale. The published average radium concentration was 4.6Bqg-1. Hence, the resulting estimate of total 226Ra activity brought to the surface is 918GBq per year. Similar studies are due to be undertaken in oil and gas-extracting facilities in other parts of the world, so an average 226Ra activity brought to the surface per year can be derived with any degree of certainty."

http://www.touchoilandgas.com/radiological-impact-extraction-a97-1.html

TENORM waste from metals used in pipelines (gas)

"TENORM [technologically enhanced/concentrated naturally occurring radioactive material] contamination levels in equipment varied widely among types of equipment and geographic region. The geographic areas with the highest equipment readings were northern Texas and the gulf coast crescent from southern Louisiana and Mississippi to the Florida panhandle. Very low levels of TENORM were found in California, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and northern Kansas.

According to an API industry-wide survey, approximately 64 percent of the gas producing equipment and 57 percent of the oil production equipment showed radioactivity at or near background levels. TENORM radioactivity levels tend to be highest in water handling equipment. Average exposure levels for this equipment were between 30 to 40 micro Roentgens per hour (μR/hr), which is about 5 times background. Gas processing equipment with the highest levels include the reflux pumps, propane pumps and tanks, other pumps, and product lines. Average radiation levels for this equipment as between 30 to 70 μR/hr. Exposures from some oil production and gas processing equipment exceeded 1 mR/hr.

Gas plant processing equipment is generally contaminated on the surface by lead-210 (Pb-210). However, TENORM may also accumulate in gas plant equipment from radon (Rn-222) gas decay. Radon gas is highly mobile. It originates in underground formations and dissolves in the organic petroleum areas of the gas plant. It concentrates mainly in the more volatile propane and ethane fractions of the gas.

Gas plant scales differ from oil production scales, typically consisting of radon decay products which accumulate on the interior surfaces of plant equipment. Radon itself decays quickly, (its half-life is 3.8 days). As a result, the only radionuclides that affect disposal are the radon decay products polonium-210 (Po-210) and lead-210. Polonium-210 is an alpha emitter with a half-life of 140 days. Pb-210 is a weak beta and gamma emitter with a half-life of 22 years.

Disposal and Reuse: Past Practices:  Recycling of Metals
Before the accumulation of TENORM in oil production equipment was recognized, contaminated materials were occasionally recycled for use in making steel products....

Disposal and Reuse:  Current Practices -Recycling of Metals:

Now that the petroleum industry is aware of the potential for contamination, they take a number of precautions before recycling:

Loads of scrap metal are surveyed for hidden radioactive sources and TENORM.
Piping and equipment are cleaned before release for recycling at smelters.
Pollution control devices, such as filters and bubblers, are installed in smelter stacks to reduce airborne radiation releases.
Although much of the NORM-contaminated equipment is presently stored in controlled areas, some companies are now cleaning the equipment and proposing to store it at designated disposal sites.
http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/tenorm/oilandgas.html

Asarco a Defense Contractor in 2003 ...

FY 2003 DoD Contractors [PAGE] 32

ASARCO INCORPORATED

http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/defense_ethics/resource_library/contractors03.pdf

Copper Ore containing Uranium dumped into Congo River: Officials arrested for the dumping of Toxic Waste

"At least seven people are said to be under arrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after radioactive mineral waste was poured into a river in the southeast of the country. Selah Hennessy reports from the VOA West and Central Africa bureau in Dakar that teams are currently working to rid the river of the waste.
Didace Pembe, Congo's environment minister, says the official who ordered the toxic waste to be dumped has been arrested.
According to local reporter Eddy Isango, seven people from the commission in charge of disposing the minerals are also under arrest.
On Wednesday, the government ordered an inquiry after officials in the southeast province of Katanga said tons of radioactive minerals had been dumped into Mura River, a source of drinking water for the nearby mining town Likasi. The town has a population of around 300,000.
Pembe says the waste has radiation levels 50 times more than the legal standard for safety.
He says the population is being informed through local radio and TV channels not to use the water for drinking, bathing, or for gardening.
He adds that clean up at the site has begun.
Congolese authorities had originally ordered the nearly twenty tons of copper ore containing uranium samples to be dumped in an abandoned uranium mine.
But Pembe says the majority of the toxic minerals were dumped in the river instead.  He says officials are tracing some waste that might have been dumped elsewhere.
Most of the copper ore belongs to the Chinese firm Magma-Lubumbashi.  The environment minister says the company did not request the waste to be dumped in the river."
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-11-10-voa23.cfm

[Fwd: Letter to the Editor]

[the 11-11 to 11-17 EPinc is on the stands, and they never published my letter in reply to their incorrect release of GAO stuff (or replied), so here goes...]

Dear El Paso Inc. Editor:
In the November 4-10 Issue of your paper, Mike Mrkvicka wrote that "Feds find Asarco clean on hazmat charges". When queried, your office refused to release the 42-page GAO report that your reporter, Mike, claims to have obtained.

Since that unreleasable-report is Mike's basis for reducing my credibility (and the credibility of the EPA and Federal Dept. of Justice people who authored the 73 page 1998 Secret-Asarco-Settlement-Document that we released last October 2006) in your newspaper, I decided to phone the people at the GAO in charge of the investigation at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and read the report for myself: I talked with the Chief Operating Officer's office and also the Director in charge of all the different Departments. They haven't finished any report yet. They did send a draft to the DOD and the EPA asking for comments on whether the content was true or not. They told me that your article was not correct because of this; and that also the report will not be an investigative report but simply a process-review of the handling of these military materials. They said that they will have to release their final report earlier than they intended to, so that people can read the actual findings directly from the GAO.

Since your paper often releases very good information, I can only assume that you were given this media piece by some folks representing Asarco's interests, and that you trusted them. But, it appears that your paper and our community, including Asarco, needs to wait until the final report is actually issued to read what is actually said. Even then, we need to realize that the GAO is not investigating the smelter's burning of toxic waste, but instead is looking at the military process of handling wastes.

Friday, November 9, 2007

A Poem


The air is fragile like dried leaves
the oxygen scatters
broken by the dust
lead
arsenic
hazmat
poisons
They don't tell us the poisons
innumerable
dioxins
PCBS
actinides
Stirred
falling settling gently into place
on our mountains
for the next rain
flowing with the water
faster pouring raging down the arroyos
the roads
the rooftops
into our river
A glass poised beneath the faucet
thirst
is a great water filter
ignorance
denial
is the grasshopper singing in the wind
while ants
gather the hazmat
and carry it into our bones
the survivors
left to fight over the few hundred jobs
the money
the power
a poisoned people provide

do you live in the Paso del Norte
or
do you live
in denial?

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

estimates of how much NORM waste will be produced the next 20 years...

"Radionuclides are known to be associated with organic materials in nature; therefore, oil, gas, and oil field brines frequently contain radioactive materials. These materials accumulate in piping used to remove and process petroleum and natural gas. The EPA estimates that about 8 million metric tons of NORM waste will be produced by the gas and oil industry over the next 20 years.
 
NORM have been found in geothermal wells. According to EPA estimates, the geothermal industry may generate up to 1.4 million metric tons over the next 20 years. ..... The EPA estimates that over 6 million metric tons of drinking water purification materials containing NORM will be generated over the next 20 years."
http://www.hps1.org/glossary/norm.htm

NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive materials - generally concentrated in mechanical processes)  could include:  isotopes of uranium, thorium, carbon, potassium, polonium, lead, radon


Please show support- Weather Network is proposing an Environment Network

".... the parent company of The Weather
 Network has submitted an application for a new TV channel, The Environment
 Network.  This channel will broadcast environmentally related content
 exclusively, 24 hours a day.

 In order to help push this application through, letters of support need to
 be sent to the CRTC by November 15, 07.

 Details regarding the letter can be found at
 http://www.theweathernetwork.com/index.php?product=environmentnetwork&pagecontent=index#draftletter Thanks Jed Goldberg President Earth Day Canada 111 Peter Street Suite 503 Toronto  ON  M5V 2H1 v - +416.599.1991 ext 111 f -  +416.599.3100 www.earthday.ca The word mark "Earth Day" and the Earth Day logo are registered trademarks of Earth Day Canada (1991) Inc. Charitable registration # 13195 1378RR0001. Use of either of these trademarks for mercantile, promotional and communications purposes is strictly forbidden without the written approval of Earth Day Canada."

Sierra Club sues ASARCO through EarthJustice....

"Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Environmental Groups to Sue EPA Over Mine Cleanup
An environmental group (**) is planning to sue the federal government over billions of dollars in cleanup costs at polluted mines. Earhjustice says it is filing a notice to sue the Environmental Protection Agency. The suit is being filed on behalf of four conservation groups. The idea is to make it harder for mining companies and other industries to avoid costly cleanups by declaring bankruptcy. Earthjustice says Asarco is the most far-reaching example of irresponsible mining operations. Asarco declared bankruptcy in 2005, leaving behind 94 Superfund sites in 21 states, with a total cleanup cost estimated at more than $1 billion. That’s far more than the $100 million trust the company set aside for cleanup. Last week the US House approved the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act. Among other things, the bill requires mines to post a bond to cover future cleanup costs before receiving a permit to mine on public lands. Arizona’s House delagation split on the measure. Republicans opposed it and Democrats backed it."
http://kikonews.blogspot.com/2007/11/environmental-groups-to-sue-epa-over.html

"November 6, 2007

Washington, DC -- Conservation groups are taking action to make it harder for mining and other polluting industries to skip out on costly cleanups by declaring bankruptcy.

The public interest law firm Earthjustice announced today it is representing community groups in Illinois, New Mexico, Nevada, and Idaho in a lawsuit to prevent future problems in areas riddled with toxic mine sites."
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/007/cleanup-tab-for-mines-should-not-fall-to-public.html

http://www.earthjustice.org/library/legal_docs/notice-of-citizen-suit-financial-assurances.pdf
**
Lisa Gollin Evans
Earthjustice
Marblehead, MA 01945

Sierra Club
San Francisco, California 941 05
Contact: Ed Hopkins, Director of the Environmental Quality Program,

Ainigos Bravos
Taos, NM 87571
Contact: Brian Shields, Executive Director

Great Basin Mine Watch
Reno, NV 89503
Contact: Dan Randolph, Executive Director

Idaho Conservation League
Boise, Idaho 83701
Contact: John Robison, Public Lands Director

Monday, November 5, 2007

El Paso County Commissioners decide not to weigh in on Asarco debate

"El Paso Times - El Paso,TX,USA
By Erica Molina Johnson / El Paso Times County Commissioners decided not to weigh in as a body today on the Asarco debate. ..."
County opts to stay out of Asarco debate

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