The East Liverpool OH Toxic Waste Incinerator was not allowed to handle the stuff that was secretly sent to Asarco El Paso for burning --

[The East Liverpool OH Toxic Waste Incinerator was not allowed to handle the stuff that was secretly sent to Asarco El Paso for burning -- the stuff sent to El Paso had to be very very bad.  Why won't our Environmental Agencies disclose what chemicals are left in our Paso del Norte Environment from those years of secret waste burning at Asarco?]

"NEWS RELEASE
For Release:November 20, 1998

Media Contact: Jim Leach (614) 644-2160
Citizen Contact: Patrick Gallaway (614) 644-2160

Ohio EPA to Answer Questions, Hear Comments on Modified Permit for WTI

Ohio EPA will hold an information session and public hearing on Monday, December 14, 1998, in East Liverpool, regarding hazardous waste permit changes requested by Waste Technologies Industries (WTI) [East Liverpool OH Toxic Waste Incinerator], 1250 St. George Street, East Liverpool, Columbiana County.

The December 14 meeting will be held at East Liverpool Middle School, 810 West 8th St., East Liverpool.

Ohio EPA issued a draft modified permit to WTI on November 13, 1998. If the modified permit becomes final, it would authorize WTI to accept, store and treat lab pack wastes. A "lab pack" is a package of one or more small jars, bottles or cans containing chemicals generated by laboratories, research facilities and other commercial and industrial activities. WTI would only be authorized to accept lab packs containing wastes it is already permitted to accept. Wastes not authorized for acceptance at WTI include:

• shock-sensitive materials;
• chemical munitions controlled by the Department of Defense or residue derived from such munitions[this is the kind of stuff sent to El Paso's Asarco smelter];
• explosives in quanitities greater than two pounds per outer container or primary explosives;
• asbestos, dioxins, mustard gases, compressed gases, PCBs greater than 50 parts per million, war gases, radioactive waste or infectious waste;
• certain flammable wastes; and
• waste streams with concentrations of bromoform, Freon 11 or Freon 12 greater than 500 parts per million each.

At the information session, Ohio EPA will answer questions about WTI's proposed changes and the hazardous waste permitting process. The hearing will follow the information session and will give the public the opportunity to comment on the proposed permit modification for the record. The meeting will start at 7 p.m.

Comments may be sent through January 6, 1999, to: Ohio EPA, Attn: Thomas E. Crepeau, Division of Hazardous Waste Management, P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio, 43216-1049. All comments will be considered before a final decision is made.

The draft permit and related materials may be reviewed at Carnegie Public Library, 219 East 4th Street, East Liverpool. Materials also can be reviewed at Ohio EPA's Northeast District Office, 2110 E. Aurora Rd., Twinsburg, by first calling (330) 963-1200 to make an appointment."

Was there a secret EPA DOJ "confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only document" for Libby Montana's Grace & Co?

W.R. Grace Bankruptcy Judge Says OK to $250M Libby Settlement

Santa Teresa/San Jeronimo International NAFTA City...

From http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2008/nov/Site-Visit/
November 2008:

"What does it say about border relations when one of the first cheerleaders for Hon Hai Precision Industry/Foxconn's new 9,350-worker plant in San Jeronimo, Chihuahua, Mexico, is the governor of New Mexico? 'This is one of many mutually beneficial projects that I and my economic development people have worked with Chihuahua officials to carry out,' said Gov. Bill Richardson in July. 'This is the kind of economic development that is going to bring the New Mexico-Mexico border to the forefront of international trade and development.'  "

http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2008/nov/Site-Visit/images/Hi-Res-Map.jpg

Verde Group

"William [D., or "Bill"] Sanders, a real estate developer who brought his Verde Realty Group to El Paso [was]...a driving force in developing the Paso Del Norte Group. Sanders, who originally is from El Paso but made his fortune in Chicago, brought a model from that city -- the Commercial Club, a storied organization of great influence in that city. He is the co-founder of the Paso del Norte Group."

http://www.pasodelsur.com/news/plantimeline.html

see:

Verde Santa Teresa Intermodal Park

Swiss Asarco AG attorney

The Chicago Attorney representing the Swiss Asarco Bank's Chicago lake-front home has the same name as the attorney representing the imperial family of Vietnam.
http://vcml.homestead.com/

"May 19, 2009  .... the property is held in trust by Swiss company [bank] Asarco A.G., which Mr. Mikhail [Katamanin] controls....Northbrook lawyer... who represents Asarco, is out of the country until next week, according to employees at his office....The claim also is to be arbitrated in Switzerland, according to the complaint."
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=34091

Hon Hai (Foxconn) Vietnam 5 Billion expansion plan

"Hon Hai (Foxconn) Vietnam mega-site update

August 30, 2007
Taiwanese firm Hon Hai (also known by the trade name Foxconn) recently announced plans for a US$5 billion five-year expansion in Vietnam. This is considerably more than its previous Vietnam investment announcement of US$1 billion. To date, Hon Hai has already invested $200 million in Vietnam.   It is reported Vietnam can provide Hon Hai with 2,000 hectares of land."

http://www.ventureoutsource.com/contract-manufacturing/industry-pulse/2007/hon-hia-foxconn-vietnam-mega-site-update

Smeltertown

"There once was a very small village named Smeltertown on the highway below Asarco.....The village and the school have been torn down. They found lead in the blood of many children and I know some of them died too young because I kept up with them...."

http://familiacortez.com/wordpress/

Copy of a letter sent to EPA Thursday June 25th

"Mr. Luthans,

The report you sent me from 2002 reflects that the EPA (deliberately) used a non-standard EPA-sampling grid.  The EPA did not use the standard grid that the EPA usually did.   Many sites - most within the direction of ASARCO's main plume -- were left out.  That report also sampled City Parks with new sod and dirt.   Also, that report fails to address ground water. 

That 2002 report says that Sunland Park is "safe" --but, back then EPA left-out testing of Anapra/Sunland-Park N.M.; and [your letter] refers to ATSDR as an "expert" when ATSDR has recently been investigated-before-Federal-Congress for faking data.  

I am directing these questions to you because you sat on the La Paz Joint Advisory committee all those years, and were responsible --as the  USA Chair of that Air committee --- for our regional air health, and also are the manager for the only EPA staff local to our region.

The Superfund is not likely to have the data.  The TCEQ told the EPA that the testing was outside their jurisdiction and they turned it over to the EPA who in turn hired a private contractor with high-level security clearance.  Also, dirt is not likely to be the best source -- indoor attic dust, slag-from-a-known-date, and pond sediments are the best sources.  Have any of these been tested?  If not, then why not?

You state that the GAO report I gave you ..."is not a report that addresses risks or wastes that may have been generated at the sites and shipped offsite to facilities such as to the ENCYCLE facility and beyond".  ???  It is enough that the same site(s) that the EPA caught sending illegal wastes to Asarco El Paso are listed, because:  the wastes that ASARCO El Paso burned were UNMANIFESTED (and illegal/secret).  The EPA said that Asarco burned these for years.   Until we get honest testing in this region from our environmental agencies (and so far we haven't had testing for most anything at ALL -- including dioxins, PCBs, mercury, polonium, hexavalent chromium, chromium III and others....) we can't tell what ASARCO left here.

That is your responsibility, and not just Susan Websters; and I hope that you would do everything in your power to back us up and find out what is left here in our community from that illegal/unmanifested burning.  We already know from Rep. Reye's comments that ASARCO paid millions on the condition that the details of what it had done would never be made public -- and, we know that in 1998 the EPA told the DOJ in a confidential-for-settlement-purposes-document about Asarco's illegal activities and then proceeded to keep it secret from our community for the next eight years.   The details are still being kept secret.  That document is now public, and we want the details made public, also."

Grupo Mexico raises bid.... again

"In its latest revised offer fifth in 4 months Grupo Mexico has
increased the cash component to USD 1.46 billion from USD 1.3 billion
and also hiked payouts to asbestos claimants to USD 280 million from USD
250 million.... Sterlite wants to buy the assets of Asarco, Grupo Mexico
is interested in the entire company, including its liabilities.
Creditors will play a crucial role in the sale of Asarco"

http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/06/29/MTAwMzE3/Grupo_Mexico_revises_Asarco_bid_offer_again.html

Federal Dept. of Justice asking for public comments regarding ASARCO Hayden operation ...

sb:  Comments:  proposed Settlement Agreement regarding the Asarco Hayden Plant Site in Hayden, Arizona
    Notice of Proposed Administrative Settlement Agreement and Order ...

The Asarco DOJ "settlement agreement" notice (see link above) says that the notice is available on the USDOJ consent decrees site.

If the new Administration in the DOJ wants to instill confidence and credibility to the Federal Dept. of Justice then please begin by being forthright and honest with our community about what chemicals have been left in our Paso del Norte community from ASARCO's years of secret illegal waste-burning-for-profit.

We in El Paso Texas were denied access or knowledge of the "confidential-for-settlement-purposes" EPA document to the DOJ written in 1998 until an honest DOJ person admitted it was public record and released it in 2006 to me.  Before that, only a "Consent decree" was shown to our community -- and the consent decree did not tell us what had happened (Rep. Reyes said that ASARCO paid millions on the condition that details of its activities would not become public).

We are wondering exactly how many of these secret consent decrees have been made about Asarco.  How do we know that the notice-of-proposed-admin.-settlement-agreement-and-order (below) for Asarco Hayden does not have such a secret component?   How can we know for sure that none of the unmanifested/secret toxic wastes that the EPA told the DOJ ASARCO El Paso (and E. Helena MT) had burned for years, for $$$, never went to Hayden?

Right now the Federal Department of Justice trustee is overseeing the Asarco Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi and yet NONE OF THIS SECRET/UNMANIFESTED WASTE HAS BEEN DISCUSSED.   WHY NOT??   The DOJ, EPA and TCEQ held a public meeting in El Paso recently about ASARCO and instead of taking public comments directly, those agencies hired an Attorney from Bethesda MD to intercede for them with the public -- to the point that the DOJ people in attendance did not want to hand over their business cards but asked the moderator to hand out his instead.

It is becoming clear that someone in the Department of Justice did their job to protect us when made sure that the formerly-confidential EPA/DOJ Asarco document became public -- but that others in our Dept. of Justice are not ensuring that this now-public document is heard.   The Asarco Corpus Christi bankruptcy court should be looking at the secret-illegal toxic wastes (that the EPA told the DOJ were unmanifested, secret, and burned for years here for money.)

What ARE these wastes?   What chemicals have been left in our community from this secret illegal action?  

Many groups want to know the answer to this:  

• Sunland Park wants an answer (and has never gotten an answer in two years from NM Environmental Secretary Ron Curry, who now being considered -- in spite of this -- as a possible candidate for EPA Region 6 Administrator)
• The JAC wants an answer (Joint Air-Advisory Committee for the bi-national La Paz Accord) and passed an international resolution
  
• Members of Sierra Club -- national, regional and local want an answer
• Acorn through the former workers at Asarco El Paso, want an answer
• Get the Lead Out, wants an answer

We have not been given an answer to the question of "What ARE these wastes  - what chemicals have been left in our community from this secret illegal action?"

The entire consent-decree process, in my lay opinion, has become suspect from the use of this "secret agreement" between the DOJ and Asarco, which began an eight year environmental/health sacrifice of the Paso del Norte community. 

If the new Administration in the DOJ wants to instill confidence and credibility to the Federal Dept. of Justice then please begin by being forthright and honest with our community about what chemicals have been left in our community from ASARCO's years of secret illegal waste-burning-for-profit.

What does Asarco El Paso have in common with Banking, Railroads, and Privatization of PEMEX?

December 2008
"...Private Equity Seeks to Corrupt Banking System...There’s a lot of pressure on banks to raise capital and there’s a lot of pressure being exerted by the private equity guys to lean on the Fed and U.S. Treasury to bend the rules to let them play in that sandbox. Pushing hard from the private equity camp are Randall Quarles, Managing Director of Carlyle Group Ltd. and a former senior Treasury official and none other than the former Treasury Secretary himself, Chairman of Cerberus Capital Management, John Snow...."
http://seekingalpha.com/article/110306-overly-leveraged-private-equity-deals-deepen-recession

"In 1988, Snow left CSX Transportation (the railroad) to become President and Chief Operating Officer of CSX Corporation (the holding company). As of April 1989, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of CSX. From 1991, he also served as CSX's Chairman. He continued to hold all three posts until he was named Secretary of the Treasury in 2003..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Snow

2008 November: PEMEX privatization

"In a 13G filed with the SEC recently, Mexican businessman Carlos Slim has disclosed a 7.64% ownership stake in Bronco Drilling (BRNC). He now owns 2,200,000 shares of the company...'Bronco Drilling provides contract land drilling and workover services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies.'...Carlos joins the ranks of many other investors that have taken advantage of the market volatility to increase/establish stakes in companies."
Nov. 2008
http://seekingalpha.com/article/103568-carlos-slim-discloses-stake-in-bronco-drilling

China News service covers PEMEX bids for transport lines and platforms

    "MEXICO CITY, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the only firm allowed to explore hydrocarbons fields in Mexico, on Tuesday invited bids for contracts on upgrading natural gas production at the Burgos basin in northern Mexico.   The contracts seek to improve automatic production systems, build transport lines and production platforms, expand gas collection centers and set up new gas centers. Only domestic companies are allowed to participate in the biding for gas collection centers and new gas centers.   The 50,000-square-kilometer basin, which spans the three Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila....contributes around 22 percent of the nation's natural gas output."

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/24/content_11593108.htm

20090624 Grupo Mexico raises BID to 3.1 Billion dollars

Grupo Mexico raisesAsarco offer to $3.1 bn

"...Mexico’s largest mining company Grupo Mexico SAB increased its offer for bankrupt Asarco Llc. by $240 million (around Rs1,164 crore) to $3.1 billion, spokesman Juan Rebolledo said on Wednesday in a telephone interview.  Grupo Mexico is raising its cash offer by $210 million for Asarco, Rebolledo said. A payment note for asbestos plaintiffs will be increased from $250 million to $280 million, he said..."

Vedanta Resources PLC (one of three companies bidding on ASARCO)...

"UK companies linked to devastating Indian mine [by] Andrew Wasley 19th June, 2009 ....Plans to bulldoze an Indian mountain sacred to local people were controversial enough... before shareholder data revealed that a raft of UK household names, ranging from Jaguar cars to the Church of England, own shares in the company behind the mine, Vedanta Resources plc....

....Also listed as shareholders are Axa Sun Life Assurance Society, Jaguar Cars Pension Plan, Land Rover Pension Trustees Ltd, Unilever Pension Fund and Coors Brewers Pension Fund."

http://www.theecologist.org/trial_investigations/272286/uk_companies_linked_to_devastating_indian_mine.html

why did Acelor Mittal buy the tiny Border Steel mill

... just about 20-30 miles north of the new San Jeronimo/Santa Teresa international city on the BNSF line?

And why did Freeport McMoran buy and then keep the old Phelps Dodge plant just about 20 miles east of the international city, on the UP Sunset line?

Harbert, Harbinger investors in Carso (Carlos Slim )

http://www.equityhive.com/Main/Individual/assetview.aspx?i=1273693

"HARBERT MANAGEMENT CORP * See Remarks 300 5
HARBINGER CAPITAL PARTNERS SPECIAL SITUATIONS GP, LLC * See Remarks
300 5
HARBINGER CAPITAL PARTNERS OFFSHORE MANAGER, L.L.C. * See Remarks
300 2
HMC INVESTORS, L.L.C. * See Remarks 300 2
HMC - NEW YORK, INC. * See Remarks 300 5
FALCONE PHILIP *See Remarks 28,538,734 4
HARBERT RAYMOND J * See Remarks 300 3
LUCE MICHAEL D * See Remarks 300 3
FIREBRAND INVESTMENTS, LLC[part of NYTIMES newspaper] * See Remarks
300 2
GALLOWAY SCOTT Director 300 17,166
HARBINGER CAPITAL PARTNERS MASTER FUND I, LTD. * See Remarks
10,989,217 1
HARBINGER CAPITAL PARTNERS SPECIAL SITUATIONS FUND, L.P. * See
Remarks 10,989,217 4
HARBINGER CAPITAL PARTNERS NY, LLC * See Remarks 10,989,217 1

HELU CARLOS SLIM Affiliates - see Exhibit 99-1. 9,854,000
HARBINGER HOLDINGS, LLC * See Remarks 28,538,434
HARBINGER CAPITAL PARTNERS LLC * See Remarks 28,538,434"

20080900 "proposed RMPA would change the land tenure designation from retention to disposal to accommodate exchange of the selected public land to the State of New Mexico and/or allow for future sale"

from September 2008 (Mimbres RMP change begun in 2005) "PURPOSE AND
NEED FOR THE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN
AMENDMENT (RMPA) AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
The purpose of the RMPA is to amend the Mimbres RMP to designate
selected public land for disposal.
The need for action is in response to the State of New Mexico's request
to acquire selected parcels within
Doña Ana County, New Mexico that are not currently identified for
disposal in the Mimbres RMP. The
proposed RMPA would change the land tenure designation from retention to
disposal to accommodate
exchange of the selected public land to the State of New Mexico and/or
allow for future sale.
PLANNING AREA
The proposed RMPA involves identifying for disposal 5,992 acres of
public land through exchange or
sale in Doña Ana County, New Mexico (see Map 1-1). The disposal areas
are located approximately 3
miles west of Las Cruces, south of Interstate 10, and approximately 30
miles south of Las Cruces, in the
vicinity of Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The public land is administered by
the Las Cruces District Office.
Disposal of the public land would include to the extent possible the
sale of land and the minerals
associated with that land or exchange of both surface and subsurface
estates. This EA analyzes potential
impacts resulting from amending the Mimbres RMP and designating selected
public land for disposal,
through exchange or sale..."

http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/nm/field_offices/las_cruces/las_cruces_planning/bennett_ranch_unit.Par.45874.File.dat/DAC_PROPOSEDRMPA_EA_FONSI_SEPT08.pdf
[the land has transferred now 6/09 from the BLM to the State of N.M. for
future sale to Union Pacific Railroad, whose development-plan for this
area just north of the FOXCONN site has been completed]

THIS LAND IS WITHIN A 15 MILE RANGE OF THE EL PASO ASARCO STACKS THAT
THE EPA SAID ILLEGALLY BURNED [unmanifested/secret] HAZ-WASTE FOR PROFIT
DURING THE 1990's...AND THIS TOXIC WASTE HAS *NEVER* BEEN DECLARED

Carlyle sits on the NYTimes board

William E. Kennard was elected to the Board of Directors of The New
York Times Company in 2001.

Mr. Kennard joined The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, in May 2001
as a managing director in the global telecommunications and media group.
.....Before serving in the government, Mr. Kennard was a partner and a
member of the board of directors of the law firm of Verner, Liipfert,
Bernhard, McPherson and Hand.

http://www.nytco.com/company/board_of_directors/William_E_Kennard.html

AUGUST 4, 2007 Mr. Slim has since worked to put together a rival consortium, which includes Mexican rail company Grupo Mexico and U.S. railroad Burlington-Northern

"Mr. Slim's empire is so vast here now that doing business without him can be difficult. Two years ago [in 2005], Hutchison Port Holdings and U.S. railroad Union Pacific teamed up to bid on a $6 billion port and railway in Baja California to compete with Long Beach port. But Mr. Slim felt the project had been arranged behind closed doors and was against the idea of the country's biggest project going to foreigners. He made his feelings known to the Baja California governor and the project was stalled. Mr. Slim has since worked to put together a rival consortium, which includes Mexican rail company Grupo Mexico and U.S. railroad Burlington-Northern. He says his potential bid is a better option for the country because the railroad will run along Mexico's north and help spur development. Union Pacific and Hutchison both declined to comment."

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118615255900587380.html#printMode