Scientists can find Water on the Moon but not ASARCO Toxic Waste in El Paso

It has been  three Years since the Federal Dept. of Justice made public an EPA/Asarco confidential settlement document detailing how Asarco (El Paso, TX and E. Helena MT) secretly burned military and industrial wastes for profit --- and, U.S.A. scientists cannot tell the community what poisons were left here.

Yet, scientists can track water down to the ATOM on the moon. 

"There is water on the Moon, scientists stated unequivocally on Friday...."The water findings came through an analysis of the slight shifts in color after the impact, showing telltale signs of water molecules that had absorbed specific wavelengths of light. “We got good fits,” Dr. Colaprete said. “It was a unique fit.” The scientists also saw colors of ultraviolet light associated with molecules of hydroxyl, consisting of one hydrogen and one oxygen, presumably water molecules that had been broken apart by the impact and then glowed like neon signs."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/science/14moon.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

El Paso ASARCO illegally and secretly burned Toxic waste for years

"RCRA makes it a crime for a person to knowingly treat, store or dispose of
hazardous waste without a permit. 42 U.S.C. § 6928(d)(2)."

So why isn't someone in Jail, after El Paso ASARCO (and E. Helena MT Asarco)  illegally and secretly burned Toxic waste for years?

And, why is there a Swiss Bank named ASARCO A.G. (Asarco S.A., Asarco Inc.)??

Why won't the Federal DOJ Bankruptcy Trustee require that the Bankruptcy Court considers ALL liabilities for ASARCO -- i.e. the liabilities from years of secretly burning military and industrial toxic wastes for profit?

What in the heck is going on?

Selenium groundwater data Asarco El Paso 8/09

[click on image to enlarge table]
taken from data at
http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/assets/public/remediation/variousremediationsites/split_sampling_results_by_tceq_aug2009.xls

Re: Is there selenium data for Asarco El Paso?

 

The sampling data is currently on the ASARCO web page.  The direct link to the sampling page is http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/remediation/sites/water.

 

Thanks

 

Lorinda D Gardner

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

El Paso Regional Director

lgardner@tceq.state.tx.us

915.834.4951

<<11/11/2009 2:06 PM >>>
Hi, Lorinda,
Please see the article below about selenium in E. Helena.  They also handled and burned the illegal and secret toxic wastes during the 1990's.

Is this data available on the recent disk you mentioned? 

I have not gotten a copy.

[name removed]

Google News Alert for: Asarco

Report: Arsenic in East Helena water came from soil, not smelter The Missoulian Asarco Environmental Manager Jon Nickel says the residential wells showed an average of 9.6 parts per billion of arsenic - just under federal drinking water ... See all stories on this topic

Our troops now protected against breathing toxic wastes from open burn pits

"Rep. Tim Bishop, Democrat of New York, and Rep. Carol Shea Porter, Democrat of New Hampshire....successfully lobbied for the inclusion of provisions to limit the use of these toxic pits in the National Defense Authorization Act, which the president will sign into law this afternoon. Under this new law,open-air burning of medical and hazardous waste will be prohibited except where the Defense secretary deems there is no alternative, the DOD must justify the use of burn pits to Congress, and it will develop a plan to eliminate the use of burn pits entirely."[http://www.shea-porter.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=380&Itemid=67]

Asarco-paid-contractor says that E. Helena Arsenic in the water doesn't come from Asarco...

What was that classic line in the Erin Brochovich movie?  When the housewife sits down with Erin, who had just told her the water-data-results?   The housewife looked confused and said something about how the company men had sat at her table and told her that her water was completely safe.... then, she looked out through her window at her children swimming in the pool and she ran crying out into the yard, yelling for her children to get out of the water.

"Iver Johnson, who is heading the onsite cleanup effort for the state Department of Environmental Quality, said nearly 30,000 tons of hazardous waste have been removed from the site this year."

Google News Alert for: Asarco

Report: Arsenic in East Helena water came from soil, not smelter The Missoulian Asarco Environmental Manager Jon Nickel says the residential wells showed an average of 9.6 parts per billion of arsenic - just under federal drinking water ... See all stories on this topic

TCEQ Permits may not comply with Federal Requirements....

"Until such time as the TCEQ adopts rules, submits them to the EPA for SIP review, and receives EPA SIP approval, any action taken on pending applications which are implicated in Federal Register notices may result in additional permitting requirements or enforcement in the future because of the uncertainty of EPA action on the proposed Federal Register disapproval notices. The TCEQ is working expeditiously to address the Federal Register notices to resolve federal enforceability concerns."

http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/permitting/air/announcements/20091109

E.Helena Air safe from ASARCO stack demolition? Have they DISCLOSED THE SECRET TOXIC WASTES THEN?!

Yeah, and the EPA etc. all said that ASARCO had not burned secret hazardous wastes -- and then in 2006 a DOJ attorney released a confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only EPA document about ASARCO... and, we found out from this document (it was SEALED FOR 8 YEARS) that the EPA and DOJ had known ALL THAT TIME that Asarco El Paso and E. Helena MT had burned illegal and secret toxic wastes for profit for years...

Google News Alert for: Asarco

KFBB NewsChannel 5 Air Quality Report from ASARCO Smokestack Demolition Revealed KFBB NewsChannel 5 By KFBB News Team It has been nearly three months since three ASARCO smokestacks were demolished in East Helena, and now results of an air quality report ... See all stories on this topic

Why aren't the TCEQ and EPA letting El Pasoans know about the MERCURY levels around the ASARCO plant?

Asarco Tacoma stack contaminated a hundred square miles...

and the Asarco East Helena stacks?  "The EPA said tests showed that an area of about 100 square miles had been affected to some degree by Asarco emissions." 
http://www.helenair.com/news/article_782a2871-8aa9-56d9-9752-0664afd8c9d5.html

So doesn't this suggest that the Asarco El Paso smelter likely has affected 100 square miles, too?  That would be any land (and water) 30 miles out from the Asarco site -- almost clear up to Las Cruces, and definitely throughout Santa Teresa.

So why aren't our environmental regulatory agencies telling us about this in El Paso and Sunland Park?  (TCEQ, NMED and the Federal EPA)?

Dept. of Health and Human Services

The ATSDR is the "Dept. of Health and Human Services". Umm. Isn't
this the agency that we have evidence covered up the Asarco
contamination in Sunland Park N.M., and that was recently investigated
by a Federal investigative committee for fraud?

DEQ confirms that East Helena MT ASARCO stack demolition was "safe" (E. Helena burned unmanifested toxic wastes, too)

The way that authorities are getting around the safety issue is to NOT LOOK for the unmanifested toxic wastes that both Asarco El Paso and Asarco E. Helena handled and burned (nearly ten years of the incineration).

So, how much credibility does this safety assurance have with the public now?  None.   The conflicts of interest preventing full disclosure are so common that to this day we do not have Dioxin data, PCB data, mercury data, polonium data, or uranium data for the El Paso Asarco stack area --- and, to this day no citizen group has been given split samples/funds to take these samples to a non-conflicted scientist/lab.

Google News Alert for: Asarco

DEQ confirms demolition of East Helena stacks done safely Great Falls Tribune By Tribune Staff • November 7, 2009 Air sampling tests show that the demolition of three smelter stacks at the ASARCO smelter in East Helena in August did ... See all stories on this topic

"Air sampling tests show that the demolition of three smelter stacks at the ASARCO smelter in East Helena in August did not produce negative health effects, the state Department of Environmental Quality said Friday....The DEQ asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency to review the air quality samples for potential impacts to public health.  Exposure to chemical contaminants identified in the sample would not be expected to result in acute health outcomes because of the low concentrations of chemicals in the plume and the short duration of inhalation exposure, the agency's Dan Strausbaugh and Dr. Michelle Watters said...." [the news report did not give any chemical name(s) or amounts.]

Dr. Al Armendariz named Region 6 Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

"November 5, 2009 by citizensarah

Environmental Groups Applaud EPA Choice

New Regional Administrator could signal change in direction for polluted state

DALLAS – Environmental advocates across several states are applauding the Obama Administration’s choice of Dr. Al Armendariz to lead Region 6 of the Environmental Protection Agency, which includes Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Armendariz, an engineering professor at Southern Methodist University, has worked with diverse constituencies ranging from corporations to citizens groups and has published dozens of studies on myriad environmental issues throughout his career. His appointment garnered high praise from the environmental community."
http://texasvox.org/2009/11/05/dr-al-armendariz-named-region-6-administrator-of-the-environmental-protection-agency/

Asarco Swiss Bank

Why is there a Swiss Bank called Asarco A.G. (Asarco SA, Asarco Inc.)??

Asarco makes enough money in just TWO WEEKS to cover its 52 million commitment to El Paso for 110 years of contamination

... not to mention the nearly ten years of secret illegal toxic-waste burning.... (which the bankruptcy and our EPA/TCEQ continue to ignore.   Theft of honest Services.)

Google Blogs Alert for: Asarco

Asarco revenue hit $96.4 million in September
By Andrew Johnson
Asarco revenue hit $96.4 million in September, Since filing for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2005, Asarco has made $5.6 billion in sales, according to the company's latest financial report.

China CIC signs MOU with Glencore (August 2009)

"A manager at a trading and investment firm in Asia, which is a client of Glencore, said top management from Glencore visited CIC in Beijing in August [2009] and signed a memorandum of understanding in which CIC agreed to invest in Glencore’s products or bonds....It was not immediately clear how CIC would work with Glencore, the world’s biggest commodities trader, which typically trades its own book. But Glencore also has a derivatives trading venture with Credit Suisse, which has an expanding business offering commodity investment products to customers....(Note: According to the Financial Times, Glencore owns the Moreno Group, one of Argentina’s key soybean companies, and farms more than 300,000 hectares of leased or owned farmland from Australia to Paraguay.)"

http://farmlandgrab.org/7717

Bankruptcy Court still refusing to reveal liabilities from years of ASARCO secret toxic waste burning in El Paso TX and E. Helena MT

Why the cover-up of Asarco's years of deliberate and secret military and industrial waste incineration?  Why does this still continue!?  ("Asarco paid out millions of dollars on the condition that details of its activities would not be released to the public." - comment from Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Reyes)

"Battle for Asarco to face key test in Texas court

Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:28am IST 

* Grupo Mexico, Asarco and Sterlite head to federal court

* Hearing to set stage for decision on Asarco deal by judge

By Jazmine Ulloa

BROWNSVILLE, Texas, Oct 19 (Reuters) - India's Sterlite Industries... and Grupo Mexico SAB de CV (GMEXICOB.MX: ...) will head to court on Monday to begin the final stage of their year-long face off for control of bankrupt U.S. copper miner Asarco."
http://in.reuters.com/article/mergersNews/idINN1836582620091019?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

Supreme Court to review Honest Services Law with ENRON case (opinion due in spring)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=awIvclWIyuF4#

Look for keywords "honest services" in this blog's search engine. Other
suggested searches are: "Carlyle", "Asarco A.G.", "Swiss bank".

Will the Supreme Court take away this law, gut its effectiveness, or ---
stand firm?

Asarco Buchan Canada: URANIUM values exceeded health guidelines

Google News Alert for: Asarco

Testing continues
Grand Falls-Windsor Advertiser
They are testing for the presence of lead and other substances such as arsenic and antimony, all left behind by Asarco, the now-defunct mining company which ...

"That testing, as originally requested by the Town of Buchans, which had concerns about human health, involved an independent consultant's getting 12 samples from the perimeter as well as 12 background samples taken outside the town. The results indicated that, of the heavy metals found, lead, arsenic, uranium, and antimony exceeded human health guidelines, with the lead values being of primary concern.

The sight of the environmental engineers conducting the current round of tests was a welcome surprise to residents like Nellie Chaulk, who came out of her house to find someone taking dirt from her lawn."

TCEQ ASARCO (El Paso) Update

Sb:  updates from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regarding the ASARCO site in El Paso, TX. 

We have added the following update and supporting documentation to the ASARCO web page.

• Summary Status of the 2005 Compliance Directive - October 15, 2009
• Groundwater Data Report
• Groundwater Sampling Locations Map
• Addendum 1 to Construction Report

All of these documents are also available from the TCEQ ASARCO Documents Download page