"The Perfect Storm at the NAFTA Institute"

"06/13/2009 04:09 pm"
http://www.discussdac.com/blog/tag/economy/

"There’s a perfect storm brewing in and around southern Dona Ana County.

While much of the storm is off in the future, when combined with current conditions it will permanently transform Dona Ana County’s economy.  

Specifically I’m talking about the following:

• The Santa Teresa International Border Crossing
• The Dona Ana County International Airport
• Access to I-10 and I-25
• The relocation and expansion of Union Pacific’s railroad station
• What will be one of the largest electronic manufacturing campuses in the world [FOXCONN]
  
• And a new port in northern Baja

Considering the dramatic affect that this list will have on our future, we need to be very aware of what is currently happening and where we are going.

Punta Colonet

Located in northern Baja, this new port will become to Mexico what the New York and New Jersey port is to the United States.  In other words, this port will be massive.[Grupo Mexico is bidding on the 50 year contract to run the port and run the rail to Santa Teresa]

While it may seem logical that a port of this size would look to enter the U.S. at the closest international border crossing, southern California’s congestion and the strategic location of Santa Teresa may make it more efficient right here.   

So what do they see in southern Dona Ana County?

Union Pacific

Union Pacific is relocating its fueling station out of downtown El Paso and into Santa Teresa with plans on expanding into a block swap and inter-modal station [the station's planning is done, the BLM land swap with N.M. is done, and the next step is for N.M. to "auction the land" off (i.e. to U.P.)]

Why does this matter?  It matters because it will make railroad trade coming out of this area more efficient.  The railroad will someday be able to avoid both downtown El Paso and downtown Juarez, and the open land offers room for growth and minimal utility conflicts.

Our location is currently the northern end of the Sunset Line which starts in San Diego.  The route then opens up to the north, east and southeast.  When you factor in the interstates, the international airport and the border into the equation, Santa Teresa could become one of the most efficient locations to start your trade in the United States.

Foxconn

The world’s largest manufacturer of electronics sees the potential for profit here.

In fact, they have invested in 240 hectors west of Juarez where they’re planning a manufacturing campus complete with dormitories, restaurants and recreation areas.  They are planning to employ 10k employees in the next 2 years, and word on the street is they are looking to employ 30k in the long run.  By the end of their first year they will already employ over 5k.

Where are we going?

When you combine the expansions of these companies into Dona Ana County with the airport, the border crossing, and the interstates you get something that exists nowhere else in the United States or Mexico.  It truly is the perfect storm for the future of U.S./Mexico trade. [and it is being built within the 15 mile toxic-zone of ASARCO's stacks, without *anyone* declaring what the decade of illegal secret military/industrial waste-burning left in the Paso del Norte...and, without any effort to clean up dioxins, pcb's, polonium (radioactive lead), actinides (radioactive), etc.]

As manufactures look for the most efficient place to produce and distribute to the U.S. the Juarez/Santa Teresa area is destined to be at the top of the list.

To make this work we need to pay more attention to security on the border and consider more self imposed security measures.  We also can’t forget that there are legitimate concerns with NAFTA in the United States, and we cannot ignore that manufacturers choose Mexico for its cheap labor.

While I am not about to enter into a lengthy examination of the pros and cons of NAFT in this article, it seems like only yesterday (actually 1998-1999) that I was studying the affects of NAFTA with Neil Harvey at New Mexico State University.  Funny the way it is that today I am continuing to study this from a more unique position.

Dona Ana County's Role

And from my position today I’m looking at what Dona Ana County can do to benefit.  Most pressing is the need for the county and Sunland Park to step up the efforts to finalize the utility and land management organization that will serve Santa Teresa.

In addition, the county needs to coordinate with other organizations.  They include the New Mexico Department of Economic Development, the New Mexico Border Authority, the International Business Accelerator and the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance (among others).

Together we need to continue to recruit and market ourselves to the industries that are looking for a U.S. base of operations.  And we need to be prepared to offer housing and commercial space for companies looking to work on the U.S. side of the border.

To succeed it will take the hard work of each organization listed above and we all need to be committed to finding the right way to benefit from our unique position in this perfect storm."
[reprinted for fair use]

 

El Paso Inc. Feb. 11 2007 "letter-to-the-Editor"

El Paso Inc. Feb. 11 2007 letter to the Editor profiling the repair of the buckled-panel at the old upper american canal across from the Asarco smelter ore handling site

Dear Mr. Fenton,

Thank you for the article and photo about the repair of the old upper
American canal's broken panel, showing the Jobe Concrete truck pouring
cement for the new panel, near the American Dam (established by
International Treaty for the delivery of waters to Mexico and the USA).
http://www.elpasoinc.com/showArticle.asp?articleId=971

We know from the IBWC's reports that 24 million dollars worth of
hazardous waste is in the soil beneath those panels right there. Some
of it is odorless and tasteless. We know from the EPWU's water reports
above and below that buckled-panel that it is leaking into that water
still flowing past the feet of those men, who are now exposed to it.
Those men are not wearing masks, most are not wearing gloves -- no one
is wearing white environmental suits. Some of those men will wash their
clothes at home or in commercial laundromats, and family members (maybe
pregnant wives or growing kids) will handle the contaminated clothing.

We know that between mid-March and mid-October that El Paso will get its
drinking water from this canal; and, that contamination still leaks
through the old-joints and the weep-holes into the canal where
ground-water touches the liner. The contamination will pass along over
70 miles of agricultural irrigation canal. The farmland below Asarco
has been called an "arsenic time-bomb" in at least one research paper.

Our community knows that Asarco burned illegal hazardous waste for
nearly a decade just a stone's throw away from this liner.
Smeltertown, in the background of this photo on the EP Inc., had 18
inches of soil removed nearly 40 years ago, for just the Pb (lead)
content alone.

The panels in that old canal were made over 70 years ago of 3 inches of
concrete laid over re-bar, just like in that photo - and layered in two
directions. They should be made of 4 inches of reinforced concrete.
This is a patch-job it appears, and the rest of the 3 miles and 400 or
so panels are still in danger of failing. The panels' failure was
predicted years ago.

The State Department in spring of '05 reviewed the various IBWC sites
and said that the employees at American Dam next to old-smeltertown were
sick, and that they were not getting independent medical review from
this region.

How long will our regulatory agencies responsible for our well-being
continue to conceal its conflicts of interests from this community and
pass along the responsibilities to the next generation---
"pass-the-buck", in cancers, lead exposure, arsenic trioxides and
actinide exposures?

[91 year old] former ASARCO worker sees no harm

This author would have been 74 years old when the EPA tells us that ASARCO El Paso installed the two world's-largest ConTop furnaces and secretly incinerated unmanifested military and industrial wastes here, just for profit.   It is likely that Mr. Sida was not working at the site when this waste burning began, and  thus spared the worst.  

"El Paso Times Staff Posted: 09/01/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT  --- Former worker sees no Asarco harm
After reading and hearing so much about Asarco, and how it supposedly has caused severe medical conditions for some individuals, I would like to go on record with a different perspective.  I began working at Asarco in 1937, interrupted my career to join the Army during World War II, and upon my return gladly resumed my duties there. With combat experience and all, plus almost 42 years of service to Asarco, I can honestly say I have never had health problems that my doctors or I believe were as a direct or indirect result from my time with Asarco. Indeed, as I hopefully turn 91 in a couple of weeks, I can further state with a great deal of certainty that my long, on-site exposure to Asarco had no impact on my physical or mental state during my tenure with it, or during my retirement.
Benjamin Sida"

http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_13241048

Mexico stocks begin rebound now

"Mexico's IPC equity index rose 0.7% to 27,927 as investors hunted for bargains ...shares of Grupo Mexico added [3.5%] to their 14% surge from the previous session after a judge's ruling puts the company closer to regaining control of Asarco LLC, an Arizona mining company that it had lost control of in 2005 in the wake of Asarco's bankruptcy filing.

Market heavyweight Petrobras' (PBR) shares climbed 2.4% after BP (BP) said it made a "giant" discovery of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Petrobras said in a statement that its Petrobras America subsidiary holds a 20% stake in the project. ConocoPhillips (COP) holds an 18% stake and BP has a 62% stake."
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djhighlights/200909021557DOWJONESDJONLINE000579.htm

Hon Hai (Foxconn) shows record profits (So does Grupo Mexico)

" 'The Mexico [Tijuana/Baja] site is Sony’s main TV production base, and selling that suggests the company may be selling other smaller sites.'
— Kota Ezawa, Citigroup analyst" [Citigroup is an ASARCO principle bondholder, and Foxconn has become the anchor-maquiladora for the new international city being built within the toxic-shadow of the El Paso ASARCO smelter]

"Hon Hai, the world’s largest contract maker of electronics, gained 6.8 percent to close at NT$118.5 on the Taipei Stock Exchange, the highest level since Aug. 29 last year. The company on Monday posted its first profit increase in five quarters, beating analysts’ estimates. Second-quarter net income rose 27 percent to NT$15.1 billion (US$460 million) from a year earlier."

[both Grupo Mexico and Hon Hai are showing recent record profits.  Meanwhile, the community of El Paso Texas gets @52 million to "remediate" 110 years of Asarco's legal and illegal incineration activities -- many of the remaining contamination has NOT BEEN DISCLOSED.  The EPA has documentation saying that contamination is in our Rio Grande, the Hueco bolson, our soils and redistributed through our airshed.]

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2009/09/02/2003452602

FNS News: Sony Outsources Border Factory [to Foxconn in Tijuana] ASARCO Bondholder Citigroup Inc. analyst comments

"Tijuana News September 2, 2009 Sony Outsources Border Plant

Battered by multi-billion dollar losses, Sony Corp. ...announced this week it will sell a 90 percent interest in a [Tijuana/Baja] factory that manufactures LCD television screens to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.of Taiwan ...[it] will be managed by Hon Hai’s Foxconn division.

Foxconn, however, is among many electronics manufacturers that routinely outsource jobs to temporary employment agencies which don’t pay the full range of benefits....In addition to Tijuana, Foxconn is currently expanding production activities in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua....

Sources: Frontera, September 1, 2009. Los Angeles Times/Associated Press, September 1, 2009. Juarez-El Paso Now, August 2009. Cereal report, October 2007. Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news Center for Latin American and Border Studies New Mexico State University Las Cruces,New Mexico"

see also http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2009/09/02/2003452602
"Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) will buy the stake in a liquid-crystal-display TV unit based in Tijuana, Mexico, and the unit’s manufacturing assets...The sale signals that Sony — which is cutting 16,000 jobs and has shut eight factories to revive its profitability as it heads into its first consecutive annual losses since its listing in 1958 — may eventually stop making TVs, said Kota Ezawa, an analyst at Citigroup Inc in Tokyo."

exactly how much "Caffeine" did Asarco release in the Paso del Norte?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gRNiTtgwAEeIASdS5QDK8fH0NlQAD9AERFPO0  "Effort in NM to keep medications out of Rio GrandevBy SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN (AP) Sept 1, 2009  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico's largest water utility announced a plan Tuesday aimed at educating the public and keeping pharmaceuticals out of one of the West's most important water ways, the Rio Grande.  The announcement by the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority follows a recent discovery in the Rio Grande of caffeine, which scientists often look for as a possible signal for the presence of other contaminants.[ i.e. the "canary in the mine"] An environmental group also reported earlier this summer that it found traces of pharmaceuticals in the Rio Grande Valley's irrigation system."

Grupo Mexico Attorney Firm

"On Monday U.S. bankruptcy judge Richard Schmidt in Corpus Christi approved a sale of Asarco that could help the company emerge from bankruptcy. But it wasn't the reorganization plan backed by Baker Botts.  Instead, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy restructuring partner Robert Moore and Haynes and Boone bankruptcy partner Charles Beckham, Jr., emerged victorious on behalf of Asarco parent Grupo Mexico, which had lost control of its subsidiary in the Chapter 11 case. Grupo Mexico was competing with India's Sterlite Industries, which had a sale contract with the debtor."
http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2009/09/the-bankruptcy-files-asarco-set-for-chapter-11-exit.html

For more, do a search with the blog's search engine.

and:

"Milbank is unquestionably one of the best firms around... standing in the top band nationally with Skadden, Latham, White & Case and Chadbourne. Working out of DC, NY and LA, the firm’s projects team interacts seamlessly with the London, Tokyo Hong Kong and Singapore offices on complex multijurisdictional financings, mainly on the lender side of power, mining, transportation infrastructure and oil and gas work. "
http://www.chambers-associate.com/chambers.aspx?fid=119

The Asarco Bankruptcy is only part of the story...

What is coming down is a planned international city in the 15-mi toxic shadow of the El paso ASARCO smelter -- built by a developer whose top guy is now president of the USA Carlyle Realty Group.  Grupo Mexico is 20% owned by the Carlyle Group.  Grupo Mexico controls the Ferromex/UP railroad in Mexico.

This city is the first of many (the model could be "sold") that could be built in the NAFTA zone from San Diego to Brownsville -- aimed toward  the coveted target-market that lies within the 300 mile "zone" along our U.S.A. eastern seaboard.

Carlye owns CSX railroad along the eastern seaboard.

Grupo Mexico is hoping to bid and win on a 50 year contract to run the Port of Punta Colonet and the freight rail to this international city and its port of entry -- the north/south rail has already been arranged.    UP Railroad has begun to aquire the land north of this site for its modal container platform and oil storage for its east-west Sunset line --- also within the toxic shadow of the EL Paso Asarco stacks.

• And it is all done by ignoring the illegal and secret ASARCO contamination sealed in the 1998 DOJ settlement with Asarco.
• It is all done by sacrificing the young, the elderly and infirm living in this region to the toxic waste.
• It is done by marginalizing those who seek to speak out, and eliminating their economic-base.
• It is done by sacrificing people living across from the smelter in Mexico and by sacrificing Mexican Americans in this border city.
• It is done by putting profit above health - -  and profit above scruples.
• It is done by looking the other way and talking about "risk-assessment" when trying to link 110 years of smelting toxins to the health problems surrounding the stacks-of-asarco
  

www.epgtlo.blogspot.com

Who bet on Grupo Mexico? BIG gains in stock

Grupo Mexico Jumps Most in 15 Years After Asarco Unit Ruling "Bloomberg US Bankruptcy Judge Richard Schmidt yesterday sent his recommendation to a district court judge who will make the final decision on Asarco, more than five ..."

Grupo Mexico stock surges after Asarco ruling Forbes ... "surged on Tuesday after a US judge recommended that the company be allowed to take control of US copper miner Asarco as it emerges from bankruptcy. ..."

"Bankruptcy Court Recommends Parent Plan [Grupo Mexico] in ASARCO LLC Reorganization"

Bankruptcy Court Recommends Parent Plan in ASARCO LLC Reorganization "Reuters The judge`s recommendation proposes that the federal district court approve the parent companies` plan rather than the one filed by the debtor, ASARCO LLC ..." (google alert)

ASARCO Montana EPA Chief dies from climbing accident Thursday August 20, two weeks after the stacks were demolished

EVE BYRON - Independent Record - 08/25/09 | Posted: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 12:00 am

[Montana's State EPA Chief...]"John Wardell arguably changed the landscape across Montana more than any other single person in recent times, and his death last week in a climbing accident is being mourned throughout the Treasure State....Wardell died last Thursday after tumbling down a steep mountainside in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area near Libby....Wardell also presided over most of reclamation work in ... East Helena [Asarco].  Just two weeks ago, he watched as the three Asarco smokestacks in East Helena were blown up...he mused about how he had worked on the East Helena site even before moving to Montana, and how he anticipated signing the final Record of Decision regarding the city's Superfund cleanup work.

A careful balancing Act: Neither side willing to admit what happened in El Paso Texas...

[remember two things when reading this -- that in 1998 both the EPA and the Federal DOJ knew that ASARCO (Grupo Mexico sat on the board but did not own it) that Asarco had illegally burned secret toxic wastes from military and industrial sources for years (and the DOJ/EPA hid this information from the public for EIGHT MORE YEARS as a confidential-document!).  The winter of 1998 the TCEQ abruptly decided not to have a nuclear dump in Sierra Blanca TX after all, and the EPA quietly registered Beta-Radiation levels in El Paso TX that were the highest in the U.S.A. Then Asarco decided in Feb. 99 to shut down temporarily, saying that copper prices were down and both ASARCO and the patent for the Con-Top furnaces were coincidentally sold off....]

The following is an excerpt of M. Bosque's TX Observer article http://www.voiceyourself.com/site/the_big_issues/article.php?article_id=5908&prev_id=

"....On a hot afternoon in June, the 54-year-old Larrea, one of the world's richest men, took the witness stand at the federal courthouse in Brownsville. It was the first time many of the people inside the courtroom - including attorneys on his payroll - had ever seen the reclusive Mexican billionaire. There are few available photos of Larrea and little public information about his private life. He had fought the federal subpoena compelling him to testify for days. He had finally relented and flown into Brownsville on his private jet from Mexico City earlier that morning. Security guards had banned photographers from the front steps of the courthouse. Shortly before his testimony, Larrea was whisked into the courtroom under the escort of several armed U.S. marshals, who remained on site throughout his five hours on the stand.

Seated in the witness chair, Larrea glowered at the 30 lawyers in the courtroom - representing Asarco, and Grupo Mexico - business reporters, miners, and large, moveable bookcases of evidence that had been wheeled into the room. Larrea had come to defend himself in a lawsuit alleging that he had defrauded Asarco's creditors.

The case in which Larrea was testifying is an outgrowth of the bankruptcy. When Asarco filed for Chapter 11, federal Judge Richard Schmidt removed Asarco from Larrea's control. Bankruptcy experts say this was a highly unusual move. Larrea's Grupo Mexico still technically owns the company, but no longer has any say in operations. The judge appointed a three-member independent board to oversee Asarco (the board remolded the company into an entity called Asarco LLC). The board is supposed to ensure that the company isn't deceiving several hundred creditors with unpaid contracts and asbestos claims.

Controlled by the independent board, Asarco LLC then sued its former bosses at Grupo Mexico. The lawsuit alleges that Larrea had defrauded Asarco's creditors by swiping Asarco's most valuable asset - Peru's largest copper company. The Peruvian mines' stock was worth $8.25 billion at the time the lawsuit was filed in 2007, according to court records, though Larrea transferred the mines from Asarco to a Grupo Mexico subsidiary at a grossly undervalued price, $756 million, according to the lawsuit. The suit accuses Larrea of bilking creditors out of billions of dollars. "The plaintiff contends that the sale, therefore, was not made to improve Asarco's financial position, but was solely a means for Grupo to 'cherry-pick' Asarco's most prized asset before it was lost to creditors or by bankruptcy," the suit alleges. Asarco LLC wants the value of the Peruvian company stocks returned to Asarco LLC creditors.

The lawsuit is a legal sideshow to the larger bankruptcy case. But the outcome of the lawsuit could have a huge impact. Some of the money at stake in the lawsuit over the Peruvian mines could help pay for cleanup of Asarco's environmental pollution. (The U.S. government considers the Peruvian mines a crucial asset in paying to clean up Asarco's many toxic sites.)

On this June day in Brownsville, Larrea had come to tell his side of the story. Federal Judge Andrew Hanen had to silence the courtroom before Larrea could begin his testimony. The CEO wore a conservative, well-tailored, dark blue business suit with a red tie. For such a powerful man, Larrea was surprisingly soft-spoken, answering the lawyers and judge in a hushed and barely audible, but fluent, English. Several times, the judge asked him to speak louder so that people in the back of the courtroom could hear.

Larrea repeatedly denied that his motive for purchasing Asarco was to gain control of the valuable Andean copper mines. The CEO said the decision on the mines was solely the opinion of some Asarco and Grupo Mexico officials. (U.S. marshals ensured that no journalists could get within speaking distance of the billionaire.) In a separate statement from his company, he called Asarco LLC's lawsuit "reprehensible."

His history with Asarco began in 1999, when Larrea took over as CEO of Grupo Mexico shortly after his father's death. One of his first purchases was Asarco, for $2.2 billion. [Purchased after the EPA/DOJ sealed the information about what had happened, and after the El Paso site was shut down "temporarily"] At the time, however, the once-powerful Asarco was hemorrhaging cash.

Initially, Larrea testified in Hanen's courtroom, he believed the company's growing environmental liabilities could be solved through negotiations. [What negotiations were made to get someone on the board of Asarco (Grupo Mexico) to buy it after this devastating environmental catastrophe happened -- i.e., incinerating unmanifested illegal toxic wastes from military & industrial sources for years in the heart of a community??!] "In those days, we were confident we could reach an agreement with all parties on the remediations," Larrea said. "But then the company started losing too much money on legal issues."

By 2002 [Right after the EPA came to El Paso TX to "test" in 2001, but EPA still kept the real contamination SECRET], officials in the U.S. Department of Justice worried that Asarco would sell off its most valuable asset - the Peruvian mines - and would be left with nothing to pay for its numerous environmental cleanups. The department sought an injunction to stop the sale. Negotiations between the Justice Department and Grupo Mexico labored on until the end of 2002.[Just how bad was that contamination??] Finally, Grupo agreed to fund a $100 million trust to help pay Asarco's $1 billion in environmental liabilities at the time.  [Remember, there was a change-over from the Clinton Administration to the Bush Administration during this time, and that Carlyle Group now owns 20% of Grupo Mexico]

It was a good deal for Larrea. The Justice Department allowed Larrea to proceed with his sale of the lucrative Peruvian mines in exchange for paying one-tenth of Asarco's environmental cleanup costs...." [which came partially from the ASARCO company burning military wastes illegally along with whatever other unmanifested (i.e. "untracked") wastes were burned during the 1990's].

Have you had your Lead (Pb) Test today?

"Children are poisoned by putting lead objects in their mouths or from touching a dusty or peeling lead object and then putting their fingers in their mouths. Dust containing lead can also be inhaled.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a level of 400 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil is considered safe. However, according to studies by Howard Mielke, Xavier University professor of toxicology, the median level of contamination in New Orleans prior to Katrina was about 1,000 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil, nearly three times the EPA standard."  http://www.allbusiness.com/north-america/united-states-louisiana/1101357-1.html

ASARCO's own Hydrometrics-report-map shows one place at the site where Lead is 19,000 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil.  Near the Historic Smelter cemetery the map shows Lead values that are over 12,000 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil.  

If 1000 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil is "nearly three times the EPA standard" then what is 12,000 or 19,000??  How about-- 36 and 57 times the EPA standard for residential -- and this dust is picked up in every dust storm and distributed around the City...

And what about Polonium (Radioactive Lead?).   It is *very* commonly found around smelters and we have never been told what its levels are, here.

Baker Botts makes 100 Mil while Mexican American community gets around 52 Mil for clean-up...

[note:  for a (primarily Mexican-American) community of 742,062 people (not counting Sunland Park N.M., or Cd Juarez), that comes to Asarco being willing to pay less than 74$ a head to make sure that each person in El Paso has clean air and water from 110 years of smelting....]

Baker Botts Hits $100 Million Mark in Asarco Bankruptcy by Brian Baxter
.... "The final closing argument on the confirmation hearing was today and we expect a ruling from the judge on Monday."
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202433446608#

Baker Botts lists offices in:

Dubai
Austin
Bejing
Dallas
Abu Dhabi
Hong Kong
Houston
London
Moscow
New York
Palo Alto
Riyadh
Washington (D.C.)
http://www.bakerbotts.com/about/

Arcelor Mittal who took over the old Border Steel plant.... now plans to restart two furnaces in USA

"UPDATE 1-Furnace restarts signal US steel industry rebound
Thursday August 20, 2009 03:06:21 PM GMT

USA-STEEL/ (UPDATE 1)
* ArcelorMittal to restart two U.S. furnaces"
http://www.forexyard.com/en/reuters_inner.tpl?action=2009-08-20T210615Z_01_N20536727_RTRIDST_0_USA-STEEL-UPDATE-1

(do a search in this blog for "Arcelor Mittal")

"Mexico Peso slips; Grupo Mexico up on Asarco bets"

The USA wants Mexico's Oil and petroleum/natural-gas exploration/equipment contracts; and, Mexico wants to ship goods to that 300-mile-wide "magic" NAFTA-consumer-zone along the USA eastern seaboard....

Incredible buying power along the USA eastern seaboard.  Trade Companies world-wide aim shipments toward that population...

Meanwhile, El Paso Texas sits in the middle of it - the nexus and the center of it -- and to pull this all off the powers-that-be have to ignore the EPA-Federal DOJ confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only document that tells the tale about how Asarco burned unmanifested (secret) toxic-waste for years to make $$$ --- from both military and industrial sources.

(see NYTimes front-page article)

Coincidentally, Carlye owns 20% of Grupo Mexico (which controls Ferromex/UP railroad), Carlyle controls all of the CSX railroad along the USA eastern seaboard, and a former high-level executive for the guy who created the 1st planned international city that all this rail will go through (next to ASARCO El Paso) now is in charge of the Carlyle USA Realty group.  (use this blog's search engine to look for "Carlyle")

Google News Alert for: asarco

Mexican peso slips; Grupo Mexico up on Asarco bets Reuters MXX rose 0.40 percent, lifted by a gain in shares of Grupo Mexico on bets it could win control of bankrupt copper miner Asarco LLC. ... See all stories on this topic

"MEXICO CITY, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Mexico's peso slipped on Friday, as data on U.S. consumers added to worries of a sluggish recovery in the United States, Mexico's top trading partner...The IPC stock index .MXX rose 0.40 percent, lifted by a gain in shares of Grupo Mexico on bets it could win control of bankrupt copper miner Asarco LLC....Mexico sends more than 80 percent of its exports to the United States and a rebound in U.S. consumer demand is key to spur a recovery for Mexico from its deepest recession since the 1930s...."

"Asarco has paid $241,316,423 to professionals working on the bankruptcy case" (@ One Quarter of a Billion dollars)

and the community fighting for its health?  3 people have been fired/non-renewed for their research and support against Asarco contamination of our drinking water, and others have experienced concurrent apparent retaliations.  Asarco paid the El Paso City Schools less than $25,000 for the contamination of our children's schools in the settlement (see recent El Paso Times Asarco article).

Google News Alert for: asarco

Arizona Daily Star There's huge money for attorneys in Asarco bankruptcy Arizona Daily Star Asarco LLC, the Tucson-based copper producer, hired an elite Houston law firm, Baker Botts, for its bankruptcy case. Baker Botts, in turn has assembled a ... See all stories on this topic

"From August 2005, when Asarco made its bankruptcy filing through July 31 this year, Asarco has paid Baker Botts $102.2 million in legal fees. ...They include Navigant Consulting, which has received $10.7 million for its “advisory services,” and Recon Real Estate Consultants, which has been paid $1.5 million. .... remember that all these payments are approved by the bankruptcy judge."

NO MENTION OF THE YEARS OF SECRET TOXIC WASTE

"In contrast, the United Steelworkers of America have threatened to strike Asarco if Grupo Mexico should take back control of the company, and Kinzie said the parent's proposal will leave Grupo Mexico dangerously short on available cash.

Asarco also noted its plan has the backing of bondholders [HARBINGER, CITIGROUP] , the unsecured creditors committee, and its largest creditor, the U.S. government, which holds more than $1 billion in environmental claims.[...while the EPA and the DOJ continue to IGNORE the DOJ and EPA's OWN now-public evidence that Asarco secretly incinerated military and industrial unmanifested-wastes for years, for money] "

Google News Alert for: asarco

The Daily Docket: Creditors Seek Tribune Probe Wall Street Journal Blogs The future of Asarco LLC rests in the hands of a Texas bankruptcy judge after a two-week long confirmation hearing in the Arizona mining company's case drew ... See all stories on this topic

Asarco Attorney (also represented a client once whose President now runs AIG) argues for due process of law

Ironically, the El Paso Community has been asking for due process of law regarding the contamination left by years of Asarco secret-toxic waste burning ....  will Grupo Mexico get "due process" while the Court ignores this community and ignores its evidence??  

Google News Alert for: asarco

Grupo México is Confident Its Reorganization Plan for ASARCO Will ... Business Wire (press release) (AMC), is entitled under applicable US law to retain control of its wholly owned subsidiary ASARCO through the full payment plan offered to creditors on ... See all stories on this topic

"AMC attorney Robert Moore [do a search on his name in the blog's search-engine] presented the company’s final arguments to U.S. Judge Richard Schmidt of the Corpus Christi Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday, arguing that GMEXICO’s offer to pay the ASARCO creditors $2.2 billion in cash represented a full and fair offer, and one that meets the necessary legal obligations to retain ownership of the company. ...“Our view is that we're facing what in my view is a constitutional level issue,” Mr. Moore argued in his closing statement. “It's an issue of due process. It's an issue of unfair taking."

Asarco contamination of the Hueco Bolson

What we know now is that during those years of El Paso-secret-toxic-waste-incineration ASARCO dumped stuff to the waste water (Sewage) plant and then that water was treated and sent out throughout the city as "purple pipe" water to our schools, parks, and golf courses -- potentially exposing anyone who uses those to the secret undeclared toxic-wastes.   (Anyone who loves to golf could possibly be exposed, also, for example).  That purple pipe water was also injected into the Hueco Bolson.   This may likely be why the EPA mainly-sampled these grassy-areas when they came out here in 2001 - and, the EPA are still not telling us what poisons ASARCO's secret-years left here.  But years later the powers-that-be  built a Hueco Bolson desal plant capable of removing 99% of toxins from the water (and the rest is deep-well injected 20 miles away on Military Property).

Why is there NO Dioxin data available?  Just shameful that this Mexican-American community cannot get basic-chemical information that communities up north have (see Mother Jone's recent issue about Dioxin Dorms).   And also shameful that several of us have been fired/non-renewed for asking about this water contamination.  This community should be the first to support anyone who wants to support Mexican-American community's Right-To-Know.

ASARCO records RECORD PROFITS

Google News Alert for: asarco

July profits 2nd-best of '09 for Asarco Arizona Daily Star The Tucson-based Asarco LLC copper company reported Wednesday that it made an $11.2 million profit in July as it moved toward exiting bankruptcy. ... See all stories on this topic

"July was Asarco's second-best month of the year, after March's $20.4 million net income, the filing says. Since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2005, Asarco has recorded profits totaling $1.1 billion."

Bank associated with ASARCO bonds (Citigroup) Energy Trader payday in Oil price speculation...

Citigroup's Oil Trader's $100,000,000 Payday: A Wakeup Call for the Nation

"WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A BANK DOING IN THE OIL TRADING BUSINESS?!"

Google "Citigroup" in search engine for epgtlo.blogspot.com and also google "PEMEX"

WHY ARE THE DOJ and the EPA allowing this Asarco bankruptcy fraud to continue

THE BANKRUPTCY COURT FAILS TO CONSIDER THE SECRET and ILLEGAL TOXIC WASTE that the EPA told the Federal DOJ THAT ASARCO BURNED FOR YEARS in EL Paso TX and E. Helena MT.

Both military and industrial unmanifested-wastes were burned for years to make money, the EPA told the DOJ.

So WHY ARE THE DOJ and the EPA allowing this fraud to continue, and acting as if this now-public document is still secret!??   Why aren't we being told what chemicals are left in our community from the years of secret activity??

WHY HASN'T THE DOJ BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE TAKEN ACTION and why is this fraud allowed to continue?  The Bankruptcy court has not considered this toxic-waste when looking at all the liabilities this company has....

Asarco LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 05-21207

People vary widely in ability to eliminate arsenic from the body

People vary widely in ability to eliminate arsenic from the body

Public release date: 26-Aug-2009


Contact: Michael Woods
m_woods@acs.org
202-872-6293
American Chemical Society

Large variations exist in peoples' ability to eliminate arsenic from the body, according to a new study that questions existing standards for evaluating the human health risks from the potentially toxic substance. The study found that some people eliminate more than 90 percent of the arsenic consumed in the diet. Others store arsenic in their bodies, where it can have harmful effects. The research, based on the first application of new methods for studying arsenic, is scheduled for the Sept. 21 issue of ACS's Chemical Research in Toxicology, a monthly journal.

In the study, Kevin Francesconi and colleagues point out that drinking water in many parts of the world, including some regions of the United States, contain amounts of arsenic that exceed the World Health Organization's maximum acceptable levels. Consumption of seafood, the article notes, is another major source of arsenic contamination. Health effects from chronic arsenic exposure include skin and internal cancers, cardiovascular disease, and possibly diabetes, it adds.

The scientists describe monitoring arsenic excretion in the urine of human volunteers. They found that ability to eliminate arsenic from the body varied greatly, with some participants excreting up to 95 percent of the ingested arsenic but others eliminating as little as four percent. "This observed individual variability in handling [arsenic] exposure has considerable implications for the risk assessment of arsenic ingestion," the paper states. It adds that further study is needed to assess potential risks to humans consuming seafood products. "The data presented here suggest that the long held view that seafood arsenic is harmless because it is present mainly as organoarsenic compounds needs to be reassessed."

###

ARTICLE #2 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Individual Variability in the Human Metabolism of an Arsenic-Containing Carbohydrate, 2',3'-Dihydroxypropyl 5-deoxy-5-dimethylarsinoyl-ß-D-riboside, a Naturally Occurring Arsenical in Seafood"

DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE:
http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/tx900158h


CONTACT:
Kevin Francesconi, Ph.D.
Karl-Franzens University Graz
Graz, Austria
Phone: 43 316 380 5301
Email: kevin.francesconi@uni-graz.at

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/acs-pvw082609.php#

posted by





Deborah Elaine Barrie
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http://www.noccawood.ca
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El Paso Times fails to mention secret toxic waste from ASARCO or even the bankruptcy fraud...

El Paso Times fails to mention the EPA confidential for settlement purposes only ASARCO document to the DOJ that showed ASARCO burned secret military and industrial wastes for YEARS; and, that was covered by the NYTimes in a front page story.    The principle-bondholder for ASARCO several months later threw $500,000 million dollars at the NYTIMES in an attempt to win control of the board/seats-on-the-board.

The Bankruptcy court is ignoring the liabilities of this secret toxic waste, and and acts as if this now-public document is still secret.

Shame on the El Paso Times for failing to cover the bankrupcty fraud or even mentioning the secret years of secret-waste-burnings.

Google News Alert for: asarco

Asarco claims surpassed $15M Trading Markets (press release) The city of El Paso, the El Paso Independent School District, Alberto Pacheco and former Asarco employee Danny Arellano filed the biggest claims. ... See all stories on this topic

Consent Decree about DUPONT--- EPA and DOJ

http://micahsmission.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html
<cid:part1.09050308.09050903@gmail.com>

Auction of Asarco likely

My Business Writings: Stalemate over Asarco bid; auction likely ...  (blog post by Dipesh Dipu in Hyderabad, Andhrapradesh, India)

“There does not seem to be an easy end to this and the deal seems to be heading to an auction-like situation,”said PwC principal consultant Dipesh Dipu. .....US-based Harbinger Capital, which was also in the race to acquire Asarco, has already withdrawn its $500-million offer and is reported to be supporting Sterlite's bid. Meanwhile, Vedanta has already claimed that its bid for Asarco is being backed by the US government and the trade union...."

Harbinger is the company that threw 1/2 billion dollars at the New York Times to try to win control of its board months after the NYTimes broke a front-page story releasing a formerly secret EPA-DOJ Asarco confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only document in which the EPA stated ASARCO El Paso (and E. Helena MT) had secretly burned toxic wastes for profit for years.     The Bankruptcy court and the DOJ Trustee have not brought this now public document to the table to discuss the liabilities for this toxic waste incineration.    The EPA ignores the toxic waste and has not reported what has been left here in the communities from the years of secret military/industrial waste burning.  Yet this document is NOW PUBLIC and we know what happened.   Grupo Mexico sat on Asarco's board during the years this occurred.

This is a fraud on a massive scale.

No one wants to discuss the toxic wastes, yet there is an arsenic plume moving beneath the ASARCO El Paso smelter with levels 32,000 times and 6200 times the legal limit for groundwater right toward the Rio Grande --- and God only knows what else is in that water from the years of the illegal activities.

The Federal State Department (3/05) wrote that its workers at American Dam next to Asarco El Paso can't get independent medical review IN THE ENTIRE REGION.

So, we know that the wastes were secretly burned.  We know that federal workers at the epicenter of the incineration can't get independent medical review.  And, we know that this is all being ignored and covered up so that even the Asarco Bankruptcy court is not required to talk about it.

And we know that the first (of many) planned international city of San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa (and the connecting international rail, and keystone maquiladoras like Foxconn (maker of the iPhone)) could not easily-move-forward without ignoring the illegal secret toxic wastes in the 15-mile zone around this 110 year old Smelter.....

This is the Environmental Justice sacrifice zone from Hell. 

This "zone" is the most competitive zone anywhere in North and South America and this region routes products to the most active-consumers on the planet --- the 300 mile-wide "zone" along the USA eastern seaboard.

All we want to know (and the La Paz Accord Joint Advisory Committee's international Resolution agrees) are what chemicals have been left in our community from the illegal activities of the ASARCO El Paso smelter??

"Sterlite ups Asarco bid by $500 m" and Asbestos Creditors have a put-option ("bet") in place

Mumbai, Aug 20

"...The revised bid will be $2.1 billion in cash. While there is an increase in the cash consideration, Sterlite will receive about 72.5 per cent interest in the Litigation Trust, to be set up by the ‘Debtors in Possession’ (Asarco), at the closing of the transaction consequent to a US court judgment against Americas Mining Corporation, the company said.   The nine-year copper price participation note of $207.9 million and a put option granted to the Asbestos creditors against their share of 27 per cent litigation interest remain unchanged.   The move follows Grupo Mexico announcement that it would raise its offer to $2.2 billion in cash, in addition to a $280 million note, an increase of about $500 million over its previous offer..."

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/08/21/stories/2009082152180100.htm

Possible striking workers

Google News Alert for: asarco

Grupo Mexico Says It Hasn't Prepared for Steelworkers Strike Bloomberg The United Steelworkers of America union had said it would order a strike if Grupo Mexico takes back control of Asarco LLC without first negotiating a new ... See all stories on this topic

---

Beryllium

Protection didn't work

"Protection didn't work. So 25 workers poisoned by beryllium now risk death. (

image) David Sanders, The Arizona Daily Star Two don protective clothing, ..."
www.azstarnet.com/beryllium/0509n14.html

"Panama Canal Project Gets Surety Bond"

This is the project that is going head-to-head with the Punta Colonet seaport project that Grupo Mexico (Carlyle owns 20%) wants to win-a-bid for --- Grupo Mexico wants to win a 50 year lease to run the seaport and also to run the freight along its Ferromex/UP rail line up through Santa Teresa less than 15 miles from the ASARCO El PASO Toxic waste site...

"by admin on August 19, 2009

In conjunction with the projects broker Marsh Zurichs Surety Credit and Political Risk group is providing a surety bond for the Panama Canal expansion project one of the largest projects ever bonded by Zurich More here: Panama Canal Project Gets Surety Bond http://institutionalpartners.com/2009/08/panama-canal-project-gets-surety-bond/"

SAIC - the company that did the EPA testing for ASARCO EL PASO TEXAS in the 1990's when the TCEQ said this kind of testing was "outside their [the TCEQ's] jurisdiction"

http://www.pr-inside.com/print1409455.htm

"2009-07-27 18:47:07 - An investigation on behalf of former and current employees, who participated in the company plan of SAIC, Inc in regards to a lawsuit by a former employee, later joined by the Department of Justice alleging SAIC rigged $3.2B contract – The contract was awarded to SAIC in April 2004 and Galloway's company Applied Enterprise Solutions became a subcontractor for SAIC, according to the suit. According to the government, in October 2006, after being notified of Department of Justice's investigation, Adamec put all of his office documents relating to the NCCIPS in burn bags and gave instructions to his staff to do the same. The government claims he also instructed Knesel to have the hard drive and all backup disks to his computer destroyed."

Industrial outgassing hurting our oceans

Harbinger Capital Group, Asarco, and the still-secret wastes illegally burned in El Paso TX and E. Helena MT

“The general unsecured creditors who would be paid in full include bondholders Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund I Ltd. and government agencies charged with cleaning up pollution at Asarco’s mining sites. They have supported Sterlite’s previous plans The case is In re Asarco LLC, 05-21207, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas (Corpus Christi)." http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ae_7kL3zfSRg

Soon after the NYTimes released the 1998-confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only-document from the EPA to the Federal DOJ about ASARCO in 2006, Harbinger threw 500 million dollars at the NYTimes in an effort to take over its Board of Directors.   Harbinger failed, and lost 75% of that money.    The richest man in Mexico then gave the NYTimes a loan (Carlos Slim).  The people who released that document have suffered non-renewal, firings, eviction and more.

The document details how ASARCO handled and burned unmanifested and secret toxic-wastes for profit for nearly a decade in the 1990's.   Rep. Reyes (Chair of the House Intelligence Committee) later commented that ASARCO had paid millions on the condition that the details of what it had done would NEVER become public. 

Now the secret was out.   But Asarco, the court, the EPA, the DOJ, the TCEQ and the NMED then proceeded to act as if the document was still confidential, and that the illegal incineration of only-god-knows-what never happened.  They proceeded to keep the details from the public.

They are still acting this way.

But the document is PUBLIC, and we know that the EPA told the DOJ that Asarco had burned unmanifested wastes for years, for profit.  

How long do these conflicted officials and Asarco believe that they can continue to keep this "secret" secret?  They sent materials from Rocky Flats Plutonium site to El Paso for disposal, the grapevine to the EPA in CO tells us.   We know that they sent Rocky Mt. arsenal and Tooele UT wastes here.   We also know that the EPA reported that the Beta-Radiation levels in El Paso TX just before ASARCO shut down were the highest in the United States of America.  Just three months before that, the Texas Environmental Quality group suddenly decided to 'throw in the towel' and not establish a nuclear dump 100 miles from El Paso TX at Sierra Blanca Texas...  what were they afraid of?  Media/press attention to local nuclear and radiation issues was international at that time -- and had the media found out that ASARCO had released radiative material through its stacks the community outrage would have been intense.

What on God's earth did they expose us to, here?   Rare cancers appear rampant here - especially those of the brain, the throat and nasal cavity.  Children born to women who lived along the river in the 1990's had horrible teratogenic birth defects.   It is common to know a young mother with a child whose skull is completely fused.  Even the Federal State Dept. in 3/2005 said that Federal Workers next to the Asarco stack at the IBWC American dam site were sick, it was not their imagination and that they could not get independent medical review in the entire region.

The International La Paz Accord Joint Advisory Committee agreed in a resolution a year ago that chemical-background testing needs done.  Nothing has happened despite this group being chaired by the EPA.

Meanwhile we live next to the smelter, we remain sick, and after five years of research we are no closer to the facts and the truth of what dioxin, pcb, polonium, mercury and metals-isotopes are out there around the site than we were before.  The TCEQ and ASARCO recently *refused* to share split-samples with a long-standing and respected community group.

It is appalling and this Mexican-American Community deserves better.  When will our nation's top officials take honest action to help this community and to ensure honest oversight of the Asarco bankruptcy through its DOJ trustee??

Fraudulent concealment of the unmanifested toxic-wastes burned by ASARCO continues....

The bids roll in, and the bankruptcy court, the EPA and the DOJ continue to ignore the now-public EPA-DOJ Asarco confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only document (1998) that a DOJ Attorney released to the public in 2006:

Why is this allowed to happen in our Bankruptcy Court?  Why can't the new DOJ Administration do something about this?   The secret unmanifested toxic-wastes from both military and industrial sources burned by Asarco in El Paso TX and E. Helena MT for nearly ten years IS STILL BEING IGNORED by the bankruptcy proceedings.  

As Rep. Reyes said, ASARCO paid MILLIONS on the condition that details of what it had done would never become public.  Apparently the DOJ, the EPA and Asarco all want to pretend that someone honest in the DOJ never made that confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only document PUBLIC.

The Bankruptcy court is NOT considering the liabilities to Asarco from the years Asarco burned secret military wastes for profit.  And the EPA is not testing for the poisons that would remain here from those illegal activities.

But the bids for Asarco heat-up as the Bankruptcy winds to a close, and the bottom-line of Asarco is being "cleaned up".

Carlye Group owns 20% of Grupo Mexico (who controls Ferromex/UP railroad that will put a new international line through the port of entry just next door to the old ASARCO stacks) and Carlye owns CSX railroad along the USA 300-mile wide eastern seaboard.   Top executive(s) for the founder of Verde group now run Carlyle USA realty group.

What is coming down, here? 

Google News Alert for: asarco

Sterlite Matches Grupo Mexico Offer on Asarco Debts Bloomberg Under the plan, Sterlite would guarantee to pay unsecured debts of Asarco LLC that are ultimately considered legitimate by US Bankruptcy Judge Richard ... See all stories on this topic

Fraud at East Helena MT ASARCO

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Fraud at East Helena MT ASARCO
Date:	Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:27:12 -0600
To:	wardell.john[at]epa.gov, jackson.lisa[at]epa.gov, AskDOJ[at]usdoj.gov, thornton.wood[at]oag.state.tx.us, Kevin McCalla <KMCCALLA[at]tceq.state.tx.us>

To:  John Wardell
Fr:   m.s. biological sciences
sb:   The ASARCO stack demolition (http://www.helenair.com/video/#vmix_media_id=5631232) and concealment of the toxic waste

How could the EPA calmly talk about the East Helena ASARCO stack demolition when frauding the community?   The EPA has ignored the unmanifested/secret toxic wastes that the EPA notified the DOJ (1998) in a confidential-for-settlement-only-document had been handled and burned at Asarco El Paso TX and East Helena (see http://archives.newspapertree.com/Asarco/asarco_1998_memo.pdf )

That DOJ document is no longer confidential -- it is a PUBLIC document, and the EPA should act as if this information is now public.

The video (http://www.helenair.com/video/#vmix_media_id=5631232) shows the massive dust-cloud raised by the ASARCO stacks-demolition.  The still-concealed and secret (unmanifested) toxic wastes would have been in that dust, and likely have been spread around the small town in nano-particulates (smaller than PM2.5's). 

The EPA is responsible for the protection of this community, and in my opinion has failed East Helena.

We suspect that Asarco El Paso handled Rocky Flats plutonium site wastes; and, we know for a fact that Asarco El Paso (and likely Helena) handled Rocky Mt. Arsenal materials.  The EPA-DOJ document (above) lists many more of the (known) sources -- a lot of it was unmanifested and secret.

The Beta-radiation levels in El Paso Texas right before ASARCO closed were the highest in the U.S.A.  

It was irresponsible to take down those stacks without disclosure of what ASARCO left in our communities from the nearly ten-years of secret toxic-waste burning.  Cleveland Wrecking executives were notified before the stacks came down, and still went through with this action.

Turning point: Asarco plant demolition ends an era Trading Markets (press release) They knew the plant was being dismantled, but the stacks coming down were an in-your-face reality check that Asarco is history. ... See all stories on this topic

---

Asarco attorney represented creditors against Lehman Brothers, including METLIFE (whose CEO now runs the bailed out AIG Insurance Company)

"Grupo Mexico sweetens its bid for Asarco

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 5:30pm

The parent of Asarco LLC has raised its bid yet again for the bankrupt copper mining company, this time to $2 billion, by increasing the amount of cash it contains to $1.72 billion. Under the plan proposed by two units of Grupo México SAB de CV, Asarco Inc. and Americas Mining Corp., the parent increased the cash portion of its bid $257.5 million to $1.72 billion from $1.4625 billion, according to Grupo México's attorney, Robert Jay Moore of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP. This is a free content preview."
http://www.cbspevc.com/site/aggregator/sources/2?page=2

Robert Jay Moore was "Proposed Counsel for Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc." (see http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/Milbank.pdf) ..."On September 17, 2008, the United States Trustee filed the Appointment of Committee of Unsecured Creditors (docket no. 62), and thereby appointed the Creditors’ Committee consisting of:
(i) Wilmington Trust Company, as Indenture Trustee;
(ii) The Bank of NY Mellon;
(iii) Shinsei Bank, Limited;
(iv) Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd., as Agent;
(v) The Royal Bank of Scotland, PLC;
(vi) Metlife; and
(vii) RR Donnelley & Sons.

On September 17, 2008, the Creditors’ Committee duly selected Milbank as counsel to represent it during the pendency of the Debtors’ chapter 11 cases. RR Donnelley & Sons and The Royal Bank of Scotland, plc subsequently resigned as members of the Committee and on October 3, 2008, the United States Trustee filed the First Amended Appointment of Committee of Unsecured Creditors (docket no. 592) appointing The Vanguard Group Inc. and Aegon USA Investment Management as additional members of the Committee."

"Benmosche, a former MetLife Inc. chairman and CEO, was named president and CEO of AIG on Aug. 3 [2009]. He replaced CEO Edward Liddy, former CEO of Allstate Corp., who took over last fall after the government rescued the New York-based insurer."
http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?articleId=56902808&channelId=2951&buyerId=newsmeatcom&buid=3281

Grupo Mexico (20 % owned by the Carlyle Group -- and which controls Ferromex/UP railroad )

Google News Alert for: asarco

Grupo Mexico Raises Cash Offer for Asarco to $2.2B New York Times By AP DENVER (AP) -- A Mexican mining company raised its offer for Asarco LLC to $2.2 billion in cash Monday in an attempt to wrest control of the bankrupt ... See all stories on this topic

Investor who controls a Swiss Bank called ASARCO "facing foreclosure seeks protection from creditors"

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=34626

"Foreign investor Mikhail Katamanin, who in May was hit with a $12-million foreclosure lawsuit on his Highland Park mansion, filed a personal bankruptcy petition June 6 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago. The little-known investor listed assets of $1 million to $10 million and liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million, according to the filing. His debts are described as “primarily consumer,” and the list of creditors includes Atlantis at Paradise Island Resort & Casino in the Bahamas, Caesars Palace Las Vegas Hotel & Casino and Trump Taj Mahal Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. Chicago lawyer Kori Bazanos, who represents Mr. Katamanin, declined to comment.

Related story: Lender asserts claim on lakefront mansion " (follows below)

"May 19, 2009

By Samantha Sleevi

Lender asserts claim on lakefront mansion

(Crain’s) — A Caribbean investment company has sued to collect on a $12-million loan to a little-known investor, asking the court to put a lien on a lakefront mansion in Highland Park.

Foreign investor Mikhail Katamanin took out the short-term loan in March 2008 from Plymouth Consultants Ltd., which is based in the British Virgin Islands, according to a complaint Plymouth filed May 1 in Lake County Circuit Court. The loan, which initially charged 15% interest, wasn’t paid off when it came due Jan. 7, Plymouth alleges.

Mr. Katamanin failed to put up as security a nearly 7,000-square-foot home at 975 Sheridan Road, as required by the loan, the complaint says. As a result, Plymouth is asking for a court-ordered lien on the two-story house, which has 4½ bathrooms, two fireplaces and a brick exterior, according to the Lake County Assessor.

The reason for the loan is not disclosed in the complaint. John F. Kennedy, a partner with Chicago firm Shefsky & Froelich Ltd., which represents Plymouth, declined to comment.

The property is held in trust by Swiss company Asarco A.G.[this BANK lists Asarco llc and Asarco SA under its nomiker], which Mr. Mikhail controls, according to the complaint and public records.

Mr. Katamanin lives next door, at 985 Sheridan Road, a 10,555-square-foot mansion with 5½ bathrooms, two fireplaces, a pool and a stucco exterior, according to the assessor.

Mr. Katamanin did not return calls requesting comment. Northbrook lawyer Irving Drobny, who represents Asarco, is out of the country until next week, according to employees at his office.[Irving Drobny also represents the Royal Family of Vietnam]

Mr. Katamanin has made two interest payments totaling about $1.67 million, according to the complaint.

The claim also is to be arbitrated in Switzerland, according to the complaint."

Greenfield environmental Trust Group is trustee for the East Helena site (also burned the secret-stuff)

In Montana (like here) Asarco is transferring the deed to the still secret-toxic-wastes to the PUBLIC.  (WAKE UP EL PASO!!!!!)   And they plan to sell off parcels (sound familiar?) and even talked about using the ground-up slag for sand-traps at their golf-course ...
http://www.missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_fda17544-8aa5-11de-9003-001cc4c03286.html

"Wardell is optimistic of future redevelopment too, especially once the bankruptcy proceedings end and it's clear who owns Asarco. A legal agreement already has been reached - but won't be instituted until the bankruptcy is completed - that the Asarco-owned lands in Montana will be deeded to a custodial trust, owned by the public and managed by the Boston-based Greenfield Environmental Trust Group.

The group can sell the lands, including parcels that create a band of currently unusable property around East Helena that has stymied expansion of the community. Money from the sale would go back into the custodial trust, and used to pay for some remediation costs - including underground arsenic and selenium plumes - plus the cost of administering the trust.

In addition, the court-approved settlement calls for $5 million in compensatory fees to be put into a separate trust and used for things like wildlife improvement projects or acquisitions for recreational purposes in the East Helena area."

see
http://archives.newspapertree.com/Asarco/asarco_1998_memo.pdf

for more information about what they are all covering-up.... the details of what they did are still being covered-up and the public still needs to know what chemicals are involved

Helena Stack were demolished , and the Secret Toxic wastes remain secret

http://www.missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_fda17544-8aa5-11de-9003-001cc4c03286.html


-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	East Helena Stack demolition -- important information for Cleveland Wrecking Co.
Date:	Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:14:33 -0600
To:	Jim_Sheridan[at]urscorp.com
CC:	AskDOJ[at]usdoj.gov, thornton.wood[at]oag.state.tx.us, jackson.lisap[at]epa.gov, john.harrington[at]helenair.com, Diana Washington Valdez <dvaldez[at]elpasotimes.com>, dcrowder[at]epmediagroup.com, Piper.Bonnie[at]epamail.epa.gov, Bill_Torres[at]urscorp.com, Joe_LeClair[at]urscorp.com, Steve_Sheridan[at]urscorp.com

To:  Mr. Sheridan, President of Cleveland Wrecking Co.
Fr: 

Please look through this formerly-confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only EPA document to the Federal Dept. of Justice written in 1998 and kept secret until 2006:  http://archives.newspapertree.com/Asarco/asarco_1998_memo.pdf

This document will let you know that the EPA said ASARCO secretly burned illegal toxic wastes for profit for nearly ten years and that some of that went to the ASARCO Helena smelter. 

This settlement-document is now a public document; but, Asarco and the EPA/DOJ are continuing to act as if this document never was released, and that the illegal near-decade of unmanifested-waste-burning never happened.  Rep. Reyes (Chair, House intelligence committee) was quoted saying that Asarco paid millions of dollars on the condition that details of what it had done would never become public.

Your workers will be exposed to whatever chemicals have been left in that community from ASARCO's illegal activity -- and it could contain anything -- some of those sources you will see in that document are military, some are industrial.    The wastes Asarco secretly burned and handled were unmanifested and could have contained anything:  actinides (radioactive alpha particles or other particles), dioxins, pcb's, polonium, etc.   The EPA has never revealed what these chemical-values are for the community.

The stacks should not come down, in my opinion, until the EPA does independent-stack-sampling of the residues left inside the stacks from ASARCO's illegal activities; and, until all workers are equipped with white-haz-mat suits with independent-oxygen-support.    Even with that done, the demolition of the stacks will potentially expose the community to the secret chemical wastes, in the resulting dusts.   And, that demolition-waste should not go to any landfills without the EPA, ASARCO and the DOJ revealing to us what is in that waste.

I feel that your company should have been notified about this document, and that you should not demolish the stacks without the facts in front of you. 

Groundwater arsenic throughout ground/surface water at E Paso TX Asarco site

To: Lorinda Gardner [tceq regional director, El Paso TX]
Sb:  Response to Lorinda Gardner's three emails sent 2:36 pm 12-Aug-09

Ms. Gardner, you and Asarco have denied our community group's (SPGEG) request.   We asked for split samples.  We asked for funds to run the tests at a lab of our choice.

You (TCEQ) are denying this request unnecessarily in favor of the industry who the EPA let us know burned the secret toxic waste here for a decade.   I would like an explanation for why the TCEQ invented a road-block.   Your actions throw suspicion on any further testing that the TCEQ may claim to "independently" conduct at Asarco and suggest there may be conflicts-of-interest about coming-clean with the Paso del Norte community.  

The TCEQ and its attorneys are quite aware of the formerly-confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only EPA document to the Federal DOJ (http://archives.newspapertree.com/Asarco/asarco_1998_memo.pdf) in which the EPA said Asarco burned unmanifested toxic wastes for profit for nearly a decade.  Rep. Reyes (Chair of the House Intelligence Committee) stated on record that Asarco paid millions on condition that details of what it had done would not become public.   However, this document is now a public document, and the secret of the terrible chemical contamination of our community and watershed is out.

NOTICE: THIS WILL DIRECT YOUR ATTENTION TO UNITED STATES V. PANARELLA, 277 F.3^RD 678 AND UNITED STATES V. GRAY, NO. 95-50533, SEPTEMBER 18, 1996.  IT IS REQUESTED THAT NO PERSON WHO EITHER KNOWS, OR SHOULD KNOW, THAT ANY ASARCO CONTAMINATION OF CORPUS CHRISTI OR PASO DEL NORTE REGION IS BEING CONCEALED PARTICIPATE IN ANY FURTHER ACTION IN THIS MATTER.  THIS REQUEST INCLUDES, BUT IS NOT LIMITED TO THE ATTORNEYS AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVES OF ASARCO.

TCEQ "overlooks" open-records-request about selection of ASARCO trustee

Michael,
This is the first time (and in over 5 years of many PIA requests) that the TCEQ has lost a PIA from me.   You lost it until *after* the bankruptcy hearing.   Now, the TCEQ wants to charge me for copying?   Not only are fees waived (you are incorrect) but I am a member of a long-standing group [...] and the TCEQ could EASILY waive fees because of that if they wanted to.

"In response to another request, all submittals for the trustee position are available for review in the regional office."  Why did it take so long for anyone at TCEQ to tell me that??  I asked not only in June - but my previous trustee PIA was received by the TCEQ in Feb/March!!!!

You can likely understand that I am incredulous at your response.  I appreciate the information you attached and look forward to receiving copies (free) of the remainder. 

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Open Records Request for TCEQ ASARCO El Paso
Date:	Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:01:58 -0500
From:	Michael Chamberlain <MICHAMBE@tceq.state.tx.us>

I have been working with our PIA staff in looking into this request. Evidently, it was inadvertently mixed in with another request on receipt and was overlooked.  While you are correct in that untimely action on the part of TCEQ can waive some confidentiality, it does not waive copying charges.  That said, in this instance, you may be able to work out an accommodation with your regional office as to the documents held in that office.

 

In response to another request, all submittals for the trustee position are available for review in the regional office.  However, to keep negotiations with a proposed trustee competitive, these do not include fee information.  If you would like the fee information, I would be happy to forward that to the regional office as well, we just ask that you do not distribute it to keep negotiations competitive.  I have also attached several documents that may be responsive, including ones that would usually be held back as drafts.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions.

 

Michael S. Chamberlain, J.D.

Legal Assistant

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
Office of Legal Services
General Law Division, MC-173
P.O. Box 13087
Austin, Texas  78711-3087
512-239-0478
Fax: 512-239-0606
michambe@tceq.state.tx.us

***CONFIDENTIAL CLIENT/AGENCY COMMUNICATION***

REP Please consider our environment before printing this e-mail or any attachments.

>>> > 7/22/2009 10:08 AM >>>
Thanks, Lorinda,
Would you get the records officer to send me a reply from their office?

What they have done by not replying, and by over-extending the legal deadline, I believe, is make all information available to me even what they might have been withholding (confidential information) about the additional trustees.  Also, it means that all fees are waived.  

Would you send me a copy of the documents if this is correct and the fees are waived?  I don't have money for xeroxing and if I need copies would have to bring a small xerox machine into the office and copy one page at a time. 

thank you,

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Re: [Fwd: Open Records Request for TCEQ ASARCO El Paso]
Date:	Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:04:49 -0500
From:	Lorinda Gardner <LGARDNER@tceq.state.tx.us>

 

The records arrived in my office this week.  They are available for viewing.  I will get you an estimate for copies and electronic copies today.

 

Thanks

Lorinda D Gardner

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

El Paso Regional Director

lgardner@tceq.state.tx.us

915.834.4951

>>>  7/21/2009 11:34 PM >>>
Hi,
I have not gotten a reply to this public info. request.  Would you send me an estimate of the time it will take you to reply?  It has been quite a while.

thank you,


-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Open Records Request for TCEQ ASARCO El Paso
Date:	Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:24:41 -0600

Hello, P.I.A. Officer:

Would you please send me the update for this open-records request below, about the custodial trust information and let me know if the cost exceeds 25$ for this information.  I understand that since I made the original request that the list of possible trustees has expanded from ten to twenty-five.  

Also, please make sure that I am sent updates on this subject --- because I am on the list for all TCEQ updates, and still did not get this updated information or notification it was available to me at the local office ("Under the TX Public Information Act, I would like to be placed on a mailing list for all updates to the upcoming funding and formation of the custodial trust for demolition of the ASARCO El Paso plant, and remediation of the site; and, be able to see any public-information on this from 3-1-08 through the current date through my regional office.")

I am a long-term member of several community groups active on the Asarco issue for years, and respectfully ask that any fees be waived because this is for the public interest and not for personal gain.

thank you,




-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	Open Records Request for TCEQ ASARCO El Paso
Date:	Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:38:08 -0700

To:  Public Records Officer

sb:  ASARCO El Paso

A recent news article in El Paso TX stated that:

“ASARCO is working with the state of Texas to fund a custodial trust for the demolition of the plant and remediation of the site. Any custodial trust must be approved by the bankruptcy court that is overseeing ASARCOâ€Ts reorganization effort.

“We will not comment further on any specific details that are part of the bankruptcy process.”

Under the TX Public Information Act, I would like to be placed on a mailing list for all updates to the upcoming funding and formation of the custodial trust for demolition of the ASARCO El Paso plant, and remediation of the site; and, be able to see any public-information on this from 3-1-08 through the current date through my regional office.  

Also, I would like to know why, when I was on a list for notification to changes to ANY Asarco El paso permits, that I have received no notice from the TCEQ that any ASARCO permits have been revoked but read it in the newspaper last week.   I would appreciate an update on the ASARCO water permit and ore handling permit (#4151), in particular.  Are these permits still in effect? 

In addition, I would like a digital (cdrom or dvrom) copy of all of Mr. Brad Wilkinson's emails and correspondence and phone logs in any reference to the ASARCO El Paso toxic-waste pyramid (and its contents) that was recently covered with asphalt after being capped with clay, plastic and more clay.  This was formerly the ASARCO pond that handled overflow from the Asarco plant - including its electric plant; and the same pond that was dredged and its dirt shipped back to Corpus Christi TX for disposal at the TX US Ecology waste site.

Finally, I would like a digital (cdrom or dvrom) copy of all of Mr. Brad Wilkinson's emails and correspondence and phone logs from 10/1/2006 to current date regarding mention to any of the following nine metals/chemicals in relation to the ASARCO El Paso site (see list below).   These metals/chemicals might be referenced within the email etc. by their chemical symbols and/or chemical names, too.   This is not an idle request- some of these have been reported in huge amounts from the overflow of the ASARCO storm ponds.

If any of the information cannot be released to me in whole or in part because of confidentiality, please list those documents in question.

I ask that you notify me should the charges exceed 25$.
thank you,


List of chemicals (9)
Beryllium
Barium
Cesium
Hafnium
Mercury
Strontium
Thallium
Uranium
Vanadium