Senator Shapleigh's pages on TCEQ in "Grover's Tub"

see:
http://shapleigh.org/news/3739-grover-s-tub-captured-and-corrupted-at-tceq

We agree with the observations about the TCEQ, but the pages (sent to constituents in an email) totally miss mentioning how the EPA proved Asarco secretly burned unknown (unmanifested!) hazardous-wastes for years, for profit, during the 1990's -- and that we only found out after the Federal DOJ made a 1998 confidential-Asarco-EPA-settlement document public in 2006 -- after EIGHT YEARS of silence and secrecy!!

We ask all of our political representatives/senators to let the community know what Asarco actually did here -- and, we want to know what chemicals have been left here from those years of illegal secret-wastes incineration.

The Asarco Workers Union asked to accept a short-term contract extension // The years of unmanifested secret toxic waste incineration - IGNORED

"The [ASARCO] company's Arizona and Texas mining and refining operations will finally be free from environmental liabilities that drove it into bankruptcy in 2005, said Jorge Lazalde, vice president and general counsel for Grupo Mexico subsidiary Asarco Inc. 

[CRIMINAL Disregard by the Government for the secret chemicals (from what the EPA said were military and industrial sources) secretly burned here for years.  WHERE is our Government/Justice?  Can criminals act this way so indiscriminately and get away with it?  Why is the Supreme Court going to review the honest services provision of the mail and wire fraud act this winter for the ENRON case (involving a principal bond holder ASARCO bank?).  WHY is there a SWISS Bank called ASARCO A.G. (Asarco SA, Asarco inc.)?

The EPA-Asarco-DOJ "confidential for settlement purposes only" document (NYTimes 10/06) telling us what really happened here -- IGNORED.   The secret toxic wastes from those years IGNORED.  The recommendation of the La Paz Accord JAC committee to test for these chemicals IGNORED.  The requests of the local community for split samples IGNORED.]

In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Lazalde also said the company assumed a contract that makes its 1,500 unionized workers among the best-paid in the industry and has offered to extend the deal through 2011.....The company has until mid-January to provide a contract offer, and the union has until mid-February to accept the short-term contract extension."

http://www.montereyherald.com/business/ci_13858953?nclick_check=1

Exec says new Asarco to be profitable, competitive

... said without any regard for the contamination left here and in E. Helena MT from the years of what the EPA and Federal DOJ finally let us know were YEARS of secret & illegal toxic-waste burning.   Military and Industrial wastes -- incinerated without manifests here.    It is easy to be "profitable, competitive" when you don't pay to clean up the poisons left behind.   ASARCO will pay only  52 million dollars to "clean up" the Rio Grande, the Hueco Bolson, and sister cities of Cd. Juarez, El Paso and Sunland Park.

CRIMINAL

Google Blogs Alert for: asarco bankruptcy

Exec says new Asarco to be profitable, competitive (AP ... By admin A top executive with the company set to take over Asarco LLC says the Tucson-based copper miner will emerge from a grueling four-year bankruptcy court battle. eCommoditiesTrading - http://www.ecommoditiestrading.com/

What do ENRON and Asarco have in common?

Attorneys for the ENRON case are getting the Honest Services provision of the mail & wire fraud act re-visited by the U.S. Supreme Court -- to be decided this spring. 


September 21, 2002

Lawyer Proves a Thorn for Enron's Partners

By DAVID BARBOZA

"Citigroup [Asarco Principle Bondholder] and J. P. Morgan [Asarco had a "$450 million Revolving Credit Agreement with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co."] have been accused by members of Congress and a variety of lawyers of helping Enron disguise billions of dollars worth of debt by creating special-purpose entities offshore with names like Mahonia, which was based in the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel, and Delta, based in the Cayman Islands." [We know that there is a Swiss Bank called "Asarco A.G." (Asarco S.A., Asarco Inc.).]
http://www.alston.com/neal_batson/

"R. Neal Batson is special counsel to Alston & Bird.....was appointed by the United States Department of Justice to serve as the Examiner for Enron Corp. and was authorized to investigate various aspects of the company."

neal.batson@alston.com

[Fwd: TCEQ News Release--Trustee Named for ASARCO remediation]

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

Subject:	TCEQ News Release--Trustee Named for ASARCO remediation
Date:	Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:45:29 -0600 (CST)
From:	Texas Commission on Environmental Quality <tceq@service.govdelivery.com>

You are subscribed to News Releases for Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. Or, see text below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                              
CONTACT: ANDREA MORROW
PHONE: 512-239-5011 / PAGER: 512-896-

TRUSTEE NAMED FOR ASARCO EL PASO REMEDIATION  
Project Navigator will manage clean-up

“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Project Navigator, represented by Roberto Puga, as the custodial trustee for remediation activities at the ASARCO–El Paso site,” said Mark Vickery, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. “This highly respected and experienced firm will work with the TCEQ to advance toward closure of the site.”

On Nov. 13, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Corpus Christi issued an order confirming the plan of reorganization and implementing the settlement. 

On either Dec. 11 or 14, the effective date of the plan, ASARCO will place $52,080,000 in an environmental custodial trust to address remedial activities. Funds totaling $52 million will be used at the El Paso site and the remainder will fund clean up at another non-operating site in Amarillo. 

For the latest information on the clean-up plans and progress, see: http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/remediation/sites/asarco.html.

 

 

###

The ASARCO BANKRUPTCY COVER-UP IS COMPLETE??

"The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has named a trustee who will be in charge of cleaning up the ASARCO site...Mark Vickery, TCEQ's executive director, appointed Project Navigator, represented by Roberto Puga, as the trustee. ..In mid-December, ASARCO will put $52,080,000 in an environmental custodial trust to support the clean-up."
http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=11560816

AND IN THIS ENTIRE PROCESS THE FEDERAL DEPT. OF JUSTICE, THE EPA, THE TCEQ, THE N.M. ENVIRONMENTAL DEPT. ---- NONE OF THEM HAVE DISCLOSED WHAT SECRET AND ILLEGAL HAZARDOUS WASTES REMAIN HERE FROM WHAT THE EPA SAID WAS ILLEGAL INCINERATION OF UNKNOWN TOXIC-WASTES FOR PROFIT (DURING THE ENTIRE 1990's).

A fraud of amazing proportions is occurring right before our eyes - and we would never have known what happened here if an honest Federal DOJ Attorney had not sent us (2006) the EPA-Asarco "confidential for settlement purposes only" 73 page document to the DOJ (1998) that finally gave us the truth.

But the DOJ, the Bankruptcy Trustee, the EPA, the NMED, and the TCEQ all are ignoring that document as if it was never made public and as if the contents were still secret.

WHAT happened here in El Paso during the secret incineration of military wastes that is SO BAD that none of these Government Agencies can be open and honest with us??!   It had to be very bad.

WHY is there a Swiss Bank named "ASARCO AG" created about the time that the smelter shut down?

HOW CAN OUR ENTIRE JUSTICE SYSTEM (THE BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE AND THE COURTS), THE FEDERAL EPA, THE STATES OF NEW MEXICO AND TEXAS ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY DEPARTMENTS -- ALL FAIL TO DISCLOSE THE CONTAMINATION REMAINING FROM THESE YEARS OF ILLEGAL INCINERATION OF MILITARY AND INDUSTRIAL WASTES??!!??

WE DO NOT EVEN HAVE DIOXIN DATA FOR THE EL PASO ASARCO SMELTER.  NO DIOXIN DATA. NO URANIUM DATA.

IS THE U.S.A. JUSTICE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS SO CORRUPTED THAT WE CAN'T EVEN GET DIOXIN DATA BEFORE A PALTRY 52 MILLION DOLLARS IS "handed down" TO US TO CLEAN UP THE RIO GRANDE, AN INTERNATIONAL AQUIFER (the HUECO BOLSON), OUR CITIES AND OUR AIR??!!??

HOW COULD OUR GOVERNMENT HAVE SAT ON THIS FOR THREE YEARS AFTER THE TRUTH CAME OUT?  HOW MANY CHILDREN MUST BE BORN HERE WITH TERATOGENIC BIRTH DEFECTS BEFORE ANYTHING IS DONE TO DETERMINE WHAT HAS HAPPENED HERE??!!??

TX (statewide venue) "Environmental crimes prosecutor appointed"

"AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Sunday, November 22, 2009

Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg on Friday announced the appointment of the agency's first full-time environmental crimes prosecutor.... Patty Robertson.... will be based in Travis County but will prosecute cases throughout the state.

The Travis County District Attorney's Office has statewide venue on most environmental crimes under Texas law, officials said."

Businessman gets 5 years in Synagro case

http://www.freep.com/article/20091113/NEWS01/91113017/1320/Businessman-gets-5-years-in-Synagro-case
[reprinted under fair use]
 
 Nov. 13, 2009 | Updated: 5:07 p.m. Nov. 13, 2009
"Businessman gets 5 years in Synagro case
BY BEN SCHMITT AND JOE SWICKARD
 

FREE PRESS
 
 Detroit businessman Rayford Jackson, a key figure in the Synagro sludge-hauling scandal in Detroit, was sentenced this afternoon to the maximum prison sentence he could receive under his guilty plea -- five years.

 
 
Jackson, 44, had previously pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit bribery before U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn, who today rejected a request from Jackson’s lawyer that he be given only two years in prison.

Defense lawyer Richard Morgan said that Synagro “should be standing here, and they’re not.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Bullotta disputed defense claims that Jackson was somehow lured into the bribery scheme. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he told the judge. He also challenged the claim that, for all its notoriety, the now-canceled Synagro contract with the city would have ultimately benefited Detroiters. “It was all about Rayford Jackson,” Bullotta said. "He stood to make millions.”

In dispensing the maximum sentence, Judge Cohn noted with displeasure the defendant’s refusal to acknowledge his wrongdoing, even after he admitted to his misdeeds. “Mr. Jackson has not displayed contrition and remorse and he has not apologized,” Cohn said.

But the judge added, Jackson, who has refused to cooperate with investigators in the ongoing probe, still has an opportunity to improve his fate. He instructed Jackson that if he decides to cooperate with the feds within the first year of his prison term, the length of his sentence could be revisited.

“There’s still an opportunity for you to express contrition and remorse in the form of cooperation,” he said.

Jackson, a flashy entrepreneur who traveled through Detroit political circles with an attractive young television anchorwoman on his arm, arrived in court this afternoon dapper – and silent – as ever. He wore a dark, double-breasted pinstriped suit and a black bowler with a jaunty feather, which he wore into the courtroom.

Bullotta said Jackson “and Jackson alone decided to bribe Monica Conyers,” the former Detroit city councilwoman who herself is awaiting sentencing in January for her role in the Synagro scandal.

Bullotta said the evidence showed Jackson was operating actively and independently because he did not tell disgraced Synagro official James Rosendall about bribing Conyers until after Jackson had done so. Jackson, the prosecutor said, operated out of “pure greed.”

Jackson is slated to report to prison on Jan. 15.

After the verdict, U.S. District Attorney Terrence Berg said, “I hope this will be a deterrent to anyone considering any type of similar conduct in the form of bribing public officials.”

After issuing the sentence, Cohn took time to commend the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office and likened their efforts to Hercules, who in Greek mythology cleaned the stables of Augean stables full of thousands of cattle in a single day."

[Fwd: TCEQ ASARCO (El Paso) Update]

You are subscribed to receive updates from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regarding the ASARCO site in El Paso, TX. 
We have added the following comment to the ASARCO web page.
On June 5, 2009, the bankruptcy court approved the settlement agreement concerning the El Paso Smelter and the Amarillo Smelter Sites.  On November 13, 2009, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Corpus Christi Division, issued an order confirming the plan of reorganization put forth by Americas Mining Corporation, the parent corporation of the debtor.  This plan implements the settlement referenced above that places $52,080,000 in an environmental custodial trust to address remedial activities. 

This service is provided to you at no charge by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Visit us on the web at www.tceq.state.tx.us.

GovDelivery, Inc. sending on behalf of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality · 12100 Park 35 Circle · Austin TX 78753 · 512-239-1000

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?

When EPA tries to do its job, it is labeled "Activist"

"Gov. Rick Perry, who appoints the state panel's three commissioners,
has called the EPA an activist agency that could derail Texas' economy."

Umm, you mean the plans for Grupo Mexico and Verde groups first planned
international city in the shadow of the Asarco El Paso stacks ---- in
the middle of this toxic disaster and the massive cancer-zone?

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/2009/11/15/1115epa.html

Sham Recycling leads to Sham Asarco bankruptcy and sham decisions

• Why won't the Dept. of Justice Bankruptcy Trustee require that the Bankruptcy court consider the liabilities from the secret military and industrial wastes illegally burned at Asarco El Paso and E. Helena for many years?
• Isn't it illegal to not require full disclosure of the toxic wastes in the Asarco bankruptcy? 
  
• Why won't the news disclose how Carlyle Group owns 20% of Grupo Mexico?
• Why did the EPA report that the Beta Radiation levels in El Paso just before Asarco shut down were the highest in the USA?
  
• The shut down occurred soon after the TCEQ made an abrupt decision to not bring nuclear wastes to this region for disposal, after all.
  
• Why weren't we told the truth for eight years (from 1998 to 2006), and why are the government and attorneys acting as if that secret document is not now public??
  
• Why won't the government disclose what poisons are still here from those activities?
• Why does Grupo Mexico plan to bid on a Pacific coast seaport - to run it for 50 years and bring rail freight through a port of entry about only ten miles from the Asarco El Paso epicenter?  How could such construction and planning be done if the true extent of the toxic-waste contamination were exposed?
• What happened here?!?
  

Google News Alert for: asarco bankruptcy

Grupo Mexico Chairman Gets Long-Awaited Prize Wall Street Journal "A full payment is a rare species in bankruptcy," said Jack Kinzie of Baker Botts LLP, who had argued that Sterlite should take Asarco out of bankruptcy. ... See all stories on this topic

"Ten years after launching a hostile takeover of U.S. copper refiner Asarco LLC and four years after forcing it into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Mexican billionaire Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco [AND CARLYLE GROUP - THEY OWN 20% of GRUPO MEXICO] finally has what he wanted: control of the copper giant free from the threat of environmental and asbestos litigation.

The Grupo Mexico SAB chairman also will rule over one of the world's largest copper producers in terms of known ore reserves, adding Asarco's mines to properties Mr. Larrea operates in Mexico and Peru."

Sham Recycling leads to Sham Bankruptcy

And still the Dept. of Justice Bankruptcy Trustee fails to make the Bankruptcy Court consider liabilities from the years of illegal secret military & industrial waste burning at Asarco El Paso and E. Helena MT.

Why?!




Google Web Alert for: Asarco

Grupo Mexico should control Asarco, judge rules Nov 14, 2009 ... Grupo Mexico should control Asarco, judge rules, A US District Court judge has ruled Grupo Mexico SAB should regain control of bankrupt ...

"A U.S. District Court judge has ruled Grupo Mexico SAB should regain control of bankrupt Tucson copper miner Asarco LLC.

The ruling, issued Friday night by Judge Andrew Hanen of the Southern District of Texas, comes after months of legal battles between Grupo, Asarco's estranged parent company, and competitor Sterlite Industries Ltd."

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