Native American Tribal government lands and Interior managed lands to get nearly 200 million from Asarco settlement

Google News Alert for: asarco bankruptcy

KVOA.com ASARCO Settlement Provides $194 Million for Federal, State and Tribal Wildlife ... KVOA.com Along with federal, state and tribal co-trustees, Interior brought claims at more than a dozen sites which were settled during the ASARCO bankruptcy. ... See all stories on this topic

"WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced today that an environmental damage settlement with ASARCO LLC, a North American mining conglomerate, would provide about $194 million for the recovery of wildlife, habitat and other natural resources managed by Interior, state, and tribal governments at more than a dozen sites around the nation."

Grupo Mexico's stock values begin rise

Google News Alert for: asarco bankruptcy

Mexico's Stocks Rise, Peso Weakens Early Thursday; IPC +0.7% Wall Street Journal MX) were trading 2% higher at MXN30.60 after the company said Wednesday night that its US subsidiary, Asarco, has exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. ... See all stories on this topic

ASARCO bankruptcy settlement brings millions to the great state of Montana, home of W.R.Grace Libby Disaster and E. Helena (also burned the secret illegal toxic wastes for years)

Google Alert
"ASARCO bankruptcy settlement brings millions to MT | MINING.com News
By Montana's News Station
Governor Brian Schweitzer has announced that Montana has received nearly $195 million to clean up ASARCO's contaminated sites in the state. "
MINING.com News - http://admin.news.mining.com/

TCEQ News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   CONTACT: LISA WHEELER

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2009  PHONE: 512-239-5003 / PAGER: 512-606-3681
TCEQ Commissioners Welcome New EPA Region 6 Administrator

EPA and TCEQ to discuss new public participation rules

  

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality commissioners today hosted recently appointed EPA Region 6 Administrator Dr. Alfredo “Al” Armendariz at the commission headquarters in Austin. The purpose of the visit was not only to welcome the new administrator to his new position but also to discuss the various rules regarding Texas’ successful air program. Yesterday, commissioners approved for publication a new rule package seeking to expand public participation in the state’s air permit process.

 

"Texas' air quality permitting program is already one of the most robust in the nation,” said Chairman Bryan W. Shaw, Ph.D.  “The TCEQ has taken proactive, aggressive measures to improve air quality in Texas. Air emissions and pollution concentrations in our state are at their lowest level in the past 20 years, while Texas continues to maintain a strong, growing economy.”

 

"I have always viewed public participation as a vital component in the permitting process," said Commissioner Buddy Garcia.  "I appreciate Dr. Armendariz spending time with each of us today, and I look forward to working with him to show the rest of the nation how Texas has been successful and will continue to lead on environmental issues.”  

 

“Texas already has a meaningful and engaging public participation process that directly impacts permits and provides significant environmental safeguards,” said Commissioner Carlos Rubinstein. “I welcome the rule changes that will provide even greater public participation and transparency.”

 

A public hearing to accept comment on the proposed rule revisions will take place January 25, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. in Building E, Room 201 S, at the TCEQ campus, 12100 Park 35 Circle, in Austin.   The comment period will end on February 16.

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

Grupo Mexico: Asarco :: W.R. Grace : Libby Montana disaster

"PHOENIX (AP) -- Mexico City-based mining giant Grupo Mexico SAB has completed its [re-]acquisition of Tucson, Ariz.-based copper miner Asarco LLC.

The transaction Wednesday ended a years long battle waged by Grupo Mexico to reacquire the firm it first bought in 1999 but lost to bankruptcy in 2005 after Asarco was overwhelmed by huge environmental remediation costs." http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Grupo-Mexico-closes-deal-to-apf-372850306.html?x=0&.v=1

------------
"One thing that continues to puzzle some of my contacts in Justice and EPA headquarters is how and why Mercer and David Uhlmann, the then-chief of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section, got away with pursuing criminal indictments [in 2005] against [W.R.] Grace [for the Libby Montana asbestos disaster]." [and LOST the court case]
http://andrewschneiderinvestigates.com/2009/04/26/the-district-court-website-for-judge-donald-molloys-own-domain-offers-link-and-info-on-filing-charges-of-judicial-misconduct-thank-you/

Asarco cleaned up Spic and Span when it should be the Federal DOJ that is getting cleaned-up

-- Asarco cleaned up Spic and Span with help from the Federal Department of Justice who failed to acknowledge a confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only  document that their fellow DOJ attorney released to a public information request, and that let us know the EPA had told the DOJ in 1998 Asarco had burned unmanifested/secret hazardous-wastes for profit, for years.   The Federal DOJ Bankruptcy trustee FAILED to make the Bankruptcy courts act on this evidence and failed to hold ASARCO accountable for the liabilities from this secret and toxic hazardous-wastes (both industrial and military origins).

What is our nation of laws coming to when huge corporations like ASARCO (its  parent company is partially owned by the Carlyle Group) are allowed to use our courts to "clean up" their financial image by ignoring basic facts which should have been considered in the bankruptcy-setting?

Everyday working people - the same taxpayers that bailed out the banks - are now in-effect bailing out ASARCO and its creditors because a few Government's employees allowed this company escape its culpability (as we speak, the Supreme Court has re-opened the ENRON case to reconsider the "honest services provision" of the mail and wire fraud act that holds such government employees accountable (why?)).

Google Blogs Alert for: asarco bankruptcy

RapidShare Introduces Americas Reseller Program By Rapidshare Ag November 24th, 2009 Exec says new Asarco to be profitable, competitivePHOENIX — 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 ... PR Hub - http://blog.taragana.com/pr/

Our UTEP students are still walking around exposed to these levels of Arsenic; and the new plan is to build a UTEP research park at Asarco's site

UTEP Campus along Sunbowl Drive and Paisano, showing levels of toxic metals detected by the EPA in 2004...
Red dots: Residential Properties that Exceed 46 ppm (As) and/or 500 ppm (Pb) (883)
Green dots: Residential Properties that are Equal to or Below 46 ppm (As) and/or 500 ppm (Pb) (1640)

from 2/2004 Sample Location Map El Paso County Metals Survey, El Paso, El Paso County, Texas [USEPA REGION 6 START-2]

At a recent TXDOT open-house Mr. Berry indicated that the I-10 & Schuster Interchange Project had found no problems (i.e. no toxic levels of anything). The area he was referring to is shown on this map as where RIM Road extends down to the end of Sunbowl Drive toward Paisano. He stated that UTEP was building that new [Nursing/Health Sciences] building right there, and said that surely there could be no problem if UTEP was building right there...

But, this EPA map shows that the area on Sunbowl Drive where that building has been placed is next to a sea of red dots -- indicating that the dirt was likely very toxic before UTEP started breaking ground.

The TXDOT project and the UTEP building are happening in the midst of this sea of red dots; and, the government is doing nothing.

Asarco AG Swiss Bank

Why is there a Swiss bank called "ASARCO AG" (Asarco SA, Asarco inc)??

The Republicans were right: Sen. Shapleigh wants to develop the Super Toxic Asarco Site

"Our community has a historic opportunity to redevelop one of the key sites in our community, the true Pass of the North," Shapleigh said.

In other communities, stadiums have been placed on Asarco riverfront properties, and in still others, research parks or other key installations have been placed.

"Due to the proximity to Mexico, the historic nature of Peace Park across the river, and the rail and access to UTEP, this site is very important to El Paso's future."
http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_13913153

    "Incorporated herein by reference is a copy of
    an internal EPA memorandum dated June 28, 2001, which contains the
    following handwritten sentence:  "The TNRCC is concerned that the
    El Paso sampling plan doesn't undermine the ASARCO Corpus sampling
    delima (sic)."  An inescapable inference from this sentence is the
    fact that ASARCO has compromised employees of both the EPA and
    TCEQ.   Both ASARCO and the regulators are concealing certain
    ASARCO contaminants from the residents of Corpus Christi and the
    Paso del Norte Region.  Every individual who either knows, or
    should know that ASARCO's contamination is being concealed is
    exposed to both criminal and civil liability"
 

TXDOT ignores the ASARCO illegal haz-waste and plans to build elevated toll road on PAISANO...

over the water supply and right next to the ASARCO stacks, in the worst
of the worst contamination

http://www.txdot.gov/public_involvement/town_hall_meetings/elpaso_town_hall.htm

Glencore International AG

"China's $200-billion sovereign wealth fund has added privately-held
commodities trader Glencore International AG to its roster of approved
investment partners"

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-09/19/content_8711325.htm

(do a search within this blog for "Glencore")

20090800 TCEQ Xenco lab report on ASARCO EL Paso water contamination levels

http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/assets/public/remediation/variousremediationsites/xenco_lab_report_aug2009.pdf
<cid:part1.09020306.06080606@gmail.com>

Asarco "cleaned up" and the Taxpayers "cleaned out"??

It is easy to run a profit when ignoring nearly ten years of contamination from illegal un-manifested hazardous-waste incineration without a license.

And why is there a Swiss Bank called "ASARCO AG" (Asarco SA, Asarco inc)?!

"According to The Wall Street Journal, Asarco now is flush with cash and reporting a total profit, after its bankruptcy filing, of $623.4 million. So in the end, the company is also succeeding.

"Whether this result was due to good stewardship, excellent management, higher copper prices, appropriate judicial oversight by the bankruptcy judge, extraordinary good luck, or a combination of all these factors may be debated," U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen wrote in his ruling of the case, "but the ultimate result is inarguable.""

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_13876197

What can the Union leverage for Jobs? To stay Silent??

... no one is talking about the confidential hazardous wastes ASARCO incinerated secretly for nearly a decade!!   Will the United Steelworkers Union continue to NOT talk about the unmanifested-secret hazardous wastes illegally smelted by Asarco for nearly a decade?  Are jobs/contract more important?

"...Lazalde and Robert Moore, an attorney representing Grupo in Asarco's bankruptcy case, met with The Republic to discuss Grupo's plans for Asarco, how it is responding to worries from community members and the status of union negotiations.

High on its to-do list is addressing concerns of the United Steelworkers, which represents about 1,700 Asarco workers. Grupo has until Jan. 15 to present a comprehensive proposal to the union outlining what it would offer in a new contract.

The union's current contract expires in June. Grupo has offered to extend the contract for a year, but the union wants a three-year extension to 2013 similar to its negotiated deal with Sterlite."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2009/11/29/20091129biz-grupo1129.html

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??!!??