Letter sent to newspaper about Asarco hazards

"Asarco hazards

What is wrong with our elected officials? City, state and federal. Asarco's long history of polluting our city did not go away because it is not re-opening. Those same pollutants remain.

The EPA and our own congressman's investigation proves they were illegally disposing toxic chemicals for profit. The trustee, state senator and our city officials are proceeding with plans for the future. Nothing wrong with progress when done honestly -- a power-washing will not rid these toxins.

First, they must test for the illegal toxins and incinerated chemicals that took place for almost 10 years. Ten years of contaminating our drinking and irrigation water. Our water remains contaminated, more so around the plant. With the rains breaking records, it concerns me what we are being exposed to.

Asarco shut down, but the dangers remain in the shadows of this dirty, smelly contaminated location. As per the trustee, the clean-up will be that for industrial use, not nearly for any population use. Power-washing? What an insult and not funny in the slightest sense. So what happens to the kids of Anapra and Sunland Park? They don't count?

Carlos Rodriguez
East El Paso"
http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_14916023

"Asarco Sues EPA To Nix $34M Superfund Claims"

" Law360, New York (April 19, 2010) -- Asarco LLC is suing the U.S. government to scratch $33.6 million in claims the reorganized mining giant maintains have been wrongly and tardily imposed in connection with the cleanup of a Superfund site in California.

The complaint, lodged April 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, claims Asarco doesn’t owe a penny for vast contamination at the Blue Ledge Mine..."

http://environmental.law360.com/registrations/user_registration?article_id=162611&concurrency_check=false

"Hiding behind the Goldman front, negative data is still weighing down copper.." Did this affect Grupo Mexico or ASARCO??

And who is making money on this?

Why won't our government disclose the still-secret poisons remaining in our community (El Paso TX) from what the EPA secretly told the Federal DOJ (1998) had been the burning of secret/unknown hazardous wastes for profit by ASARCO -- done over nearly ten years (and kept confidential from the community through a confidential EPA/DOJ ASARCO settlement agreement for another eight years?!)

"Google News Alert for: asarco

Goldman Fraud Charge Hits Copper Prices Copper Investing News Grupo Mexico will show benefits from its acquisition of Arizona's Asarco, ... Grupo Mexico won back control of Asarco in December, pulling the US copper ..."

"By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Copper Investing News" "As news over impending fraud charges against leading commodities player Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) hit the market last Friday, copper witnessed considerable downside. Risk averse investors jumped from their positions, sending copper plummeting to a three month low.... Hiding behind the Goldman front, negative data is still weighing down copper..."

Asarco Bankruptcy ends, and bring predictions "... that Grupo Mexico's total copper sales volumes should be propelled 43 percent year-on-year" as METAL PRICES RECOVER

"Google Web Alert for: asarco

PREVIEWGrupo Mexico profit seen up on Asarco copper prices ... WHAT: Grupo Mexico Q1 earnings results * WHEN: Friday, April 23 * REUTERS FORECAST: Net profit seen soaring year-on-year By Mica Rosenberg MEXICO CITY, ... in.reuters.com/article/.../idINN2021866520100420

"
"MEXICO CITY, April 20 (Reuters) - Grupo Mexico, the nation's biggest copper miner, is set to report a sharp jump in quarterly results as ...metal prices recover, a Reuters poll showed.  Seven analysts consulted by Reuters estimated the company's (GMEXICOB.MX...) first-quarter net profit at $383 million, about 20 times year-earlier earnings of $19 million. Grupo Mexico won back control of Asarco in December, pulling the U.S. copper miner out of bankruptcy by winning a drawn-out court battle and outbidding India's Sterlite Industries Ltd...).  ...."In the first quarter that Asarco's results are fully consolidated, we estimate that Grupo Mexico's total copper sales volumes should be propelled 43 percent year-on-year," brokerage Grupo Bursatil Mexicano said in a report."

"Analysts consulted by Reuters expect [Asarco owner --- GMEXICOB.MX] first-quarter net profit will soar almost 2,000 percent"

Predictions of 2000 percent (two thousand!) net profit increases for Grupo Mexico come as the El Paso TX Asarco Trustee and others continue to stonewall the community (and international JAC committee's) request for data and information on the years of secret hazardous waste disposal (incineration) by the ASARCO El Paso (and E. Helena MT) smelters.  

"Google News Alert for: asarco

Mexico peso, stocks gain on US earnings optimism Reuters MX) first-quarter net profit will soar almost 2000 percent after Grupo Mexico regained control of Arizona copper miner Asarco in December by outbidding ...

"
"Miner Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX) rose 1.25 percent to 35.78 pesos. Analysts consulted by Reuters expect the company's (GMEXICOB.MX) first-quarter net profit will soar almost 2,000 percent after Grupo Mexico regained control of Arizona copper miner Asarco in December by outbidding India's Sterlite Industries Ltd (STRL.BO). [ID:nN20218665].....However, a recent legal appeal by Sterlite pushed HSBC to downgrade the Mexican miner's stock to "neutral" from "overweight" in a report on Tuesday. (Reporting by Michael O'Boyle; Editing by Leslie Adler)..."

"Gmexico subsidiary SCC has proposed the issuance of up to $1.5 billion in long-term, fixed-rate, senior unsecured notes"

Google Web Alert for: asarco bankruptcy

Research Update: Grupo México, Americas Mining 'BBB-' Corporate ... Americas Mining Corp. has consummated its bankruptcy plan for Asarco LLC. We are removing our ratings on Gmexico and subsidiaries from CreditWatch and ... www.alacrastore.com/.../s-and-p-credit-research-Research_Up...

"Gmexico subsidiary SCC has proposed the issuance of up to $1.5 billion in long-term, fixed-rate, senior unsecured notes, with proceeds to be used for financing capital expenditures and for general corporate purposes....The stable outlook on Gmexico and AMC reflects our expectation that, over the next few years, they will continue to report adequate financial metrics, while AMC's debt levels continue to decrease. On April 6, 2010, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'BBB-' corporate credit ratings on Mexico-based..."

What Poisons did ASARCO leave in the Paso del Norte Region from the YEARS of secret haz-waste burning??

The International JAC (La Paz Accord) committee passed a resolution asking for chemical testing in this region to determine background contamination amounts.   The community wants full public disclosure of what happened here.  The EPA said to the DOJ that ASARCO had illegally burned secret hazardous wastes for years.  We STILL do not have Dioxin data for this region - or polonium data (two chemicals common to smelters!). 

"AUSTIN, Apr 16, 2010 (El Paso Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

via COMTEX) --...

Democratic candidate Bill White's campaign released a statement calling on Gov. Rick Perry to intervene in the dispute between Shapleigh and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality....Shapleigh has said the documents could prove that the agency illegally met with Asarco representatives while considering the renewal of the company's air-quality permit."
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/ar_bill-white-joins-shapleigh-presses-for-asarco-files-916248.html

"BRIEF: Court rules Sen. Shapleigh may see Asarco documents"

"By TMC Net, April 15th, 2010 at 4:12 am - PERMALINK

(El Paso Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh is entitled to see certain communications between the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Asarco, the state Third Court of Appeals has ruled."
http://admin.news.mining.com/2010/04/15/brief-court-rules-sen-shapleigh-may-see-asarco-documents/

What would be in those documents that the public cannot see?

"What would you build at Asarco in El Paso?"

"April 6, 2010 ·
Say you had a lot of money and decided to purchase the Asarco Property, what would you do with that opportunity?  ...

UTEP has been in the news recently with word that they are interested in purchasing the Asarco Property.  Even they are not sure what they would do with all of those acres if they came to purchase it in the future. ...

My name is David and I am living El Paso. 

For more info on Asarco on this blog, visit this link to see all articles containing Asarco.  http://livingelpaso.wordpress.com/?s=asarco"

Texas State Senator from El Paso TX (where EPA said ASARCO illegally burned secret Haz-waste for nearly a decade) "Shapleigh: Historic Rewrite of U.S.-Mexico Policies Now Underway"

http://www.riograndeguardian.com/rggnews_story.asp?story_no=25
"Shapleigh: Historic Rewrite of U.S.-Mexico Policies Now Underway"
By Steve Taylor
10-April-2010

"[Shapleigh] bases his analysis on more than 80 hours of meetings he and other members of the Border Legislative Conference had in Mexico City three weeks ago....with Mexico’s attorney general and foreign secretary, Senate leaders, federal agency chiefs and high ranking officials in the U.S. Embassy.... The visit came just before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led the highest ranking delegation of U.S. Cabinet members ever to visit Mexico City [March 23]. Shapleigh noted that three months ago approximately 250 experts from Washington, D.C., and Mexico, D.F., representing a dozen agencies were in Juarez, San Diego, Tijuana and other border communities on an important fact-finding mission."

What about the JAC International-Committee Recommendation to the La Paz Accord group to test for Asarco background contamination in our region?

• What happened to the JAC International-Committee Recommendation (Paz Accord group) to test for Asarco background contamination in our region? 
  
• It is appalling that there is no TCEQ (or EPA) DIOXIN DATA for the communities surrounding this 100 year old custom-smelter which the EPA said illegally burned secret haz-waste for nearly a decade.
• Why can't the EPA or TCEQ tell the JAC committee what poisons remain in our community from that illegal activity.  Polonium is a common by-product of some types of smelting -- so why can't we get reports showing the amounts of Polonium here?
  
• Why are Camino Real Mobility Authority, TXDOT and the City of El Paso planning to build an elevated toll-road over Paisano right by ASARCO --- and over our drinking water supply -- before our Federal State Department ever resolves the 03/2005 State Department's own-observation that the IBWC workers at American Dam (by Asarco and Paisano) are sick and cannot get independent medical review in the region?

ASARCO El Paso/Santa Teresa N.M. area: Senator Shapleigh was in Vietnam

http://www.riograndeguardian.com/rggnews_story.asp?story_no=25
Last Updated: 10 April 2010
Shapleigh: Historic Rewrite of U.S.-Mexico Policies Now Underway

By Steve Taylor

“When 100,000 jobs have left Juarez out of 320,000, what you have is an erosion of the manufacturing base historic in nature... Those are jobs that are not coming back. They are going to Vietnam,” Shapleigh said. The senator was in Vietnam four weeks ago."

    BELOW:  Historic info. from epgtlo blog concerning Vietnam and the Santa Teresa International City that Asarco Owner Grupo Mexico (Mexico Railroad "Ferromex" is controlled by Grupo Mexico).  Grupo Mexico's Ferromex wants to run a new rail line to to Santa Teresa's port of entry from a new seaport called "Punta Colonet" -- and potentially win the bid for the 50 year contract to run that seaport, also.

   1.
      epgtlo: 6/28/09 - 7/5/09 (google custom search)
      Jun 28, 2009 ... Taiwanese firm Hon Hai (also known by the trade name Foxconn) recently announced plans for a US$5 billion five-year expansion in Vietnam. ...
      epgtlo.blogspot.com/2009_06_28_archive.html
   2.
      Vietnam: Mitra Energy group completes seismic acquisition (the ...
      "03 Sep 2009 ...Two wildcat exploration wells are planned for the PSC in 2010. In January 2009, Mitra farmed out 50% of its 100% equity in the PSC to BHP ...
      epgtlo.blogspot.com/2009/12/vietnam-mitra-energy-group-completes.html
   3.
      epgtlo: gambling debts in Bahamas, Las Vegas, Atlantic City
      Jul 8, 2009 ... Irving Drobny is the same name as an attorney representing the imperial family of Vietnam. A Chicago Attorney by that same name also serves ...
      epgtlo.blogspot.com/2009/07/gambling-debts-in-bahamas-las-vegas.html
   4.
      epgtlo: Investor who controls a Swiss Bank called ASARCO "facing ...
      Aug 17, 2009 ... [Irving Drobny also represents the Royal Family of Vietnam]. Mr. Katamanin has made two interest payments totaling about $1.67 million, ...
      epgtlo.blogspot.com/2009/08/investor-who-controls-swiss-bank-called.html
   5.
      epgtlo: "ARCELOR MITTAL starts operations on Puerto de Guaymas "
      20050000 Milbank Firm and Citigroup · Vietnam: Mitra Energy group completes seismic acqu... 20081121 Milbank firm advised Mitra Group on buyou. ...
      epgtlo.blogspot.com/2009/09/arcelor-mittal-starts-operations-on.html
   6.
      Swiss Asarco AG attorney
      ... Attorney representing the Swiss Asarco Bank's Chicago lake-front home has the same name as the attorney representing the imperial family of Vietnam. ...
      epgtlo.blogspot.com/2009/06/swiss-asarco-ag-attorney.html
   7.
      BHP Billiton and Tio Tinto Joint Venture (worth a predicted excess ...
      "International mining giants, BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT, ASX: BHP) [who in 1/09 assumed 50% of Mitra's Vietnam well equity] ('BHP') and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO, ...
      epgtlo.blogspot.com/2009/12/bhp-billiton-and-tio-tinto-joint.html
   8.
      Asarco AG Swiss Bank
      WHY IS THERE A SWISS ASARCO BANK (Asarco SA, Asarco Inc) represented by a Chicago Attorney (Irving Drobny) who also represents the Royal Family of Vietnam? ...
      epgtlo.blogspot.com/2009/12/asarco-ag-swiss-bank_26.html

"Asarco Accused Of Foot-Dragging In Interest Feud

Law360, New York (April 09, 2010) -- ASM Capital LP and other bondholders battling Asarco LLC over post-petition interest on their claims have attacked the reorganized mining company for trying to prolong the dispute and sap creditors’ will to carry out a costly fight.

A chorus of roughly 12 different investment funds objected to Asarco’s recent bid to extend discovery deadlines in their dispute over post-petition interest on the unsecured claims, contending that the..."

"Asarco Accused Of Foot-Dragging In Interest Feud - Law360
ASM Capital LP and other bondholders battling Asarco LLC over post-petition interest on their claims have attacked the reorganized mining company for trying ...
bankruptcy.law360.com/articles/160979"

City of El Paso TX unanimously votes $600,000 ---awards contract for Asarco [development] study

...while community members and ex-asarco workers/IBWC federal workers go without independent medical review,  jobs, compensation -- and, the community STILL does not have access to basic data on dioxins, polonium/actinides, and the other poisons remaining here --

WHAT IS GOING ON?   Even the International La Paz JAC committee recommended a background contamination study be done (hasn't been - and, that resolution was passed a year ago)

And, when we ask for this data, the ASARCO El Paso clean-up Trustee (after four months) still does not address its absence.

This is appalling.  El Paso is starting up a MEDICAL SCHOOL, and wants to move UTEP into Tier ONE status --- and, the Federal State Dept. says (3/05) that the FEDERAL WORKERS by ASARCO can't get independent medical review?   

UPDATE: City Council awards contract for Asarco Study - El Paso ... From elpasotimes.com EL PASO - The city is moving forward with a new long-range plan that will look at what to do with about 460 acres of Asarco-owned land ... www.upi.com/Top_News/Local/2010/04/07/UPDATE.../60-03e88dd058

TCEQ (as oversight to the Project Navigator remediation process)failsto notify local community groups] about ASARCO El Paso Trustee Legal Motion

As of today 8-April-2010 there has been no acknowledgment or reply from the Trustee or TCEQ to this 26-March letter.   Instead, they wrote (5-April-10) to say he was on vacation.    The "memo" referred to is not the complete confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only document and leaves out about 60% of the content from the original sent from the Federal DOJ in 2006 (NYTIMES 10/06):

"Currently Roberto Puga is out on vacation and will respond to your email when he returns.   Also, I did want to let you know that the Department of Justice memo is now available on our website at http://www.recastingthesmelter.com/?page_id=16.

 

Regards,

Elizabeth Schell"

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

Subject:	Re: TCEQ (as oversight to the Project Navigator remediation process)failsto notify local community groups
Date:	Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:10:45 -0600
To:	Roberto Puga <rpuga[at]projectnavigator.com>, Lorinda Gardner <LGARDNER[at]tceq.state.tx.us>

Mr. Puga,
This motion is significant.  Why wasn't the environmental community notified?   What this motion asks is, "to clarify... that ANY CLAIMS... by third parties WERE EXTINGUISHED BY THE BANKRUPTCY" --- AND -- "that the CONSENT DECREE and Settlement Agreement... approves the conveyance ... [of] the properties to the TX Custodial Trustee free and clear of any and all liens, CLAIMS, or encumbrances...."

The lay-community of El Paso TX, Cd. Juarez and Sunland Park should not be left in the dark on such motions -- it is very sad that a bankruptcy newsletter "abstract"  is all that enabled us to spot what was happening, here.

You, as the Trustee filing this motion, failed to mention the ten years of illegal secret haz-waste incineration that the DOJ Bankruptcy Trustee also failed to require the courts to look-at.   Ignoring the haz-waste during the bankruptcy was an illegal act by the DOJ Bankruptcy Trustee, and although I am not an attorney, your motion "overlooking mention" of the secret toxic waste while still requesting clarification of such looks very suspect.

You fail to mention in that motion that the CONSENT DECREE had a confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only section that ASARCO secretly-signed-off with the DOJ and EPA on condition that details of what it had illegally done would never become public.   That section is now public-domain and none of the details of what occurred should remain secret under FOIA.

Our community wants to know -- and, the International JAC committee from the La Paz Accord also recommends disclosure - what secret toxic wastes ASARCO left here from those years of illegal activity.   We have a right to know.

As the trustee, you have a legal-responsibility, since you should have known about the secret haz-waste, to disclose it to this community.  

I would like a copy of the answer to your ["Texas Custodial Trust"] motion from the court.

If you have a bibliographic summary of the Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr Houston Law Firm handling the TX Custodial Trust, I would like a copy also.

Asarco Trustee "Instructions to Bidders" leave out pertinent facts about what the EPA/DOJ stated ASARCO illegally and secretly did for nearly 10 years in El Paso TX (and E. Helena MT)

As of today (April 8, 2010) there has been no acknowledgment or reply from the Trustee.

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

Subject:	Project Navigator leave out pertinent facts in smelter-history for potential bidders
Date:	Sun, 04 Apr 2010 08:21:30 -0600

To:  Mr. Puga

sb:  Instructions to Bidders (Bids due by 4/23)

The following history provided to the potential bidders omits mention of the now public Federal DOJ/EPA Asarco confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only document (with attachments - nearly 75 pages) in which the EPA disclosed how Asarco had illegally burned secret unmanifested haz-wastes for profit for nearly ten years.  Because this was a secret-settlement-action it was omitted from disclosure in the civil consent decree you mention [to the bidders].   However, this information is now PUBLIC and you are obligated to include it in the history of this Asarco El Paso site, or you are withholding pertinent information from bidders about what they could be exposed to working at this site.   Also,..., a mandatory site tour for bidders was held 3-30 at the El Paso site.   I would like to know if you provided the bidders with haz-mat gear (masks and clothing) to protect them or not.

ASARCO Trustee group omits key information from the most important EPA/DOJ Asarco document

As of today (Thursday 8-Apr-10) there has been no acknowledgment or reply from the Asarco Trustee.

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

Subject:	Project Navigator omits key information from the most important EPA/DOJ Asarco document
Date:	Sun, 04 Apr 2010 20:05:47 -0600

To:  RPuga

sb:  Site Reports and Documents, "Department of Justice Memo, July 31, 1998"

Mr. Puga,  the "memo" you posted is not complete and it is not accurate. Please correct these mistakes immediately.

• You have omitted the cover-letter sent detailing how and when that document became public-domain after 8 years of secrecy when the Federal DOJ Attorney decided to honor the TX P.I.A. request (NYTimes 10/2006)
  
• You have added a document that was not part of that record (Mr. Clouse's email).  Mr. Clouse's email was written in response to my queries for that info/report and were meant to cover-up what actually happened.  This was not simply sham recycling - but the deliberate burning of unmanifested toxic-wastes for profit over many years according to that confidential-for-settlement-purposes only DOJ-EPA document.
• You have omitted the remainder of that confidential-for-settlement-purposes only DOJ-EPA document (apparently DELIBERATELY since this has been available off the Newspapertree website and the epGTLO blog for years now) that details the shipments and company/source names of the illegal hazardous-wastes identified by the EPA/DOJ and provides even more text and discussion.
• You placed this document at the very END of your list when it is the single most important document in this ASARCO saga -- so much so that Rep. Reyes, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, made the statement that ASARCO had paid MILLIONS on condition that the details of what it had done would never become public.   The DOJ however has released the information publicly, and this information and all related to it is now PUBLIC DOMAIN, no matter how much ASARCO hopes otherwise.
  
• You titled this CONFIDENTIAL-FOR-SETTLEMENT-PURPOSES-ONLY DOJ-EPA Asarco 73 page document as a "Memo" and cut it down to 28 pages!!
  

Please correct this immediately.

List of Companies wanting to be Contractors for the El Paso ASARCO Trustee include many with CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

List of Respondents to the RFQ
1. AE COM
2. AMEC
3. Brown & Caldwell
4. CCI
5. CDM
6. CH2M Hill
7. CRA
8. CT Environmental
9. EA Engineering
10. ECESI
11. ENVIRON
12. ERM
13. Golder
14. Malcolm Pirnie
15. Premier Chemicals
16. RMT
17. RPS
18. SHAW
19. Solar DeTox
20. Tetra Tech
21. TRC
22. URS
23. Weston Solutions

http://www.recastingthesmelter.com/?page_id=23

Annotated Map of ASARCO site

This map leaves out the old massive Lead (Pb) dump NE of the site next to the NE drainage area.

See Project Navigator site for this slide (PDF format)
http://www.recastingthesmelter.com/?page_id=18

Why is ASARCO using the same contractor to look at Water Contamination remediation at El Paso TX and E. Helena MT?

.... maybe because the illegal toxic secret wastes from ENCYCLE TX all
those years went to both E. Helena and El Paso TX? WE STILL HAVE NOT
BEEN TOLD WHAT POISONS HAVE BEEN LEFT HERE FROM THOSE YEARS OF ILLEGAL
UNMANIFESTED-HAZ-WASTE BURNINGS.

http://www.recastingthesmelter.com/wp-content/themes/recastingasarco/downloads/site_documents/EECA-02-08.pdf