PREVIEW-Grupo Mexico profit seen up on Asarco, copper prices - Topix Grupo Mexico, the nation's biggest copper miner, is set to report a sharp jump in quarterly results as it benefits from its acquisition of Arizona's Asarco ... www.topix.com/.../preview-grupo-mexico-profit-seen-up-on-a... |
Scroll to end: click web view. Heather Mcmurray 's research uncovering poisoning of 1000 square miles around El Paso by Asarco smelter through what the EPA & US DOJ said was illegal burning of illegal hazardous/radioactive wastes 1991 to 1998. We have never been told what actinides, forever chemicals, dioxins etc are present from illegal Asarco actions(see 73 page 1998 conf. for settlement purposes only DOJ EPA Asarco doc,10/06 nytimes) see "Asarco secret document"
Please donate (see sidebar) to help recoup costs of the work to uncover and blog the information contained here"THE ONLY THING NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING"
Sunday, April 25, 2010
"Grupo Mexico, the nation's biggest copper miner, is set to report a sharp jump in quarterly results"
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
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"
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..."
"Hiding behind the Goldman front, negative data is still weighing down copper.." Did this affect Grupo Mexico or ASARCO??
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..."
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
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
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)..."
Saturday, April 17, 2010
"Gmexico subsidiary SCC has proposed the issuance of up to $1.5 billion in long-term, fixed-rate, senior unsecured notes"
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..."
Friday, April 16, 2010
What Poisons did ASARCO leave in the Paso del Norte Region from the YEARS of secret haz-waste burning??
"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
Thursday, April 15, 2010
"BRIEF: Court rules Sen. Shapleigh may see Asarco documents"
(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?
Sunday, April 11, 2010
"What would you build at Asarco in El Paso?"
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
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
Saturday, April 10, 2010
"Asarco Accused Of Foot-Dragging In Interest Feud"
"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..."
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"
Friday, April 9, 2010
City of El Paso TX unanimously votes $600,000 ---awards contract for Asarco [development] study
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 |
Thursday, April 8, 2010
TCEQ (as oversight to the Project Navigator remediation process)failsto notify local community groups] about ASARCO El Paso Trustee Legal Motion
"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,
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> |
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)
-------- 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
-------- 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.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
List of Companies wanting to be Contractors for the El Paso ASARCO Trustee include many with CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
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
Annotated Map of ASARCO site
Why is ASARCO using the same contractor to look at Water Contamination remediation at El Paso TX and E. Helena MT?
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.
Discharging where?
Thursday, March 18, 2010
ASARCO: Fifth Circuit fails to recognize ASARCO's Bankruptcy was fraudulent... what is being covered up, and why?
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
ASARCO: All about "Closure" and not about "Disclosure"
The EPA secretly told the DOJ in 1998 that ASARCO had burned illegal dangerous secret hazardous wastes for profit for nearly ten years. Then they sealed their agreement with Asarco and kept this from the community for eight more years.
It was the DOJ's responsibility (through someone called a "DOJ BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE") to make the Asarco court consider the liabilities from the secret haz-waste. The DOJ never did this -- even though SPGEG (Sunland Park, N.M.) requested it through proper legal-court-channels. The press announcement from last December was made by the DOJ ALONG WITH THE EPA. That had to be a NATIONAL EPA decision -- higher than the regional offices that administer the El Paso TX and E. Helena MT Asarco smelter sites where the illegal secret burnings happened for years...
Representative Reyes said (after the confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only-1998 DOJ/EPA document was publicly released after 8 years of silence, in 2006) that ASARCO had paid MILLIONS OF DOLLARS on condition that the details of what it had done would NEVER BECOME PUBLIC. For more information use google to search "Asarco Secret Document".
What is going on, that they are not being honest with us?
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/December/09-enrd-1326.html
Monday, March 15, 2010
London Financial Times: Vedanta renews fight for Asarco ownership
Vedanta revives bid battle for Asarco Financial Times By William MacNamara in London Vedanta, the UK-listed Indian miner, has revived a $2bn (£1.3bn) takeover battle for Asarco, the bankrupt US copper producer, ..." |
"Sterlite, a Vedanta subsidiary, has joined the biggest US labour union in seeking to reverse a lower court ruling in November that returned Asarco to Grupo México, its original owner.
Grupo, lawyers for Sterlite and the union said, represented “a self-interested equity holder” that “previously defrauded the debtors [Asarco] and their stakeholders”.
In February, Sterlite and the United Steelworkers union, which represents Asarco’s miners, jointly filed an appeals brief before the appellate court in New Orleans. "
ASARCO records available for viewing at TCEQ El Paso Office
Subject: | Re: Asarco TCEQ records |
---|---|
Date: | Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:47:22 -0600 |
From: | Lorinda Gardner <LGARDNER@tceq.state.tx.us> |
Hi, Lorinda,
If any ASARCO related paperwork is about to expire its retention-time at
the regional office, I would like to ask the TCEQ to transfer those
documents ...I know that six boxes of Asarco records from Senator
Shapleigh's P.I.A. were sent to the regional office at one time for the
community to access.
Would that be possible.
thanks,
BLOWING DUST FROM ASARCO IN ARIZONA - ARIZONA DEPT. OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (AEQ)
Videos | KVOA.com | Tucson, Arizona Video - ASARCO releases statement on blowing dust. Posted - 3/2/2010 at 10:12AM ... More News Videos. ASARCO releases statement on blowing dust ... |
DUST VIDEO
[PARAPHRASED QUOTE FROM A LOCAL AZ SCIENTIST] 'NO ELEVATED METALS ABOVE REGULAR LEVELS'
WHERE HAVE WE ALL HEARD THAT BEFORE? SOUND FAMILIAR?
Monday, March 8, 2010
El Paso TX is still waiting waiting waiting for ANYONE to turn over the data telling us what poisons were left here from the illegal waste-burning years....
"PNL was selected to manage this effort, and bridge the project management gap between industry and academia, because of our data visualization culture and capabilities."
http://www.projectnavigator.com/about_news.html
"Project Navigator, Ltd. named as trustee for ASARCO El Paso remediation
November 23, 2009
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has released a statement announcing the selection of Project Navigator, Ltd. as the custodial trustee for the ASARCO site remediation in El Paso, Texas. For the full release, please click here."
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
[Fwd: Google Alert - asarco bankruptcy]
Baker Botts Moves To Protect Asarco Fees - Law360 Baker Botts LLP is up in arms over mining company Asarco LLP's interpretation of some of the events involved in its exit from bankruptcy, saying Asarco's ... |
"Law360, New York (March 02, 2010) -- Baker Botts LLP is up in arms over mining company Asarco LLP's interpretation of some of the events involved in its exit from bankruptcy, saying Asarco's assessment of the job the firm did as counsel could affect its ability to collect its fees. The firm filed an objection Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas to proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law filed by Asarco..."
Monday, March 1, 2010
CLEAN WATER ACT
The Rio Grande is a navigable river, protected under the Clean Water Act and NOAA's ORR process. Yet, when ASARCO's storm pond broke and breached/poured thousands and thousands of gallons of extremely concentrated stormwater runoff into the river and old American Canal in 2006, our Rep. called it an "incident". There was no ORR ever done because the EPA refused to enter the spill into the national EPA spills database.
This entire "incident" was glossed over and ignored. The "pulse" of extremely toxic materials was ignored.
And THIS IS A RIVER PROTECTED AS A NAVIGABLE RIVER UNDER THE CLEAN WATER ACT.
After this, the EPA came here and signed an M.O.U. with the University right there by Asarco, promising to funnel monies and projects into the local university. To this day, we do not have basic chemical information (dioxins, polonium etc.) about what is at that site.
When will the silence end?
Sunday, February 21, 2010
E. Helena ASARCO clean-up "plan" eerily resembles the El Paso TX Asarco clean-up plan
"Cindy Brooks is president of the Massachusetts-based Greenfield Environmental Trust Group, which is the custodial trust that’s temporarily taken possession of the Asarco land. They’re working with state, federal and local organizations to deal with soils contaminated by lead from the smelter, and also two underground plumes containing high levels of arsenic and selenium. The plan calls for the Asarco lands to be sold at some point, with proceeds returning to the trust to pay for environmental cleanup."
"Google News Alert for: asarco
E. Helena looks to future with first-ever growth plan Helena Independent Record Asarco owns almost all of the land immediately adjacent to the city about 1000 ... With the unlocking of the Asarco property, I think our growth will ... |
Monday, February 15, 2010
"Asarco's miners have agreed with Grupo Mexico to extend their existing contract for another year"
Daily podcast February 15, 2010 Creamer Media's Mining Weekly Asarco's miners have agreed with Grupo Mexico to extend their existing contract for another year, staving off fears of labour troubles after the Mexican ... See all stories on this topic " |
Monday, February 8, 2010
Big Surprise
"Meanwhile, Grupo Mexico's hard-fought reacquisition of U.S. copper miner Asarco will generate tax benefits of US$1.024 billion for Grupo, which will be realized beginning the second quarter of this year." (the tax benefits ALONE for that 2nd quarter will be TWENTY TIMES the TOTAL AMOUNT that El Paso TX will get to "clean up" over 100 years of smelting wastes and nearly ten years of secret toxic-waste incineration (of only god-knows-what) to make this entire region safe for its millions of residents -- mostly Mexican-American or Mexican origin. THIS IS CRIMINAL and our GOVERNMENT IS LETTING IT HAPPEN DESPITE EVIDENCE THAT COULD HAVE STOPPED IT. The big question is.... why haven't they stopped it?).
...and now that the environmental liabilities from the secret toxic-waste incinerator in El Paso TX have been swept under the proverbial rug, Copper is suddenly King Again.
"Google News Alert for: asarco
Grupo Mexico predicts growth in copper and other metals, reversing ... Mineweb With the re-acquisition of US copper miner Asarco, Grupo Mexico claims it is now the world's top company in terms of copper reserves. ..." |
Contaminated ASARCO land -- Powers that be want to convert it to STUDENT HOUSING for UTEP
Google Web Alert for: asarco
YouTube - ASARCO Land The ASARCO land presents the student population with a great opportunity to develop a student community. A community that will foster relationships, ... |
Friday, February 5, 2010
In 3 months, Grupo Mexico reports 342.1 mil profit
One hundred years of smelting contamination and less than one week's of net-profits...
"Google News Alert for: asarco bankruptcy
UPDATE: Miner Grupo Mexico Reports 4Q Net Profit Of $342.1 Million FOXBusiness The company highlighted the restructuring of US mining unit Asarco following its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It said Asarco will have ..." |
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Verde IPO Offering and scrapping of plans for USA side of the International City that had been planned within the ten-to-15 mile zone from ASARCO El Paso toxic stacks
http://www.elpasoinc.com/readArticle.aspx?issueid=270&xrec=4910
"by Vic Kolenc / El Paso Times Posted: 01/28/2010 12:00:00 AM MST
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_14281005?source=most_emailed
Monday, February 1, 2010
ASARCO El Paso DID operate the worlds two largest Con-Top furnaces as a secret Hazardous-Waste Incinerator for nearly 10 years...
El Paso TX also has a rash of teratogenic birth defects (also heart defects) - especially during the mid-1990's at the height of Asarco's illegal activities. Word of mouth, off the record, is that OBYN's and family doctors have told parents that the birth defects were due to something that they ingested, something in the water. But no one is willing to go on record to state that.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered two state agencies to investigate a rash of birth defects that have confounded impoverished Kettleman City for more than a year....The birth defects became a rallying point last year for residents trying to stop the expansion plans of the West's largest hazardous waste facility by Chemical Waste Management Inc. Their stories of miscarriages and the photographs they carried of children with facial defects failed to convince the Kings County Board of Supervisors that the company's expansion plans should not go forward."It seems like we're finally getting justice," said resident Maricela Mares-Alatorre, whose family first butted heads with Waste Management 20 years ago [1986 - the year that Asarco Encycle started-up] over plans to build an incinerator."
Saturday, January 30, 2010
State Senator Shapleigh makes ASARCO announcement at UTEP last Thursday night
One of the founding UTEP-Student-members of Get the Lead Out Analisa Cordova was ecstatic at the news, which would allow for development of that land by UTEP. Suggested uses for that land presented that night included a UTEP research facility or expanded student-housing. Students explained that there wasn't enough housing at the present Miner Village location."
Back in 2006 Potomac River neighborhood discovered that Charles County was dumping radioactive Polonium (common around smelters) into wastewater effluent
The county could have dug another well, until they found one without polonium (the stuff is very rare) but instead chose to use a $300K filtration system that is expensive to operate to filter the water (which still leaves significant amounts in the drinking water, but below EPA standards). THEN, they will truck the radioactive waste to the Mattawoman Wastewater treatment plant, and dump it UNTREATED into the effluent stream that goes into the Potomac.
I wrote a private letter to the Commissioners giving them 15 days to reverse their decision, and telling them that I would publicly applaud them if they did the right thing. I also told them that after 15 days, I would do whatever I could to stop them, including going public, and whatever else it takes. On the 19th day, I had no response at all, so I FILED SUIT AGAINST THE COUNTY, claiming that it violates the zoning ordinance, and asking for an injunction.
For more, please see the Md. Independent article below:
www.somdnews.com/stories/071406/indymor185910_32103.shtml
If you are concerned, I would like tohear from you. Thanks.
Kurt Wolfgang wolfgangcommissioner.com
ASARCO El Paso: UTEP student government event with Custodial Trustee and State Senator announces push to develop the El Paso ASARCO site
We don't even know what chemicals have been left there from the years of illegal and secret Toxic-waste burning that the EPA and Federal DOJ kept under wraps from 1998 through to 2006, when an honest DOJ attorney and the NYTimes broke the story. We don't know what has been left in our soils, air and water from what the EPA and DOJ secretly-admitted had been secret-burnings of military and industrial wastes by Asarco for profit for YEARS.
The entire ASARCO bankruptcy was based on the fraudulent concealment of this toxic-waste and its liabilities in El Paso TX and E. Helena MT. The DOJ Trustee would not require the courts to consider the DOJ/EPA document (a 1998 formerly confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only document and its d*mning evidence of what ASARCO had done for nearly ten years). The contract for the custodial-trustee does not mandate that the trustee look for or clean-up anything other than what the Bankruptcy court discussed -- and the secret wastes/poisons were never discussed.
Why? And why did the organizers of this UTEP event conveniently forget to mention that the lands around this El Paso ASARCO site --- 1000 square miles of it --- are likely extremely toxic from only god-knows-what Asarco burned all those years. 60% of the El Paso drinking water supply passes within a hundred feet of the smelter through an open over-70-year-old cracked and leaking concrete ditch. A little known fact in the area is that waters from the Rio Grande to Mexico and the USA are officially separated at the IBWC "American Dam" and that this dam sits at the foot of the smelter.
Why isn't our government protecting us? And why is our community so beaten-down that they have given up trying to make their government act? It is appalling that our governmental officials - both in the EPA, the TCEQ, the NMED and others refuse to disclose any details about what happened here. During the winter of 1998 just before the smelter shut down, the EPA said that the Beta Radiation level around the smelter was the HIGHEST IN THE NATION. Official(s) assure us that this was normal background radiation and nothing to worry about -- but, they fail to produce any reports or studies to substantiate their claim that this radiation level was "safe".
Next week the University next to the El Paso ASARCO smelter will discuss buying ASARCO toxic-land next to their campus -- all the while conveniently allowed to "forget" and "ignore" the poisons left on that land from the activities disclosed to the NYTIMES 10/2006 -- and still "forgotten" and "ignored" by those left in charge of our health and safety. These officials should be some of the first to tell the community what toxins are left on that land from the near-decade that Asarco burned unmanifested and also known illegal and secret toxic wastes for profit -- but so far this has not happened.
Asarco TCEQ announcement of El Paso Clean up Trustee Appointment -- but not about the Bankruptcy Fraud
Why? Why has this evidence been ignored by the DOJ Federal Bankruptcy Trustee and courts?
Someone in the Federal DOJ DID make the facts of what ASARCO had done public (NYTimes 10/2006) - and the community wants the details. The government owes the community the truth of what is now in its soils, air and water from the nearly ten years of illicit military and industrial waste burning.
Google Web Alert for: asarco bankruptcy
Custodial Trustee of the ASARCO Site, El Paso, Texas - Texas ... Under the settlement agreement approved by the bankruptcy court, ASARCO's El Paso smelter property was placed in an environmental custodial trust and is ... |
Saturday, January 23, 2010
[Fwd: Google Alert - asarco] Dust making People Sick - Asarco suddenly volunteering to clean up INDOOR DUST
El Pasoans, N.M. and old Anapra SHOULD BE GETTING SOME HELP HERE to install effective windows, refrigerated air, electrostatic furnace filters, air-tight-wind-seals, clean-up of indoor dust -- and, even buy-out of homes by those folks who want to move away from the ASARCO El Paso smelter site.
Google News Alert for: asarco
Asarco helps in dust cleanup Green Valley News [AZ] By Philip Franchine, www.gvnews.com Asarco officials said they will pay for some cleanup of homes hit by recent dust storms from the mine tailings as they ... See all stories on this topic |
"US Calls Off Asarco Criminal Enviro Probe" WHY!?!?!?!
Isn't ANYONE in our Federal Government in a position to do anything about this - or have we (and the Rio Grande) all been sacrificed (ARE being sacrificed) to lives poisoned by the still illegal/secret military/industrial haz-wastes that the EPA/DOJ let us know were burned here (and in E. Helena) for nearly ten years?
Isn't E. Helena angry about this?????????
"US Calls Off Asarco Criminal Enviro Probe
Law360, New York (January 22, 2010) -- Federal prosecutors have dropped their criminal investigation into whether Asarco LLC violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act by storing hazardous materials without the proper environmental permits at a former facility in East Helena, Mont.
William W. Mercer, the U.S. attorney for the District of Montana, wrote in a letter dated Wednesday that the government had decided not to indict the company on criminal charges,..."
http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://environmental.law360.com/articles/145156&ct=ga&cd=x3vO1VWq6RQ&usg=AFQjCNEYWJEvr6i2C7Apgl3GBMV4XaMCVA
Friday, January 22, 2010
Jan. 2010 : "Supreme Court Decision Marks the End of Democracy"
"Supreme Court Decision Marks the End of Democracy-A Special Newsletter from the Texas Climate Emergency Campaign"
"I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and to bid defiance to the laws of our country." ~ Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Logan. November 12, 1816
The words above were written by Thomas Jefferson, one of the distinguished founding fathers of this nation. Clearly, neither he nor any of the other signers of the declaration of independence thought they were declaring freedom for big corporations, and yet that's what happened in the Supreme Court yesterday. Many are calling it the End of Democracy, for we have now sold our souls down the river of corporate greed. As one pundit put it, we are looking at our last President and our last Congress which will not fully be funded by corporate giants. It is a sad day for issue advocacy, it is a sad day for all of us as Americans..."
Honest services law must go - - Epstein Becker & Green ( "New Jersey waterways and rivers in the northwestern portion of the state that have been contaminated with metals")
The Supreme Court should declare it unconstitutional rather than try to rewrite
it.http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202438103655&Honest_services_law_must_go&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1
Hervé Gouraige
January 18, 2010
"...In an unusual move, the U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari petitions in three separate honest services cases: U.S. v. Black, 530 F.3d 596 (7th Cir. 2008); U.S. v. Weyhrauch, 548 F.3d 1237 (9th Cir. 2008); and U.S. v. Skilling, 554 F.3d 529 (5th Cir. 2009). Two of those cases (Black and Weyhrauch) have been argued, and Skilling is to be argued in the spring. In the Skilling case, Jeffrey Skilling, the former president of Enron Corp., has clearly requested that the Court hold the statute unconstitutional because it is too vague to provide notice of what conduct is deemed potentially criminal."
Hervé Gouraige is a member in the Newark, N.J., and New York offices of Epstein Becker & Green and co-group leader of the firms' national litigation practice.
==================================================================
http://www.toxictortlitigationblog.com/articles/cercla/burlington-northern/
20100122 Supreme Court removes limits on Corporate Campaign Spending
http://i3.democracynow.org/2010/1/22/in_landmark_campaign_finance_ruling_supreme
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
ASARCO news: a SHELL-GAME?? Sterlite appealing court decision
(AMM) Sterlite making Asarco play, appealing court decision ... By zhabka Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. is gearing up for another courtroom battle over US. Metalloprokat - http://metalloprokat.org/ |
Since losing out on the chance to take over and reorganize Tucson, Ariz.-based Asarco out of bankruptcy last November, Sterlite has made quiet progress to appeal the decision that returned Asarco to its former parent, Mexico City-based Grupo Mexico SA de CV.
"That's what we'll be asking for?the complete reversal..." "
Google Alert - Rail yard move to Asarco site proposed
Rail yard move to Asarco site proposed El Paso Inc In December, Asarco concluded a massive bankruptcy case by settling its liabilities for $1.8 billion nationally; in El Paso, the agreement provided $52 ... |
Sunday, January 17, 2010
"I have a dream" that one day we will have Environmental Justice for the children, the poor, the elderly, the ill and the disinfranchized...
(subtitles in Spanish)
Rap Video:
"I Have a Dream - Address at March on Washington
August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. [Applause]
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
http://www.mlkonline.net/dream.html
Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Over 40 years ago, I stood with Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. on the steps of the U.S. Capitol during the March on Washington. Tomorrow, our nation will commemorate his life and work. I recorded a short video about what this day means to me and all Americans. Please watch it today. Dr. King's words inspired me to join the civil rights movement and begin my own fight for a more just and equal nation. Tomorrow is a day to honor his legacy and reflect on how far we've come. But it's also a day to rededicate ourselves to building an America where all are treated equally and every eligible American can cast a ballot and have it counted. Please watch and share today: http://my.democrats.org/MLK2010 Thank you, Representative John Lewis" |