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"
--Burke

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Talk about a conflict of interest...

Encycle-Asarco TX asked its SALES REPS to "screen out" illegal wastes such as radioactive materials, organics etc....

'The sales representative Is responsible for pre-screening wastes during his or
her Initial contact with the client. The sales representative should immediately
screen out those wastes which are not covered by the company's permit;
e.g., organics, radioactive wastes, etc.
Submitting a waste for analysis and
characterization is time-consuming and expensive
for both ENCYCLE and the
client. It Is Important from an economic standpoint as well as building good
customer relations that the wastes submitted for characterization have a
reasonable likelihood of acceptance.'
9159004.pdf on EPA asarco documents site

" Google Alert - asarco"

"
Asarco Related Documents | Region 6 | US EPA
EPA Region 6 has created this page to help people locate information about the ASARCO property in El Paso, Texas. While you will find links to many ...
www.epa.gov/earth1r6/asarco_encycle/
"

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Eerily like Asarco's escape from criminal accountability for running a multi-state unpermitted illegal haz-waste disposal operation, now Wall Street Banks seek immunity from criminal accountability...

"The same Wall Street banks whose irresponsible actions led to our nation's economic collapse are now pressuring all 50 states to give them legal immunity. The banks want to block any criminal or civil accountability for actions that have yet to be investigated.  Attorneys General from Delaware, Minnesota, Nevada, and New York have been fighting back."

-- Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway


Asarco El Paso Acid Plant/ConTop stack demolished without publishing results of stack tests



http://klaq.com/el-paso-times-smaller-asarco-smokestack-comes-down-video/

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

"A lawsuit accuses a Baltimore medical institute of exposing children to lead poisoning in the 1990s"

"The Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, is facing a
class-action lawsuit accusing it of knowingly exposing more than 100
young black children to lead poisoning in the 1990s during the course of
a scientific study on lead abatement measures in homes with lead paint.
The children, aged 1 to 5 years, were living in supposedly "lead-safe"
housing in poor neighborhoods of Baltimore, but according to the lawsuit
were actually selected by the institute because of lingering lead dust
problems. "What they would do was to improve the lead hazard from what
it was but not improve it to code," Thomas F. Yost Jr., one of the
lawyers who filed the suit, told The New York Times."

http://the-scientist.com/2011/09/19/institute-sued-over-lead-poisoning-study/

Monday, September 19, 2011

Press Release from EPA: "EPA Advancing Clean Up at 15 Hazardous Waste Sites" ASARCO EL PASO NOT MENTIONED

Asarco El Paso texas not mentioned.........and we got the worst of the worst secret hazardous wastes for over seven years.

"News Releases from Headquarters

EPA Advancing Clean Up at 15 Hazardous Waste Sites, Proposing 11 Sites for Action

Release date: 09/15/2011

Contact Information: Stacy Kika, kika.stacy@epa.gov, 202-564-0906, 202-564-4355

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adding 15 hazardous waste sites that pose risks to people’s health and the environment to the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites. EPA is also proposing 11 sites to be added to the list. Superfund is the federal program that investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country with the goal of protecting people’s health and the environment through long-term and short-term cleanup activities.

To date, 1,652 sites have been listed on the NPL. Of these sites, 350 sites have been cleaned up, resulting in 1,302 sites currently on the NPL (including the 15 sites added today). There are 62 proposed sites (including the 11 announced today) awaiting final agency action.

With all NPL sites, EPA works to identify companies or people responsible for the contamination at a site, and require them to conduct or pay for the cleanup. For the newly listed sites without viable potentially responsible parties, EPA will investigate the full extent of the contamination before starting significant cleanup at the site. Therefore, it may be several years before significant EPA clean up funding is required for these sites.

The following 15 sites have been added to the National Priorities List:

    · Blue Ledge Mine (abandoned mine) in Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest, Calif.;
    · New Idria Mercury Mine (abandoned mercury mine) in Idria, Calif.;
    · Armstrong World Industries (ceiling tile manufacturer) in Macon, Ga.;
    · Sandoval Zinc Company (former zinc smelter) in Sandoval, Ill.;
    · Gary Development Landfill (former landfill) in Gary, Ind.;
    · Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp – Columbus (former pressure –treated railroad products manufacturer) in Columbus, Miss.;
    · Red Panther Chemical Company (former pesticides formulation plant) in Clarksdale, Miss.;
    · Horton Iron and Metal (former fertilizer manufacturer and metal salvage) in Wilmington, N.C.;
    · Garfield Ground Water Contamination (contaminated ground water plume) in Garfield, N.J.;
    · Chevron Questa Mine (molybdenum mine) in Questa, N.M.;
    · New Cassel/Hicksville Ground Water Contamination (contaminated ground water plume) in Hicksville, Hempstead, and North Hempstead, N.Y.;
    · North Ridge Estates (former WWII medical facility) in Klamath Falls, Ore.;
    · US Finishing/Cone Mills (former textile operation) in Greenville, S.C.;
    · Alamo Contaminated Ground Water (contaminated ground water plume) in Alamo, Tenn.; and
    · Falcon Refinery (inactive refinery) in Ingleside, Texas.

The following 11 sites have been proposed to the National Priorities List:
    · Jervis B. Webb Co. (former manufacturer) in South Gate, Calif.;
    · Seam Master Industries (adhesive manufacturer) in South Gate, Calif.;
    · Continental Cleaners (former dry cleaners) in Miami, Fla.;
    · Leeds Metal (former scrap metal facility) in Leeds, Maine;
    · Compass Plaza Well TCE (contaminated ground water plume) in Rogersville, Mo.;
    · Eighteenmile Creek (contaminated creek) in Niagra County, N.Y.;
    · Southeastern Wood Preserving (former wood treating operation) in Canton, Miss.;
    · Metro Container Corporation (former drum recycler) in Trainer, Pa.;
    · Corozal Well (contaminated ground water plume) in Corozal, Puerto Rico;
    · US Oil Recovery (used oil recovery facility) in Pasadena, Texas; and
    · Bremerton Gasworks (former gasworks facility) in Bremerton, Wash.

Federal Register notices and supporting documents for the final and proposed sites:
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/current.htm

Information about how a site is listed on the NPL:
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/npl/npl_hrs.htm

Superfund sites in local communities:
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/index.htm

"Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month at EPA"

http://blog.epa.gov/administrator/ <cid:part1.03080205.08050909@gmail.com>

"The EPA has taken considerable steps to make sure all Americans have a
voice in the conversation about the environmental and health issues
facing them. Just this week we unveiled an environmental justice plan
called EJ 2014, to outline our work in the years ahead. .....we awarded
$6.2 million to organizations across the country that train local
residents and place them into good, green jobs cleaning up their
communities....."

EL PASO TEXAS not mentioned

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Asarco El Paso could be theoretically modeled after Tacoma Asarco site "more than 1,000 square miles" contaminated

"For close to 100 years, the Asarco Tacoma Smelter emitted arsenic, lead and other heavy metals into the air. These windborne emissions contaminated more than 1,000 square miles covering four counties and 26 cities and towns, including University Place.

Since the smelter’s designation as an EPA Superfund site in 1983, efforts have been underway to clean up heavily contaminated soils.

According to Cynthia Walker, State Dept. of Ecology (DOE) project manager, exposure to high levels of arsenic can contribute to cancer and cardio vascular diseases while high exposure to lead is linked to neurological and developmental problems. Since 2000, the DOE and Pierce County Health Department have worked on education campaigns regarding handwashing and other measures along with providing free soil sampling and clean up at play areas at existing and new schools, childcares, parks and similar areas."

http://universityplace.patch.com/articles/e-mail-to-the-editor-mayor-recaps-flood-control-district-presentation

The El Paso TX City Council with Beto O'Rourke (now running for Federal House of Representatives) voted to make the Asarco El Paso site a walkable neighborhood (i.e. zone it "smartcode"), with future designs for school(s) and playgrounds.  Was this "smart"?

Friday, September 9, 2011

More evidence of what ASARCO did between 1991 and 1998 slowly being demolished and removed

the evidence not just being covered up - but removed

Google alert:
"Asacro/Encycle Zinc Smelting Plant Demolition Continues
KIII TV3
One of the last things to come down at the site will be iconic Asarco smoke stack, all 315 feet of it. After towering over the community or decades, ...
"

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Fwd: October 6 - Public Hearing on the Texas Rail Plan [Asarco Ferromex UP BNSF modal station]

Fellow Texan:

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is in the process of developing a comprehensive rail plan for Texas. The Texas Rail Plan will serve to guide future actions of TxDOT in cooperation with our rail partners as we work to meet the freight and passenger rail needs of the state.

We have traveled throughout the state this year conducting seven rail visioning workshops and ten public meetings to hear your ideas and get your input regarding the future of our state's rail system. Through this process we have developed a draft of the Texas Rail Plan that is ready for your review and feedback at the link referenced below.

We will hold a final public hearing on October 6, 2010, at 1:30 p.m. (CST) at the TxDOT Auditorium in Building 200, Room 1A-1 at 200 East Riverside Drive, Austin, Texas. If you are unable to attend the hearing, we encourage you to visit our website at: http://www.txdot.gov/public_involvement/rail_plan/default.htm to review the draft document and provide comments. The mailing address, if preferred, is also available at this link.

Following the public hearing, and a 30-day comment period, we will analyze the feedback and finalize the plan for submittal to the Texas Transportation Commission for adoption. Afterwards, TxDOT will submit the Texas Rail Plan to the Federal Railroad Administration for coordination with the National Rail Plan.  The plan will also be made available to the Texas legislature for their consideration.

TxDOT values your participation in laying the foundation for the Texas Rail Plan and creating a vision for the future of rail in Texas. We hope you will participate in this important planning process.

   All other inquiries may be directed to AskTxDOT@dot.state.tx.us

Texas Department of Transportation * 125 E. 11th Street * Austin, TX 78701 * (512) 463-8585

Asarco: "Fifth Circuit upholds expense reimbursement for non-stalking horse"

Google Alert:
"
Fifth Circuit upholds expense reimbursement for non-stalking horse ...
Lexology
Factually, in Asarco, the debtor conducted a sale of a potentially valuable asset ... ASARCO, 2011 US App. LEXIS 16892 at 11. In addressing the substantive ...

Monday, August 29, 2011

Texas: Rick Perry Sought State Profits From Teacher Life Insurance Scheme


"Perry was promising the state big money in exchange for helping Swiss banking giant UBS set up a business of teacher death speculation." [note that UBS was also involved in analyzing Railroad Revenue from Mexico Pacific port Lazaro Cardenas... ]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/25/rick-perry-texas-life-insurance-scheme_n_935666.html 

"Rick Perry Sought State Profits From Teacher Life Insurance Scheme

WASHINGTON -- Two weeks before Thanksgiving in 2003...According to the notes, which were authenticated by a meeting participant,....Perry was promising the state big money in exchange for helping Swiss banking giant UBS  set up a business of teacher death speculation....When the retirees died, those policies would pay out benefits to Wall Street speculators, and the state, supposedly, would get paid for arranging the bets. The families of the deceased former teachers would get nothing...."

See also[search for "UBS" in blog search engine and/or search for railroad] [note, there is an Asarco Swiss Bank associated with Asarco Inc. and Asarco SA]

"*  Analysts at UBS project KCSM revenue from Lazaro Cardenas [Pacific port in Mexico] rail traffic will soar from some $30 million in 2007 to almost $100 million by 2015, and $255 million by 2025;

*  In terms of lifts, UBS projects an almost two-million 20-foot equivalent container throughput by 2025, compared with some nine million currently at Long Beach/Los Angeles, 1.8 million at Seattle, and some 1.5 million at Oakland. The U.S. West Coast ports, meanwhile, already are operating at near capacity with little room for expansion;"

"Wal-Mart, whose second biggest market is Mexico, has it’s eyes on Lazara Cardenas as a crucial North American port of entry."

[in 2005 Asarco sold several hundred acres of land next to its El Paso Asarco TX smelter site to WAL-MART, who had just been fined million dollars for failure to handle storm runoff on its properties nationwide.  Now that site and the Asarco industrial-smelter-land-itself has been rezoned "smartcode" (i.e."walkable") and a New Mexico Developer who has a long record internationally-of-developing-with-Wal-Mart is converting some of that acreage to rapid bus transit, businesses, a Wal-Mart, senior citizen housing etc -- all the while completely ignoring the EPA-DOJ Asarco confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only 1998 73 page document stating that Asarco ran an unpermitted illegal and secret multi-state hazardous-waste disposal operation for profit from at least 1992-1998.  That land would still be contaminated with those still undisclosed chemicals.   Grupo Mexico (owns Ferromex and Asarco) wants to run a rail line from the Pacific coast of Mexico up along the northern edge of Mexico, to enter the USA at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, just under ten miles from the El Paso Asarco site.]

http://epgtlo.blogspot.com/2009/04/grupo-mexicos-ferromex-bidding-on-45-yr.html

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Asarco Amarillo "consumption is picking up and will continue to outpace production [i.e. refining] for five years...."

Google Alert
"Research and Markets: United States Metals Report Q3 2011 - A Recovery Is ...
Business Wire (press release)
Output is also undermined by ongoing problems at the 450000 tonnes per annum (tpa) Asarco refinery in Amarillo, TX, one of the country's largest copper refiners. Consumption is picking up and will continue to outpace production over the next five years ...
"
"
Despite growth in demand, US copper refining/smelting was at its lowest level in 20 years by Q111 as the industry continued to deal with cutbacks imposed in 2008. High copper and by-product prices favoured the restart of concentrate production at the expense of refined copper. Output is also undermined by ongoing problems at the 450,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) Asarco refinery in Amarillo, TX, one of the country's largest copper refiners. Consumption is picking up and will continue to outpace production over the next five years, leading to net imports of well over 1mn tonnes by 2015."


Asarco Amarillo received product from the Asarco site(s) that disposed of nearly ten years of illegal hazardous wastes for profit.  

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Asarco Bankruptcy: "big judgment and a unique procedure to auction off that judgment"

Saturday, August 20, 2011
Bidders Reimbursed For Auction Which Never Occurred: The Fifth Circuit's ASARCO Opinion.........."This was a case about a big judgment and a unique procedure to auction off that judgment....(I have included the citations here because they are informative opinions for fraudulent transfer litigation). ...  In order to entice the bidders to perform the expensive legal due diligence necessary to evaluate the asset, ASARCO sought and obtained an order from the Bankruptcy Court authorizing it to reimburse qualified bidders for their due diligence expenses.... it can be used to tilt the auction procedures in favor of the stalking horse. ......"

Sunday, August 21, 2011

"Court Awards Fees, Applauds Baker Botts’ performance in Multi-Billion Dollar ASARCO Bankruptcy"

http://www.bakerbotts.com/court-awards-fees-applauds-baker-botts-performance-in-multi-billion-dollar-asarco-bankruptcy-08-19-2011/

In my opinion, this reminds me of foxes congratulating themselves outside of the hen house (the "hens" being the residents living around the various Asarco locations with their pockets inside out...).   How else to describe a performance that ignored all liability from Asarco's illegal multi-state unpermitted hazardous-waste disposal operation; and, that earned profits for just one of the many law firms involved which exceeded twice the amount given to just ONE of the communities to clean up over 100 years of wastes.....(the Paso del Norte region received only 52 million dollars -- and the clean-up of the old american canal that delivers over 60% of the drinking water and all the irrigation water was estimated to be almost half of that alone....)

"Privatizing profits and socializing costs" ...

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

EPA Final Analytical Report and Data From ENCYCLE ASARCO TX area


New Addition to the TCEQ Dona Park web page
The EPA sample data including split sample data for the organics screening of Encycle has been posted to the Dona Park project Web Page which include :

 


El Paso TX SIP Revision to Incorporate a Revised MOA with the City of El Paso

On August 17, 2011, the commission approved proposal of the El Paso SIP Revision to incorporate a revised Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the City of El Paso into the El Paso SIP for particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to a nominal 10 micrometers (PM10) (Project No. 2011-010-SIP-NR). This SIP revision would incorporate the changes to 30 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) §111.147 proposed in a concurrent rulemaking (Rule Project No. 2010-046-111-EN) and the revised MOA between the City of El Paso and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) (Project No. 2011-026-MIS-NR) into the El Paso PM10 SIP. The 2001 MOA with the City of El Paso is being revised to reflect the alternative control measures proposed in the revisions to 30 TAC §111.147 and the respective responsibilities of the City of El Paso and the TCEQ under the SIP.

The public comment period for this proposed SIP revision, proposed rule revision, and MOA will open on September 2, 2011, and close on October 3, 2011. The public hearing on this proposal will be held in El Paso, Texas, on September 27, 2011, at 2:00 p.m., at the El Paso State Office Building, 401 E. Franklin Ave., Room 570.

For the complete SIP package, including appendices, please visit the TCEQ's El Paso: Particulate Matter, Latest Planning Activities Web page.


PCB's found at Asarco sites in Corpus Christi and El Paso TX

Aroclor 1268 (heaviest PCB, found mainly at a GA EPA superfund site) was
found at an Encycle Asarco lagoon in Corpus Christi TX.

PCB's have been found also at the Asarco El Paso TX site. Authorities
have not publicly released the name(s) of the PCB's.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

August 16 2011 "Fifth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a bankruptcy court ruling ... bidders for mining company Asarco LLC's major asset ...to be reimbursed"

"5th Circ. Backs Payment Of Asarco Auction Costs

Law360, New York (August 16, 2011) -- The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a bankruptcy court ruling that allowed bidders for mining company Asarco LLC's major asset — a $1.4 billion judgment related to a wrongful stock transfer — to be reimbursed for the legal costs required to analyze the transaction.

The appeals court said the bankruptcy court correctly authorized the reimbursement to auction bidders, finding that there was no clear error in its decision.

The judgment, Asarco's most substantial asset, was the result of an adversary proceeding over the wrongful transfer of..."

http://www.law360.com/bankruptcy/articles/265348/5th-circ-backs-payment-of-asarco-auction-costs

"Grupo Unit Appeals $1.4B Ruling In Asarco Case" 20090722

"Grupo Unit Appeals $1.4B Ruling In Asarco Case

Law360, New York (July 22, 2009) -- A unit of mining giant Grupo Mexico SAB is appealing a ruling that it is on the hook for $1.38 billion in cash and a stake in lucrative Peruvian copper operations to Asarco LLC, in a case alleging Grupo fraudulently shifted the shares, tipping Asarco into bankruptcy.

Grupo subsidiary Americas Mining Corp. on Monday filed notice in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas that it was appealing the case's final judgment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the..."

http://www.law360.com/bankruptcy/articles/112581/grupo-unit-appeals-1-4b-ruling-in-asarco-case