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

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"?

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, ...
"

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 ...

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

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.  

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. ......"

"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" ...

EPA Final Analytical Report and Data From ENCYCLE ASARCO TX area

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 :

• EPA Final Analytical Report 
• Data

 

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.

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

By Dan Rivoli

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

By Tina Peng

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

"Report of PCBs at ASARCO disputed" The Asarco dilemma makes the news in Encycle-Asarco Corpus Christi TX and at Asarco site in El Paso TX

In El Paso TX:
"Report of PCBs at Asarco disputed
Commodity futures news: Report of PCBs at Asarco disputed, updated 2011-08-13 05:26:15. Watch for more news articles, provided throughout the day courtesy ...
futures.tradingcharts.com/.../Report_of_PCBs_at_Asarco_disp..."

Additional Information:

• Aroclor 1268 (heaviest of the PCB's) was also recently found at ENCYCLE-Asarco in Corpus Christi, TX.  This is not a common PCB and is a signature PCB for the Linden Chemicals and Plastics (LCP) EPA-Superfund-site in Brunswick, Georgia.  Aroclor 1268 " is a recognized developmental toxicant and exposure to it has the potential to negatively affect a developing baby." (see symptoms of Developmental toxicity -- Aroclor 1268 )
• EPA and the Federal Dept. of Justice admitted in a 1998-confidential-for-settlement-purposes only 73 page document (uncovered/released to public domain by a schoolteacher and then covered 10/2006 by  NYTIMES) that Asarco had been running an unpermitted illegal (and secret) multi-state hazardous waste disposal operation for profit from at least 1992 through 1998 --- that the wastes first went to ENCYCLE-Asarco in Corpus Christi TX and then were shipped on to at least Asarco's smelters in El Paso TX and E. Helena, MT.  God only knows what terrible chemicals remain on those sites.  The communities have been demanding full disclosure from the EPA for years.
• The Asarco Bankruptcy Court did not hold Asarco accountable for *any* of the illegal/secret haz-wastes disposed of between 1992 and 1998 even though the Sunland Park Grassroots Environmental Group (SPGEG) legally notified the DOJ Bankruptcy Trustee during the hearings that Asarco had handled massive amounts of these undisclosed chemicals and would have liability from such. Rep. Reyes said to the El Paso Times in 2006 that "Asarco had paid millions of dollars on the condition that the details of what it had done would never become public".

Nero Fiddle's, While Rome Burns: Grupo Mexico mining subsidiaries (including ASARCO) making lots of money as the children in Paso del Norte endure paltry 52 million for 110-yr-old-smelter's Clean-up

"google alert:
Grupo Mexico reports mixed bag of metals production in 2Q, 1H
Mineweb
Grupo Mexico says its mining subsidiaries-Asarco and Southern Copper Corp.--have already been paying a windfall mining tax over the past decade as metals prices soared. Grupo Mexico reported its mining division increased production by 39% during the ...
See all stories on this topic »
"
Children in the Paso del Norte endure arsenic, lead, cadmium and still undeclared-illegally-disposed-hazardous-wastes from the now-closed ASARCO site as ASARCO (Grupo Mexico) makes record profits.    ASARCO was never made to face the liabilities from nearly ten years of illegal waste disposal at the ASARCO El Paso site (1992-1998) and we have never been told why.

Despite many years of asking for full disclosure of the chemicals left here from Asarco's illegal "sham recycling" operation -- we have never received the chemical disclosure.   We do know that Asarco handled PCB's, and Radioactive wastes.  The dioxin levels have to be high.  So why this continued silence?

Why was ASARCO allowed to get away with disclosing these liabilities in our court bankruptcy system? 

"Grupo Mexico net doubles..."

"google alert:
Grupo Mexico net doubles as metals prices rise
Reuters Africa
Sales were likely boosted by the reincorporation of Arizona-based miner Asarco and higher freight traffic from Grupo Mexico's railroad division. The company did not give details in an early filing with Mexico's stock exchange. Asarco was under Grupo ...
See all stories on this topic »
"

WOULD THE NET DOUBLE IF THE FEDERAL DEPT OF JUSTICE HAD MADE THE BANKRUPTCY COURT FORCE ASARCO TO ADDRESS THE LIABILITY FROM THE ILLEGAL MULTI-STATE WASTE DISPOSAL OPERATION ASARCO RAN FROM 1992-1998??  (see the DOJ-EPA Asarco 'confidential for settlement purposes only' 73 page document (Corpus Christi TX, El Paso TX and E. Helena MT))

Asarco clean-up El Paso Trustee and Demolition NOT DISCLOSING THE ILLEGAL CHEMICALS INCINERATED THERE FROM 1992-1998

"Google Alert - asarco bankruptcy
Asarco is disappearing 30 percent of copper smelter demolished
El Paso Inc
To help pay for the cleanup, a trust of $52 million was put aside in the $1.8-billion Asarco bankruptcy settlement. It's enough to essentially demolish the ..."

Gelmore ALDEA smartcode ASARCO EL PASO development

The full plan for this Geltmore ALDEA development can be viewed at
http://www.geltmore.com/aldeaelpaso.html/

ALDEA is being planned for extremely contaminated land by ASARCO El Paso
TX (East Helena MT ASARCO site is also now being rezoned for development).

The ALDEA developers may not be aware that their development is being
planned for land that is a stone's throw from the world's largest
unpermitted and illegally-operated toxic waste disposal operation
(1992-1998). This has been fully documented by the EPA to the Federal
DOJ in 1998 (publicly released in 2006 see 10/2006 NYTIMES story and 73
page confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only document detailing the
waste shipments) and again in a 2011 publicly-release copy of the 1994
ASARCO Supervisor's whistleblower report detailing the blatant receipt
and hiding and mixing of the poisons for shipment to the El Paso smelter
for burning.

This smelter may be CLOSED but the poisons remaining in the land around
it were never disclosed because the EPA made that 1998 secret agreement
with the Federal DOJ (For more information about these secret
agreements, see the recent Financial Times article covering hedge funds,
Horizon Shipping lines, the Federal DOJ and Asarco (use internal google
engine).)

It is not prudent to build on the old ASARCO site and expose anyone to
the associated risks from those chemicals. Young college students have
not yet had children and their bodies, and future children will be
exposed to those risks. If any women living there are carrying unborn
infants, or raising young children - - those unborn and/or infants will
be disproportionately affected by the chemical toxins.

ASARCO had the worlds two LARGEST CONTOP Incinerators -- and ran these
hot and long from 1992-1998 spewing out incompletely-burned toxic and
hazardous wastes including radioactive material all that time.

We don't know why Walmart (or whomever owned that land) did not give the
developers full disclosure -- or, why our City of El Pasodid not do the
same (i.e. deliver the full chemical picture to the developers). Our
City and government would rather ignore the toxins than disclose these
to us -- but, slowly slowly the truth is coming out, and we know now
that PCB's are involved, dioxins, radioactive materials, mercury etc.

For copies of the documents about the contamination see this blog, or
look at the EPA ASARCO document page.

Asarco merger rumors

"Re: Asarco     21-Jun-11 08:26 pm    

<<If the merger goes through, you can forget any signicant dividend. >>>

...Grupo owns almost 100% of AMC.   AMC [American Mining Corp.]owns 100% of Asarco and 80% of SCCO [Southern Copper Co.]. AMC borrowed 1.5 billion to get Asarco out of bankruptcy.................  No question: To the extent amc uses a scco dividend to pay debt we get 20% now and zip if this merger goes through."

http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_%28A_to_Z%29/Stocks_S/threadview?m=tm&bn=13898&tid=59232&mid=59242&tof=12&off=1

East Helena MT follows El Paso Texas lead and makes contaminated ASARCO land zoned for development: The secret waste stays SECRET

How very sad for El Paso Texas and East Helena MT that the citizens are not being told about the massive amounts of illegal hazardous wastes.   EPA secretly told the Federal DOJ in 1998 that ASARCO was running an unpermitted and illegal secret hazardous-waste disposal operation for profit.   ASARCO Encycle in Corpus Christi (see the whistleblower report) would take the stuff in internationally, mix it up and hide it, and send it along via the railroad to El Paso Asarco and East Helena Asarco for secret disposal.  PCB's, Dioxins, radioactive materials -- all were handled and smelted.   The DOJ kept it such a secret that the DOJ Trustee failed to act on a legal-request to inform the bankruptcy court; and, the bankruptcy courts were allowed to IGNORE THE LIABILITIES from the years of secret waste disposal.   To this day although the sites are closed, there has not been DISclosure of the chemicals involved.  Whatever it was, it was very very bad.

"While the lack of a zoning ordinance certainly made it easier on them the first time around, the Johnsons know that the new codes will help businesses looking to expand into East Helena as more and more property becomes readily available with the bankruptcy of Asarco.

For decades, the smelter had a stranglehold on the city’s outlying property, making it difficult for people who wanted to build into the valley. With the foreclosure on its property and the recent cleanups after it was determined a Superfund site, the area is primed for change."

Read more: http://helenair.com/news/article_8f4bbf64-9fb6-11e0-98f2-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1QV4KnSxe

Apparently ignoring ASARCO's multi-state non-permitted secret hazardous-waste disposal operation (1992-1998) ... Steelworkers Union/attorneys reach work agreement

Tentative agreement reached with Asarco, Unions - Topix
Tucson, AZ Tucson based ASARCO LLC President and COO Manuel Ramos announced today that the Company and the Unions representing employees at five Asarco ...
www.topix.com/.../tentative-agreement-reached-with-asarco-u...

Steelworkers Union and Asarco reach tentative agreement

"...Manuel Ramos, President and Chief Executive officer of ASARCO
announced the company and the Steelworkers have reached a tentative
agreement. According to the union, both sides have agreed to extend the
existing wage package for another two years through June 30, 2013.

ASARC0 has 2,267 full time workers at its five operating copper
facilities in Arizona. Locally, at its Hayden Smelter and Hayden
Concentrator in Gila County along with the nearby Ray Complex in Pinal
County, the copper company employs 1,350 persons of which some 250 live
in Globe-Miami"

Wed. June 22, 2011
http://www.silverbelt.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=72&story_id=2748

donation of one or more parts for AMD quad computer build

The author of this blog has need of part(s) to build a faster computer
either dual or quad core. The parts-list (total $647$) is available if
you ask for donation of one or more of the various
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rebuilt.

This donation is not tax-deductible. But the majority of its use will
be as always for educational and charitable purpose as evidenced by the
years that this blog has been maintained for the betterment of the
community. The equipment will not go to waste.

Please contact me through the PayPal link.

Asarco Mine worker Marine (no criminal history) killed by SWAT TEAM after his 12-hr shift: OATH KEEPERS Memorial Service for fallen Marine

"Note to Viewer: Be advised that this is a very emotionally difficult video to watch as it is a memorial service for a fallen Marine with his widow and other family and to remember our war dead. This should not be viewed lightly, but it goes to the heart of what it means to be an American and how high the stakes are for all of us in the struggle for our liberty."

Where is Justice? Where is Color of Law? Where is Environmental Justice? What is happening to our United States of America?

Asarco Mine Employee and three-tour Marine combat veteran NO CRIMINAL HISTORY shot dead at home by SWAT TEAM after 12 hour shift

ASARCO Arizona employee and MARINE (no criminal history) shot over sixty times in his home right after leaving his shift/going to bed. Wife and one young son were home. The safety was still engaged on his gun.


"Joe Waldman of Tucson's KGUN-TV says the SWAT team prevented paramedics from going to work on Jose Guerena for one hour and fourteen minutes."

SWAT TEAM HELMET CAM and shooting on this video:



Marine Guerena's wife's 911 call on the next video:



Las Vegas Review Journal article about Marine Jose Guerena's killing

Asarco claiming that its historic smelter not responsible for Lead contamination (Hey El Paso Texas - doesn't this sound familiar??)

Associated Press - June 3, 2011 3:55 PM ET

"""OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - The Asarco mining company says the Environmental Protection Agency concealed records about lead contamination in Omaha that may clear the company from responsibility.Asarco filed a federal lawsuit against the EPA Friday because of new information that emerged about the source of the lead contamination found on nearly 6,000 Omaha properties.New records the agency released in response to a Union Pacific lawsuit suggest lead paint on houses, not Asarco's former lead smelter in Omaha, may have caused the contamination."....

Asarco's Omaha NE smelter shut down in 1997 just before the EPA and DOJ made the historic SECRET confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only ASARCO agreement that Rep. Reyes (Chair House Intelligence Committee) said "Asarco paid millions on the condition that the details of what it had done would never become public".    Asarco had been bringing in secret international and governmental wastes at Asarco Encycle in Corpus Christi TX (where they held the recent Asarco Bankruptcy proceedings).   The wastes were then illegally mixed and railed up to East Helena MT and El Paso TX for disposal.

Since the Omaha Asarco smelter was still running all those years - until 1997 -- is it possible that Asarco was sending secret stuff to that location also for disposal?  

Authorities still snowballing Radioactive Isotope testing at El Paso TX, at the ASARCO industrial site

The Asarco El Paso site is being demolished as this is being written, and nothing is being done to list the actinides and radioactive isotopes that Asarco left there from its nearly ten (or more) years of secret hazardous waste incineration.   The El Paso Clean up Trustee wrote (email):

 "Asarco ...handled a wide variety materials including radioactive materials.  Given the scrutiny [not!] of the site from both state and federal authorities, we do not expect man-made radioisotopes, TENORM [technologically enhanced naturally-occurring radioactive material], byproducts or residues at levels above their respective natural levels." 

There is no "scrutiny" of the site for radioactive isotopes!!  The Trustee and the Environmental Agencies refuse to test for these -- they are assuming that the levels were and are safe without producing the SCIENCE.  Ask them - they cannot produce *any* data to show the names of the radioactive isotopes present and their amounts.

Yet another "settlement" potentially related to Asarco activity (this time in Omaha NE)...

UP Settles Omaha Lead Dispute With EPA for $25M
OMAHA, Neb. June 2, 2011 (AP)

Union Pacific and the [Federal EPA] ... are ending their decade-long dispute over lead contamination in Omaha with a settlement that reduces the railroad's share of the cost to $25 million...The EPA blamed industrial sources of lead [i.e. ASARCO smelter, which closed 1997 - one year before the 1998 DOJ EPA Asarco confidential for settlement purposes only document secretly-detailing how ASARCO ran an illegal hazardous waste incineration operation in Corpus Christi, TX; East Helena MT and El Paso TX for nearly ten years] and Union Pacific argued lead house paint is the real problem. Last fall, Asarco tried to intervene in a federal lawsuit Union Pacific had filed against the EPA after the railroad learned that agency officials may have deleted some records related to the lead-contaminated properties in Omaha.... Asarco [wants to] recover compensation from companies that contributed to the contamination.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=13737687

Was this another secret Federal Department of Justice "settlement decree" like DOJ-Horizon Shipping Lines etc.?  Meanwhile neither ASARCO, the Federal DOJ, or the EPA are disclosing the details of what Asarco had done when it illegally disposed of hazardous wastes for nearly ten years.  Technology has been around for over 30 years that can determine exactly what metals are there, and where they came from.

Remember also that Grupo Mexico now owns ASARCO and wants to run a railroad line from Northern Mexico up through Santa Teresa N.M. border crossing, where U.P. Railroad and BNSF are building facilities (recent Sunland Park NM water treatment plant changes are said to accomodate the new UP facility).

UTEP invites their students to INTERN AT THE EL PASO ASARCO site without disclosing the illegal hazardous chemicals onsite first

UTEP invites their students to INTERN AT THE EL PASO ASARCO site without disclosing the illegal hazardous chemicals onsite first from the secret hazardous-waste disposal operation run at this site from 1992-1998 (EPA to DOJ confidential for settlement purposes only 73 page document, 1998 -- revealed by front page NYTIMES story, 10-2006):

"google alert:

ASARCO Internships
-ASARCO REMEDIATION PROJECT- Description and Requirements: The Center for Environmental Resource Management (CERM) at UTEP invites applicants for Student ...
answerpot.com/showthread.php?2603984-ASARCO...

"

ABC NEWS: "Tucson SWAT Team defends shooting Iraq Vet 60 Times" (just got off a 12 hour shift at the AZ ASARCO mine)

"Fwd: Google Alert - asarco
Tucson SWAT Team Defends Shooting Iraq Vet 60 Times
ABC News
"And the Pima County sheriff scolded the media for "questioning the legality" of the shooting. Jose Guerena, 26, died the morning of May 5. He was asleep in his Tucson home after working a night shift at the Asarco copper mine when his wife, Vanessa, ...
See all stories on this topic »"

El Paso ASARCO: smartcode not so smart after all

An arsenic-expert in N.Carolina told me that he would not live next to a smelter - even a closed one - and leave any windows open.  You can't smell or taste arsenic, and even swamp coolers won't remove the smallest particles that go straight to the most inner places of our lungs.  El Paso TX has nearly 110 years of Arsenic deposited for 1000 square miles, and the worst of it is within ten miles of the smelter.  HUGE amounts of arsenic.

City Council just voted to make all the old ASARCO land and the WALMART-former-Asarco-land a "walking community".  This is the EPI-CENTER of 110 years of Arsenic-Land, across from a sewage plant, a Rock Quarry.  The poor Developer went from a traditional design to the smart-code "walkable community design" to please City Council. 

"If wishes made horses then poor men would ride" - and if wishes cleaned up Asarco then this smartcode could thrive...

However, because of the intense contamination all around for 10 miles-out-from-the-smelter, it should not have been zoned smart-code after all ---- because NO ONE SHOULD BE OUTSIDE.  It should be all motorized-traffic (no bicycles, walking, swimming outdoors), no windows open, no one outside EVER there -- refrigerated air and electrostatic filtered heated central air in winter.  

The Developer ought to get out now, before moving tons of dirt, and building according to "smartcode".  After all, it  is like planning a walkable community next to any hugely poisonous toxic no-man's land (Chernobyl comes to mind)  --- just not smart at all.

Asarco: nearly 1/2 Billion dollars available for Coeur d'Alene and only 55 million available for El Paso TX exposed to Asarco's secret haz-waste disposal operation

EPA funding will help assess proposed cleanup sites Coeur d'Alene Press "At this time, more than $494 million are available from the 2009 Asarco bankruptcy proceedings to help pay for environmental cleanup in the basin. ..."

ASARCO worker shot dead in his home by no-knock warrant-SWAT team -- and, his rifle still had the safety on

A two-tour Marine, no criminal history, working 12 hour shifts at ASARCO in Tuscon -- suddenly is dead from a no-knock warrant raid by a SWAT team who shot over 60 bullets in 7 seconds into him.   His own rifle's safety was still on.   The SWAT Team thought no one but him would be home, but he hid his wife and son in the closet when she heard strange noises outside and woke him up...


Google Alert:
"The Indiana Supreme Court decision makes less sense than before.
Pajamas Media
Jose Guerena, 26, a [twenty-six year old] former Marine [with two overseas tours of duty], was sleeping after the graveyard shift at Asarco Mission mine ..."

SWAT raid that killed Arizona ASARCO worker and Marine - recorded in 911 call

"Google Alert - asarco
SWAT raid fatal drama is revealed in 911 call
Arizona Daily Star
Jose Guerena, 26, a former Marine, was sleeping after the graveyard shift at Asarco Mission mine about 9:30 am when his wife woke him saying she heard ..."

Asarco continues to sue: BNSF

Asarco has recently sued:  the EPA (OK), the Rockefeller family (WA), and now BNSF 

Google Alert:
Asarco Sues BNSF Over $80M Cleanup - Law360
Asarco LLC sued BNSF Railway Co. and four others in Missouri on Thursday, seeking contributions toward an $80 million cleanup at a mining site the company ...
www.law360.com/.../asarco-sues-bnsf-over-80m-cleanup-

Asarco worker shot dead at home after 12 hr shift by SWAT team who shot 71 shots in 7 seconds. The worker did not fire his gun.

"google alert:
SWAT team fired 71 shots in raid
Arizona Daily Star
... noise outside their home about 9 am Thursday and woke her husband who had just gone to bed after working a 12-hour shift at the Asarco Mine, she said. ..."

"The Pima County Regional SWAT team fired 71 shots in seven seconds at a Tucson man they say pointed a gun at officers serving a search warrant at his home.....Vanessa Guerena says she heard noise outside their home about 9 a.m. Thursday and woke her husband who had just gone to bed after working a 12-hour shift at the Asarco Mine, she said. There were no sirens or shouts of "police," she said.....Guerena told his wife and son to hide inside a closet and he grabbed the AR-15 rifle, his wife said....Tucson is notorious for home invasions and we didn't want to look like that," said Lt. Michael O'Connor of the Pima County Sheriff's Department. "We went lights and sirens and we absolutely did not do a 'no-knock' warrant."

"Horizon Lines' empty bankruptcy threat brings US DOJ to its knees....similarly EPA opted to take [x] claim in Asarco's Bankruptcy case...."

"Google Alert - asarco
Horizon Lines' empty bankruptcy threat brings US DoJ to its knees ...
Financial Times
Similarly, the EPA opted to take a USD 1.7bn repayment on its USD 6.5bn environmental remediation claim in Asarco's bankruptcy case. ..."

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/4f212e9c-7c6b-11e0-b9e3-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1M7sbEKBu

"...The DoJ’s value give-up in Horizon mirrors the compromise the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a secured creditor, cut with unsecured hedge fund creditors in chemical company Tronox last year....

Rather than battle bondholders for more cash, the EPA agreed to take massive losses on its structurally senior claims. The Oklahoma-based company’s unsecured bondholders walked away with equity worth more than double the face value of their bond claims, while the EPA was left with a 30% recovery.

Similarly.... [the ASARCO] Arizona, US-based copper miner’s bondholders received 100% recovery on their claims, as well as accrued interest, when the company emerged from Chapter 11 in December 2009, while the sponsor, Grupo Mexico, continued to own its assets....""

Asarco 1999 Settlement with Denver CO gives another $126,484.90 to 107 people while EL PASO TEXAS COMMUNITY suffers silently

"Residents of south Globeville are receiving an additional $126,484.90 from Asarco mining company for contaminating their properties with arsenic and other pollutants, according to a press release from the attorneys who represented the residents.....The additional payments are part of a $12.3 million settlement the residents reached with Asarco in 1999....[also] South Globeville residents filed a class-action lawsuit in 2007 against Asarco when high levels of toxic contamination were found on properties. Asarco released arsenic as a stack emission from its Globe Plant smeltering facility for about 70 years starting in the 1920s."

Mitchell Byars: 303-954-1698 or mbyars@denverpost.com

South Globeville residents get additional money from Asarco settlement

From 2009: Verde Realty Completes Rail in Santa Teresa Intermodal Park

Verde Realty Completes Rail in Santa Teresa Intermodal Park
VerdeCorporate Realty Services announced that construction has been completed on 4,283 feet
of new railroad track and new switch in VerdeSanta Teresa Intermodal Park in Santa Teresa,
NM. The track and switch will service the master-planned park's first phase totaling 118 acres.
El Paso, TX (PRWEB) January 15, 2009 -- Verde Corporate Realty Services announced that construction has
been completed on 4,283 feet of new railroad track and new switch in Verde Santa Teresa Intermodal Park in
Santa Teresa, NM. The track and switch will service the master-planned park's first phase totaling 118 acres.
Verde Santa Teresa Intermodal Park is a 1,221 acre master-planned, rail-served industrial park that can
accommodate user requirements from 5 acres to 200 acres. When fully-built out, the park will have five rail
spurs directly connected to the Union Pacific Main Line. The park provides a further benefit to users in that it is
located within Foreign-Trade Zone No. 197.
The Verde Santa Teresa Intermodal Park is the only facility of its kind in the region capable of fulfilling
transloading, cross-border trailer staging and build-to-suit requirements. Construction of the new Foxconn
Technology Group manufacturing facility in San Jerónimo, Mexico, that is located immediately adjacent to
Santa Teresa, and Union Pacific's plans to build new facilities in Santa Teresa will generate meaningful
economic activity in the area and incremental demand for rail served facilities. This park will address the needs
that will arise from this activity.
Foxconn, the trade name for Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Ltd., began construction in
July 2008 on a 440-acre manufacturing campus which will eventually employ 20,000 workers. The project's
first phase, a 650,000-square-foot facility, is scheduled to open in March 2009 and employ 5,300 workers
making computers, laptops and other electronic equipment for a variety of companies. Foxconn is an
electronics manufacturing giant that makes products for Apple, Nokia, HP, Motorola, Dell, and Sony, among
others, and more cell phones than any other firm in the world.
Union Pacific plans to initially invest $150 million in a 934-acre fueling, switching and intermodal yard to be
completed between 2010 and 2014. Once complete, it will be the largest fueling and intermodal facility on the
U.S.-Mexico border. When fully operational, the Union Pacific facility will employ 280 people.
In addition to Union Pacific's investment, Verde Corporate Realty Services' Director of Business Development,
Jay Kleberg said, "The development of Verde's Intermodal Park is a critical step in servicing the increased
demand by local and national manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors to efficiently transport goods from
coast-to-coast and service clients in Mexico."
Kleberg went on to note that, "The Park's location, five miles from the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, the new
Foxconn campus in San Jerónimo and Union Pacific's new refueling and intermodal yard is ideal for
transportation providers and suppliers doing business in Mexico. Verde has had numerous inquiries about the
availability of rail-served land and build-to-suit capabilities, and we look forward to accommodating the
corporate real estate requirements of our customers."
Verde Corporate Realty Services is a leading owner/operator of corporate facilities throughout the United
States/Northern Mexico border region. Verde's team of experienced bi-cultural professionals provides real
estate services from the design/ build phase through subsequent years of facility operation.
For more information, visit www.verdecrs.com/intermodal.
###

Ex Asarco Workers' Attorneys ask EPA to test for PCBs at the Asarco El Paso TX Legacy site

Google Alert:
"EPA, TCEQ asked to test for toxic compounds at Asarco (4:25 am)
Las Cruces Sun-News
The letter, sent by an attorney representing a group of former Asarco employees, asks that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on ..."

see also:
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_18022789

ASARCO Legacy slated to be developed into homes, playgrounds and elementary school if El Paso City Council TX ok's the rezoning today

El Paso City Council will vote to Rezone Contaminated ASARCO Land and Allow Development

Under Guise of Smartcode, the Rezoning Would Ignore
Undisclosed Poisons from Asarco's Secret-Waste Disposal Operation

EPgtlo demands that until governmental agencies disclose the hazardous-wastes from its illegal-waste-incineration that this land not be rezoned

El Paso, TX.— El Paso City Council will vote this next Tuesday May 10 (Items 19A and 19B) on Ordinance to change zoning of Asarco from unrestricted manufacturing to "SCZ" (Smart code) and allow development.  Under the ownership of the ASARCO Texas Custodial Trust and the El Paso Trustee ASARCO Bankruptcy contract, the clean-up is not required to disclose or remediate the still undisclosed hazardous wastes from when Asarco ran the illegal and secret toxic-waste disposal operation (1992-1998 - NYTimes 10/2006).  As Representative Reyes said in a press statement (2006) "Asarco paid millions on the condition that the details of what it had done would never become public". 

• The ASARCO Texas Custodial Trustee for El Paso stated that "Asarco, as a large integrated metal producer and refiner obviously handled a wide variety materials including radioactive materials." 
  
• The International Joint Advisory Committee under the La Paz Accord/Treaty passed a Resolution recommending testing, but no testing has yet been done to determine what contamination remains in this region from Asarco's illegal hazardous-waste incineration.
• EPA has not yet released the documents detailing those wastes.
  

EPgtlo demands that until governmental agencies disclose the hazardous-wastes from its illegal-waste-incineration that this land not be rezoned. 

                                                                      +++

El Paso City Council will vote to Rezone Contaminated ASARCO Land and Allow Development

For Immediate Release, May 7, 2011

Contacts:

Heather McMurray EPgtlo, (915) 539-3388, heamc@earthlink.net

El Paso City Council will vote to Rezone Contaminated ASARCO Land and Allow Development

Under Guise of Smartcode, the Rezoning Would Ignore
Undisclosed Poisons from Asarco's Secret-Waste Disposal Operation

El Paso, TX.— El Paso City Council will vote this next Tuesday May 10 (Items 19A and 19B) on Ordinance to change zoning of Asarco from unrestricted manufacturing to "SCZ" (Smart code) and allow development.  Under the ownership of the ASARCO Texas Custodial Trust and the El Paso Trustee ASARCO Bankruptcy contract, the clean-up is not required to disclose or remediate the still undisclosed hazardous wastes from when Asarco ran the illegal and secret toxic-waste disposal operation (1992-1998 - NYTimes 10/2006).  As Representative Reyes said in a press statement (2006) "Asarco paid millions on the condition that the details of what it had done would never become public". 

• The ASARCO Texas Custodial Trustee for El Paso stated that "Asarco, as a large integrated metal producer and refiner obviously handled a wide variety materials including radioactive materials." 
  
• The International Joint Advisory Committee under the La Paz Accord/Treaty passed a Resolution recommending testing, but no testing has yet been done to determine what contamination remains in this region from Asarco's illegal hazardous-waste incineration.
• EPA has not yet released the documents detailing those wastes.
  

EPgtlo demands that until governmental agencies disclose the hazardous-wastes from its illegal-waste-incineration that this land not be rezoned. 

                                                                      + + +

Federal DOJ Trustee for Corpus Christi TX ASARCO Bankruptcy and sites failing to do their job

It is illegal in our lay-opinion for the Federal DOJ Bankruptcy Trustee to continue to make legal decisions and recommendations that act as if Asarco (Encycle and Asarco inc.) never engaged in nearly ten years of secret hazardous-waste-disposal for $$. (see news announcement, below)  Why is the Federal DOJ Trustee not acting on this knowledge, that they were legally apprised of back in 2006?

We respectfully demand that the Obama Administration's DOJ appointees and the EPA's Obama Administration appointees demand that the DOJ Bankruptcy Trustee (Region 7 Judy A. Robbins United States Trustee ) do their job and require that the trustees overseeing that liquidation, Michael Boudloche (Corpus Christi), Mr. Puga (El Paso TX) consider the ramifications from the illegal secret wastes.   It is now public-domain-knowledge (both from the released-1998-formerly-confidential for settlement purposes only 72 page document AND from the 1994 Asarco Encycle Supervisor Whistleblower report) that Asarco-Encycle and Asarco El Paso TX (and E. Helena MT) ran an un-permitted hazardous-waste disposal-operation for nearly ten years just to make money.

There should be no demolition at these sites until there is full disclosure of the secret wastes handled and burned at these sites, using comprehensive chemical analyses recommended by the International La Paz Accord JAC group several years ago.

"Google Alert:
"State can't stop demolition, bankruptcy trustee says
Corpus Christi Caller Times
A US Bankruptcy Court trustee said the contested demolition of the ASARCO/Encycle plant will continue and state officials have no authority to stop the work ..." "

ASARCO LLC v. Estate of John D. Rockefeller Sr. et al 2:11-cv-00661

"Case Title

ASARCO LLC v. Estate of John D. Rockefeller Sr. et al

Court

Washington Western

Nature of Suit

Environmental Matters

Case Number

2:11-cv-00661

Judge

Richard A Jones

Date Filed

April 18, 2011"

http://www.law360.com/energy/articles/239975/asarco-brings-cercla-suit-against-rockefeller-estate

Asarco sues the Rockerfeller Estate

The Federal DOJ Bankruptcy Trustee for the Bankruptcy District at Corpus Christi TX allowed ASARCO to complete its entire bankruptcy without ever considering the liabilities from Asarco's years of illegally disposing of Toxic Waste, despite being legally notified of this lapse winter of 2006.  In Oct.,2006 the NYTimes exposed the story of how the EPA had secretly proven to the DOJ in 1998 that ASARCO disposed of illegal toxic wastes for nearly ten years - but then hid the truth away in a "confidential for settlement purposes only document".  This document became public-domain in 2006. Rep. Reyes (Chair House Intelligence Committee) wrote that Asarco  paid millions on the condition that the details of what it had done would never become public.

So now Asarco and its owner, Grupo Mexico, have huge 1st quarter profits this year; and, they have sued the Rockefeller Estate.  The Rockefeller estate attorneys ought to study this blog's archives in Scribe for the 30 documents and evidence sent to the Gov. of New Mexico (twice) about Asarco; and, that were taken through two sets of courts with each court failing to address the evidence.  The Federal DOJ has failed to hold Asarco responsible and allowed this to snowball.  No one has explained the presence of a Swiss Financial institution named "Asarco" (associated with Asarco inc.).

"Law360, New York (April 19, 2011) -- Asarco LLC hit the estate of John D. Rockefeller Sr. and other entities with a lawsuit in Washington state Monday seeking environmental response costs at a polluted smelter site over which the plaintiff recently paid a $38 million settlement.

Asarco claims in its contribution and cost recovery complaint filed in the Western District of Washington that the estate and four other entities are liable as owners or operators under..."

Judge Richard Schmidt of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas has closed two more affiliate cases of ASARCO LLC

"Court Closes 2 More ASARCO Affiliate Cases

Posted by Rob Smith On March - 20 - 2011

FAIRLESS HILLS, Pa. — Judge Richard Schmidt of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas has closed two more affiliate cases of ASARCO LLC.  They are the cases of Encycle Inc. and Government Gulch Mining Company, Limited...."

Read the Asarco Corpus Christi Encycle Whistleblower secret document from 1994 and the document from SPGEG to the DOJ Trustee to these Bankruptcy courts in 2006-7 asking the Trustee to force the courts to face the liabilities from the years of illegal secret toxic-waste disposal by ASARCO....

Why hasn't the Bankruptcy court considered any liabilities from Asarco's years of illegal secret waste disposal in Corpus Christi TX, El Paso TX, and East Helena MT.????   Why has the Federal DOJ looked the other way?

Ex ASARCO Workers to Identify Undisclosed Illegal Waste Dumps on ASARCO-El Paso Property

March 23, 2011

by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid

EL PASO, TX – March 23, 2011 – This Saturday, former employees of the ASARCO El Paso plant, as part of the Ex-ASARCO Workers coalition, will identify five unlined dumpsites on the ASARCO property that continue to contaminate the area and pose serious risks to the public health.  Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), and a Trustee in charge of remediating the site will be present.

The EPA has informed the Ex-ASARCO Workers that the media will not be allowed to participate in the site visit.  As a result, a press briefing will be held at the ASARCO site on Saturday, March 26 starting at 1:00 pm.

“When we first told the EPA about the hidden dumpsite in November, we thought they would be on the next plane to El Paso to investigate,” said Carlos Rodriguez, lead organizer of the Ex-ASARCO Workers. “We were wrong. Clearly, the continued contamination of this property is not a high priority.”

The unlined dumpsites sit on the El Paso property where ASARCO operated a copper smelter and handled military hazardous waste for more than 100 years. The former workers contend that they were instructed to dig pits on the property and bury contaminated materials throughout their employment.  They did not place any lining that would prevent the contaminants from leaching into groundwater sources. Current plans for the property call for covering up the areas where the sites are located, rather than sampling and remediating them.

Recently the Ex-ASARCO Workers have also raised concerns that the future of the site includes plans to sell land where known ASARCO dumpsites exist, including an area east of I-10, for use as residences.

“We cannot believe that this land is going to be sold and turned into a residential area and a hiking trail. We know this area has been contaminated and there is no proof that the site is clean enough for families to live there and for children to play there,” said Mario Navarez, a member of the Ex-ASARCO Workers.

The Ex-ASARCO Workers are asking other former ASARCO employees and their spouses to contact them if they have information that would help protect the community from continued environmental pollution. Individuals can contact Veronica Carbajal, attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, at (915) 585-5107.

Established in 1970, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) is a nonprofit organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income and disadvantaged clients in a 68-county service area. TRLA’s mission is to promote the dignity, self-sufficiency, safety and stability of low-income Texas residents by providing high-quality civil legal assistance and related educational services.  For more information on Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. and this story visit www.trla.org.

###
http://trla.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/ex-asarco-workers-to-identify-undisclosed-illegal-waste-dumps-on-asarco-el-paso-property/

Asarco sues EPA for "destroying evidence" regarding Omaha smelter superfund site while DOJ and EPA protect ASARCO....

What kind of poker-hand is being played, here and why??

"Asarco Inc. said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency destroyed evidence that the company's smelter didn't cause lead pollution in an Omaha neighborhood ..."

http://www.omaha.com/article/20101217/NEWS97/712179877

El Paso Times covers Ex-Asarco-workers and others site visit 2-25-11 after massive fire gutted the IONICS distillation unit

Google Alert
EPA joins in walk-through at Asarco: Past employees want further site tests ...
El Paso Times

"by Chris Roberts \ El Paso Times Patrick Garza, left, who worked for ASARCO as a contractor and employee, left, talks to Michael J. Casbon of Environmental Resources Management, who is overseeing the demolition of the site about a recent fire in the ..."

Fire site visit at Asarco El Paso TX 2-25-2011

Asarco site visit friday Feb-25-2011