Epa , us doj, asarco hayden smelter consent fecree press release from epa

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U.S. EPA Requires ASARCO to Cut Toxic Emissions at 103-Year-Old Arizona Copper Smelter
Release Date: 11/03/2015
Contact Information: Nahal Mogharabi, (213) 244-1815, mogharabi.nahal@epa.gov

SAN FRANCISCO – Today, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement with ASARCO requiring the company to spend $150 million to install new equipment and pollution control technology to reduce emissions of toxic heavy metals at a large smelter located in Hayden, Ariz. The company will also fund local environmental projects valued at $8 million, replace a diesel locomotive with a cleaner model for $1 million, and pay a $4.5 million civil penalty.

The federal enforcement action targeted hazardous air pollutants, including lead and arsenic, and particulate matter (PM). With the controls in place, the hazardous air pollutants should be reduced by at least 8.5 tons per year, and PM emissions are expected to be reduced by 3,500 tons per year. The new equipment and controls will also slash the facility's sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions by 19,000 tons per year, a reduction of more than 90 percent, according to EPA estimates. Currently, the ASARCO smelter is the largest source of SO2 emissions in Arizona.

"The communities living near this century-old smelter will breathe cleaner air as a result of this landmark enforcement action," said Jared Blumenfeld, Regional Administrator for EPA's Pacific Southwest Region. "As one of only three major copper smelters in the nation, it is critically important that the facility operate in a way that complies with federal law, minimizes harmful pollutants and safeguards public health and the environment."

"This settlement will bring tremendous benefits to public health and the environment in Arizona for generations to come through dramatic cuts to harmful air emissions," said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "The requirements of this consent decree will not only bring ASARCO into compliance with the nation's clean air law, but will also result in testing for lead contamination in area homes and improvements to nearby roads to further improve air quality."

EPA's investigation found the company violated federal Clean Air Act standards by failing to adequately control emissions of hazardous air pollutants, such as arsenic and lead, from the Hayden smelter. Under the settlement announced today, ASARCO will install new and upgraded ventilation hoods to capture hot flue gases from its furnaces to better capture the PM, which includes the hazardous air pollutants, and SO2. The company will also replace an aging electrostatic precipitator with a new, cleaner baghouse and inject high performance lime to reduce SO2 emissions.

To reduce wind-blown dust from the facility, which contains varying levels of heavy metals, the company will implement an improved dust control plan, including the use of wind fences, upgraded water sprayers and the installation of concrete pads. In addition, ASARCO will operate five ambient air monitors in and around the Hayden and Winkelman communities to track levels of pollutants, including arsenic, lead and PM, and will make additional improvements to dust controls if levels are high.
The settlement requires ASARCO to spend $8 million to fund two environmental mitigation projects. Of this, $6 million will be used on a road paving project in Pinal County that will reduce dust pollution on local dirt roads close to the towns and benefit residents exposed to PM emissions. In addition, $2 million will be provided to the Gila County Environmental Health Services to conduct lead-based paint testing and abatement in homes, schools and other public buildings in the towns of Hayden and Winkelman.
ASARCO will spend approximately $1 million to replace an existing diesel switch locomotive operated at the facility with a cleaner diesel-electric switch locomotive. The project will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides, which are precursors to the formation of PM2.5, and greenhouse gases.
Long-term inhalation exposure to inorganic arsenic is associated with irritation of the skin and can affect the brain and nervous system. Exposure to lead can cause effects on the blood, as well as the nervous, immune, renal, and cardiovascular systems. Particulate matter, especially inhalable coarse particles (PM10) and fine particles (PM2.5), can cause coughing or difficulty breathing, decreased lung function, aggravated asthma, and even premature death in people with heart or lung disease. SO2 has also been linked to a number of adverse effects on the respiratory system, and SO2 is also a precursor to the formation of PM2.5. Fine particles are also the main cause of reduced visibility (haze) in parts of the United States, including national parks and wilderness areas. The PM2.5 and SO2 emission reductions achieved through compliance with this settlement will also serve to reduce visibility impairment owing to emissions from the facility.

Built in 1912 and expanded over the years, the ASARCO Hayden site is a copper ore processing, concentrating and smelter facility located adjacent to Hayden and Winkelman. The ASARCO plant includes a crusher, concentrator, smelter and tailings impoundment areas and produces 300 to 400 million pounds of copper and over half a million tons of sulfuric acid annually. ASARCO is owned by Grupo México, a Mexican consortium that owns Ferromex, the largest railroad in Mexico, and operates mines and smelters, including the one in Hayden, that make it the fourth largest copper producer in the world. The Hayden facility is one of three copper smelters in the United States, and the only one owned by ASARCO.
The settlement was lodged with the U.S. District Court of Arizona and is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval. The proposed consent decree can be viewed at: www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.
More on the settlement: http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/asarco-llc-settlement
For photos of the facility, please visit: http://www3.epa.gov/region9/mediacenter/asarco/photos.html

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Please let people know this is happening: Asarco epa us doj hayden public consent decree

Type in the following (at end) to read the consent decree....there now starts a 30 day comment period for the public.    Please think about commenting.   Check on my blog (google asarco secret document, go to newest post) and when the us dept of justice posts how to make comments, i will put it there.  Protect the families in hayden:  jobs are good until your employed spouse gets disease associated with these secret poisons.....like leukemia.  

Is there a "confidential for settlement purposes only" us doj epa asarco document for this?  Like there was for asarco's mess in el paso tx?

We know as fact that asarco el paso acted as a high level radioactive waste disposal contractor during the 1990's.  The gov never released this fact to us thru open records requests, but hid its relationship with asarco from us.

Asarco contaminated homes with material found in nuclear control rods.  We have a critical radon/radium problem: both mexico and usa epa's know, but have not told el pasoans.

We in el paso were told nothing of this. A secret consent decree between asarco, epa and us doj 1998 hid it.  The bankruptcy hid it.  Our gov hid it. 

So, what is now happening at hayden asarco... more of the same?   The us doj said asarco made a lot of $$$$ doing this.

Why on earth would our gov and asarco stop such mon$y making given an old smelter in remote poor location with mostly mexican americans.

Our politicians looked the other way.  Made it impossible for el pasoans to take legal action: that was passed to only TCEQ to do.  They never did.

Now apparently it may be happening again, this nightmare, for Hayden,  az.   Asarco will invest $150 MILLION in Hayden.....  so it is a big problem, there.  Compare it with el paso...asarco gave us just 50 million, to clean us all up!

http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/asarco-llc-consent-decree

 

http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/asarco-llc-consent-decree

asarco-cd-110315.pdf888085670.pdf

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Asarco epa and us doj.....again

 Tuesday, November 03, 2015Last Update: 4:33 PM PT
Century-Old Smelter to Pay $13.5M For Polluting the Air

   ShareThis
     (CN) - The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday ordered a 103-year-old copper smelter in Arizona to cut toxic emissions and pay $13.5 million in fines and green-project funding.
     As part of its settlement with the EPA, ASARCO agreed to spend $150 million to install new equipment and pollution control technology to reduce toxic emissions at its century-old smelter in Hayden, Arizona. The company will also fund local environmental projects to the tune of $8 million, spend $1 million to replace a diesel locomotive with a cleaner model and pay a $4.5 million civil penalty.
     An EPA investigation found ASARCO violated the Clean Air Act by failing to control hazardous air pollutants like arsenic and lead spewing from the Hayden smelter. The agency also the wind blows dust laden with heavy metals from the facility, which the company also agreed to address.
     ASARCO will install new ventilation hoods to capture hot flue gases from its furnaces and operate several ambient air monitors in and around Hayden to track levels of pollutants, according to the Justice Department.
     Long-term inhalation exposure to inorganic arsenic is associated with irritation of the skin and can affect the brain and nervous system. Exposure to lead can cause effects on the blood, as well as the nervous, immune, renal and cardiovascular systems.
     Particulate matter, especially inhalable coarse particles and fine particles, can cause coughing or difficulty breathing, decreased lung function, aggravated asthma and even premature death in people with heart or lung disease. And the sulfur dioxide produced by the smelter has been linked to a number of adverse effects on the respiratory system.
     "The communities living near this century-old smelter will breathe cleaner air as a result of this landmark enforcement action," EPA Pacific Southwest regional administrator Jared Blumenfeld said. "As one of only three major copper smelters in the nation, it is critically important that the facility operate in a way that complies with federal law, minimizes harmful pollutants and safeguards public health and the environment."
     Built in 1912, ASARCO's Hayden smelter produces 300 to 400 million pounds of copper and over 500,000 tons of sulfuric acid annually.
     ASARCO is owned by Grupo Mexico, which also owns Mexican railroad giant Ferromex. The company is the fourth-largest copper producer in the world.
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A repeat of asarco el paso? Secret agreement likely between us epa, us doj and asarco regarding remote century old asarco smelter: what was it burning???

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RELEASE: U.S. EPA Requires ASARCO to Cut Toxic Emissions at 103-Year-Old Arizona Copper Smelter
By Newsroom America Feeds at 3:46 pm Eastern
November 3, 2015


U.S. EPA Requires ASARCO to Cut Toxic Emissions at 103-Year-Old Arizona Copper Smelter

WASHINGTON -- Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement with ASARCO that requires the company to spend $150 million to install new equipment and pollution control technology to reduce emissions of toxic heavy metals at a large copper smelter in Hayden, Ariz. The company will also fund local environmental projects valued at $8 million, replace a diesel locomotive with a cleaner model for $1 million, and pay a $4.5 million civil penalty.

The federal enforcement action targeted hazardous air pollutants, including lead and arsenic, in particulate matter (PM). With the controls in place, the hazardous air pollutants should be reduced by at least 8.5 tons per year, and PM emissions are expected to be reduced by 3,500 tons per year. The new equipment and controls will slash the facility's sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions by 19,000 tons per year, a reduction of more than 90%, according to EPA estimates. Currently, the ASARCO smelter is the largest source of SO2 emissions in Arizona.

"Big enforcement actions like this result in big returns for American communities," said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "The upgraded pollution controls and advanced monitoring technologies ASARCO will install are key to a modern compliance program that cuts pollution around industrial plants."

"This settlement will bring tremendous benefits to public health and the environment in Arizona for generations to come through dramatic cuts to harmful air emissions," said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "The requirements of this consent decree will not only bring ASARCO into compliance with the nation's clean air law, but will also result in testing for lead contamination in area homes, and improvements to nearby roads to further improve air quality."

EPA's investigation found the company violated federal Clean Air Act standards by failing to adequately control emissions of hazardous air pollutants, such as arsenic and lead, from the Hayden smelter. Under the settlement announced today, ASARCO will install new and upgraded ventilation hoods to capture hot flue gases from its furnaces to better capture the PM, which includes the hazardous air pollutants, and SO2. The company will also replace an aging electrostatic precipitator with a new, cleaner baghouse and inject high performance lime to reduce SO2 emissions.

To reduce wind-blown dust from the facility, which contains varying levels of heavy metals, the company will implement an improved dust control plan, including the use of wind fences, upgraded water sprayers and the installation of concrete pads. In addition, ASARCO will operate five ambient air monitors in and around the Hayden and Winkelman communities to track levels of pollutants, including arsenic, lead and PM, and will make additional improvements to dust controls if levels are high.

The settlement requires ASARCO to spend $8 million to fund two environmental mitigation projects. Of this, $6 million will be used on a road paving project in Pinal County that will reduce dust pollution on local dirt roads close to the towns and residents exposed to PM emissions. In addition, $2 million will be provided to the Gila County Environmental Health Services to conduct lead-based paint testing and abatement in homes, schools and other public buildings in the towns of Hayden and Winkelman.

ASARCO will spend approximately $1 million to replace an existing diesel switch locomotive operated at the facility with a cleaner diesel-electric switch locomotive. The project will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides, which are precursors to the formation of PM2.5, and greenhouse gases.

Long-term inhalation exposure to inorganic arsenic is associated with irritation of the skin and can affect the brain and nervous system. Exposure to lead can cause effects on the blood, as well as the nervous, immune, renal, and cardiovascular systems. Particulate matter, especially inhalable coarse particles (PM10) and fine particles (PM2.5), can cause coughing or difficulty breathing, decreased lung function, aggravated asthma, and even premature death in people with heart or lung disease. SO2 has also been linked to a number of adverse effects on the respiratory system, and SO2 is also a precursor to the formation of PM2.5. Fine particles are also the main cause of reduced visibility (haze) in parts of the United States, including national parks and wilderness areas. The PM2.5 and SO2 emission reductions achieved through compliance with this settlement will also serve to reduce visibility impairment owing to emissions from the facility.

Built in 1912 and expanded over the years, the ASARCO Hayden site is a copper ore processing, concentrating and smelter facility located adjacent to Hayden and Winkelman. The ASARCO plant includes a crusher, concentrator, smelter and tailings impoundment areas and produces 300 to 400 million pounds of copper and over half a million tons of sulfuric acid annually. ASARCO is owned by Grupo México, a Mexican consortium that owns Ferromex, the largest railroad in Mexico, and operates mines and smelters, including the one in Hayden, that make it the fourth largest copper producer in the world.

The settlement was lodged with the U.S. District Court of Arizona and is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.

For more information and to read the settlement, visit:
http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/asarco-llc-settlement.

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E.Helena gets all this while cursory cleaned contaminated land called richest real estate in USA...?  

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border violence related to oil and gas development

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Borderland Exodus: Towns On Path Of Proposed Mexican Pipelines Suffer Rash Of Violence
Posted on October 21, 2015

A burned home in Guadalupe, Chihuahua. Homes and businesses here and elsewhere in Juárez Valley towns that lie in the path of proposed infrastructure development have been targets of arson. (Lorne Matalon)

GUADALUPE, Chihuahua — People living in the Juárez Valley southeast of Ciudad Juárez  and El Paso, Texas allege that land speculators preparing for the start of oil and gas production have spurred a land grab that's forced what some claim is an exodus of local residents.

People interviewed for this story claim that they or neighbors have been burned out of their homes and that many others have been murdered.

They all live in a string of towns along the Rio Grande in an area slated for energy production and rapid infrastructure construction.

One of those towns is Guadalupe, a few minutes from the U.S. border across from Fabens, Texas but a world away in terms of security. Construction on a superhighway and a state-of-the-art international border crossing is underway here.

According to Mexican census rolls nearly 10,000 people lived here in 2005. The mayor – who declined to be interviewed – claimed in local media that this year only about 1,000 people remain.

One man, who like others asked not be identified for fear of retribution, explained what's happened.

"The government sends people here to pressure landowners to get out of here, to say, 'go away, we don't want you here,' " he said in Spanish, a charge vehemently denied by Chihuahua's government.

The man said wealthy buyers then show up to grab the vacant land.

Analysts suggest buyers are arriving because Mexico's state-owned oil company PEMEX is exploring for oil and gas in Chihuahua, with an emphasis on northern Chihuahua. The region shares geologiocal characteristics of the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, the highest-producing oil field in the United States.

"Obviously this land is being re-consolidated in the hands of a few," said Tony Payan, Director of Rice University's Mexico Center in Houston.

"Many of these politicians will have interests in the shale development in the future and will likely get ahold of that land no matter what."

With oil and gas development and plans for pipelines, desert land no one cared about is now valuable. Chihuahua's Secretary of Public Works told a Juárez newspaper in September that he won't reveal the exact routes for new roads because the government doesn't want to fuel land speculation. We asked another person about that.

He laughed derisively.

"It's always about power and money," he said in Spanish.

He alleged that bureaucrats and politicians are now in the real estate business, acting at the very least as a middleman to sell land to investors.

"They are using, it is quite clear to me, that information for  themselves in a way that they can position themselves as a political class to profit from this industry in the future, oil, gas and the pipelines themselves," said Tony Payan.

Back in Guadalupe, physical evidence suggests that someone doesn't want people here; burned houses, shattered glass, very few people on the street.

The narrative in Mexican media is that the violence is a consequence of turf wars between cartels. But some residents are skeptical. They sense, but can't prove, that outside investors are working with organized crime to terrorize people into fleeing, leaving their land to be scooped up. The state can legally seize land and homes for unpaid property taxes.

"The valley is a lawless place," another man said in Spanish. "It's the sad truth."

Mexican authorities cited in media reports say at least 300 people have been killed in Guadalupe since 2008 — mayors, police, city councilors, business owners and human rights activists. People are learning hard lessons about real estate.

Julián Cardona is a photographer from Juárez.

"You know the rule. Location, location, location," he said.

He's watched a slow-motion depopulation unfold here. He said that residents tell him that authorities do nothing.

"Every time there was a killing, every time there was a burning house, the soldiers were a block away," he said. "They didn't stop the killers or the people burning the houses."

Pipeline companies in Texas are historically granted the right of Eminent Domain to seize private land because the transport of energy is deemed to be in the public's interest.

"In the United States, it's a lawful Eminent Domain. In Mexico it's outright violence," said El Paso lawyer Carlos Spector. He represents 250 former residents of the Juárez Valley, many from Guadalupe, now seeking asylum in the US.

"Investors are getting very aggressive," Spector said, founder of Mexicanos En Exilio, or Mexicans in Exile.

"All they have to do is get a list from the mayor of a small town, who is under their control, as to who hasn't paid the taxes. And if they can match up who hasn't paid the taxes to where the gas and the freeway is coming, then you go after that property. It's very, very scientific."

People who remain in Guadalupe say that former neighbors who've fled are anxious to sell their now abandoned land for cents on the dollar because they're too frightened to even contemplate coming back.

"I received several threats, not just one," he said in Spanish.

Huéramo was a city councilor in Guadalupe in 2010. He'd opposed the mayor's resolution that would allow the local government to expropriate land to sell to energy speculators.

The week after he entered the U.S. two women on the city council were killed. They'd opposed the same resolution. This was confirmed by two independent sources.

The year before, two of his his brothers-in-law were murdered.

"Families in the Juárez Valley have lost loved ones," he said. "It's a message saying they have to leave the Juarez Valley."

Residents say violence rose in the Juárez Valley in 2010 after the murder of Josefina Reyes Salazar, killed on the outskirts Ciudad Juárez.

She'd led the Mexican side of a successful binational campaign to stop a nuclear waste dump in Sierra Blanca, Texas, just across from Guadalupe. And she'd spoken out about land displacement in the Juárez Valley.

An art gallery administrator from Ciudad Juárez, Gabriela Carballo, compares opposition to pipelines in Guadalupe to conflict in the U.S. over the proposed Trans-Pecos Pipeline. It would ferry natural gas from Texas into Mexico.

There is intense opposition on the part of some Texas landowners and ranchers.

"As a Mexican I can say that we care as much about the environment as any one of these people that are fighting the Trans-Pecos Pipeline," said Carballo.

As for alleged land displacement in the name of energy in Chihuahua, she said it's not easy to take a stand under the actual or perceived threat of retribution.

"If we speak out against it, we run the risk of our really extremely corrupt government murdering us."

There's no way to verify such a claim. And Mexican officials are quick to refute them.

"Violence is minimal right now and no one's been affected by plans for pipelines," said Arturo Llamas in Spanish. He's Chihuahua's pipeline and energy infrastructure regulator.

Llamas is also the state's liaison with Mexico's federal energy agencies. He said energy development in northern Chihuahua is a boon to local residents that will ultimately translate into lower electricity and gasoline costs.

"It will help the entire country, not just Chihuahua," he said. He was emphatic that he and his staff are watching the Juárez Valley.

"It's our responsibility to be sure that laws are obeyed and that everything that must be done is done properly," he said. He also said he wanted anyone with a complaint to contact his office in Chihuahua City. But few people alleging harm are likely to approach a government they don't trust.

There are others beyond the alleged victims, who bear witness to a different reality. Mexican photographer Julián Cardona has catalogued the destruction of peoples lives in the Juárez Valley.

"I think they're now realizing the value of their land, because now there are people buying their lands," said Cardona.

"Violence is linked to displacement of their families," he explained.

He recalled a visit June 24, 2015 when Chihuahua Gov César Duarte made a brief stop in Guadalupe.

"The Governor visited in Guadalupe and the mayor ordered the empty buildings and house along the main avenue painted in bright colors — glowing yellow, green, blue, pink. The fact the houses were painted in bright colors is like a smokescreen of what's really going on," he said.

As for Martin Huéramo — the former Guadalupe city councilor seeking asylum — he says he'd have no issue with energy production or pipelines if they did not involve, in his words, people being forced out. He doesn't believe government claims that laws are being followed and things are being done properly.

Then unexpectedly, he said he believes one of the the government's claims.

"The government says violence is down in the Juárez Valley," he said in Spanish. "I believe it," he continued, "because there are no more people left to kill."


This story was reported by Lorne Matalon, in collaboration with Fronteras, The Changing America Desk, a consortium of NPR member stations in the Southwest.

Fwd: fns_nmsu-l] FNS News: Mexican Foxconn Workers Stage Hunger Strike

Subject: fns_nmsu-l] FNS News: Mexican Foxconn Workers Stage Hunger Strike

October 16, 2015

Labor News

Mexican Foxconn Workers Stage Hunger Strike

Employees of a Foxconn Scientific Atlantic plant in Ciudad Juarez escalated a protest this week for better wages and dignified treatment.

Setting up camp underneath a tent, worker Carlos Octavio Serrano initiated a hunger strike in front of the factory located in the Intermex Industrial Park. Twenty one other workers said they would join Serrano in refusing to eat until their grievances were addressed.

Involving more than 300 employees, the Foxconn Scientific Atlantic protest movement became public last August when scores of workers staged a demonstration against low wages, bad company food, sexual harassment and supervisory despotism. 

A woman worker at the plant was quoted at the time in El Diario de Juarez: "I had a problem because my supervisor asked me, 'How much would you charge me to touch your breasts?' I told him of course not, you're sick."

Two months later, hunger striker Serrano contended that management still had not gotten the message. "They aren't paying attention to us, and not resolving our demands," Serrano told the Juarez daily Norte.
According to Foxconn Scientific Atlantic workers, one of their principal demands is an increase in food bonuses, on top of the daily base salary of 87 pesos, or less than six dollars. 

In an article published earlier this year, University of Padua (Italy) sociologists Devi Sacchetto and Martin Cecchi estimated that Foxconn employs 22,000 workers at several factories in and around Juarez, including the company's huge,  state-of-the-art facility that straddles the Mexico-U.S. border at San Jeronimo just northwest of the city and Santa Teresa, New Mexico.

In Juarez and San Jeronimo, the Taiwan-based electronics giant manufactures products for Dell, Cisco and Hewlett Packard that are shipped to the U.S. market.

Based in part on Cecchi's field research last year, Sacchetto and Cecchi documented worker complaints that included stagnant wages and productivity bonuses, unpredictable work shifts and transportation problems such as breakdowns of company-contracted buses.

Worker discontent in the Juarez maquiladora industry, or assembly-for-export industry, is not isolated to Foxconn. In late September, about 300 workers at the ADC factory in the Bermudez Industrial Park engaged in a protest aimed at preserving benefits and ending arbitrary management policies. Another key demand was free union association.

"Respect our right to vacations" and "NO discrimination in bonuses" were among the messages on placards displayed by demonstrating workers outside the ADN plant.

Elizabeth Flores, director of the labor ministry for the local Roman Catholic Archdiocese, said she wasn't surprised by the maquiladora protests. Flores characterized the Juarez maquiladora industry as a "time bomb" fused with very low wages and exploitation.

"The industry started as a panacea for Juarez, that there was finally work since up until then there was only tourism or so," Flores told FNS.  "The salary has always been low and Juarez has always been an expensive place."

The labor advocate said the current peso devaluation is adding pressure to the prevailing wage schema and already precarious living standards, especially since food and other necessities are not produced locally and have to be imported, ironically, to a city which specializes in manufacturing and exporting products to the United States.

Flores said the low pay and high cost-of living over time forced virtually every able member of many households to seek work in the maquiladora industry in order to survive, yet even this solution is becoming unsustainable in light of the deteriorating wage situation.

Although Juarez's maquiladora industry has rebounded since the Great Recession, the low pay and other working conditions have made it difficult to lure local residents back onto the shop floor.

Foxconn and other companies are reportedly recruiting and transporting workers from other places in Mexico to meet a labor shortage, a practice that was also common in the post-NAFTA boom years of the 1990s.

Coupled with plans to build new housing subdivisions for workers, even as previously constructed ones rot in abandonment and decay, the maquiladora industry labor conditions are sparking renewed local polemics about wages, urban development patterns, mass transportation, and the breakdown of the social fabric.   

In an opinion published this year the local Semanario magazine editorialized:

"The problem is not the lack of existence of people of working age in Juarez. The problem is that wages are low and (people) prefer informal work, washing cars and even the daily sight of young people juggling (for spare change) in the many intersections of the city….as we have said at the beginning, there are a lot of jobs.  But these are rejected not only because of the miserably low pay, but also due to the commutes to and from work that reach up to four hours daily, resulting in social stress and family disintegration."

In a fissure of sorts in elite local opinion, prominent Juarez businessman Federico de la Vega criticized some of the policies of the local maquiladora industry and called for minimum wage hikes on the order of 50 percent during an interview with Norte last summer.

"There is hunger, the minimum salary of 2,000 pesos (less than $150 per month) is not sufficient to eat," de la Vega told Norte. 

Foxconn Scientific Atlantic hunger striker Carlos Serrano suspended his fast on Thursday, October 15, as legal wrangling between the company and workers intensified. On Friday, October 16, Norte reported a tense scene outside the Intermex Industrial Park factory, where apparently fruitless negotiations had occurred early in the day between workers and management. Juarez municipal police were on the scene.

Antonio Vazquez Rodriguez, attorney for Foxconn Scientific Atlantic, informed the Juarez newspaper that the company had filed legal charges against the workers because of an October 12 blockade of the plant entrance that resulted in $100,000 in losses due to logistics and shipping delays.

A lawyer for the workers, Rodrigo Stanley, said the protesting employees would attempt to reach a solution through the federal Labor Arbitration and Conciliation Board. Stanley added that 200 workers from the ADC and AMEX factories had joined the Foxconn Scientific Atlantic workers' movement with the common goal of gaining an independent union.  

Pastoral Obrera's Elizabeth Flores said it was "very probable" that more worker protests in the maquiladora industry would break out in the near future. 


Additional sources: El Mexicano, October 15, 2015. Lapolaka.com, October 14, 2015. Norte, June 28, 2015;  October 14 and 16, 2015. Articles by Miroslava Breach, Salvador Esparza and Carlos Omar Barranco. Arrobajuarez.com, August 12, 2015; September 30, 2015; October 14, 2015. El Diario de Juarez, August 12 and October 12, 2015. Articles by Araly Castanon and editorial staff. La Jornada, August 13, 2015. Article by Ruben Villalpando. Semanario, June 17, 2015. Opendemocracy.net, January 16, 2015. Article by Devi Sacchetto and Martin Cecchi. 


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2015 May 30 worker killed at asarco remediation site in restricted area

fr www.recastingthesmelter.com

"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

There was a fatal incident at the former ASARCO Smelter Site in El Paso on May 30, 2015, involving an employee of a sub-contractor who is doing work at the Site. The sub-contractor's employee had completed his assigned work for the day. He was not performing an assigned task at the time of the incident. He was found in an area that is restricted to all site personnel.

The El Paso Police Department and OSHA are currently investigating this matter; the Trust will have no further statements until those investigations are complete.

The Trust's thoughts are with the family of the deceased.

Regards,

Roberto Puga, Custodial Trustee"

"Union, Environmental Group Say Dozens of Nuclear Workers Suffering from Toxic Materials Exposure

 

By Elizabeth Grossman

In These Times

February 20, 2015

 

Since March 2014, nearly 60 workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state have sought medical attention for on- the-job exposure to chemical vapors released by highly toxic waste stored at the site, some as recently as August. At a public meeting held Wednesday in Pasco, Washington, Hanford workers described symptoms that include chronic headaches, respiratory problems, nerve damage and bloody urine.

 

The meeting, hosted by the United Association (U.A.) of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 598 and Hanford Challenge, a Seattle-based environmental watchdog group, was convened following the February 10 release by Department of Energy contractor Washington River Protection Services (WRPS) of a "corrective action implementation plan." This plan was developed in response to recommendations in a report from the Savannah River National Laboratory released in October 2014.

 

Commissioned in response to worker exposures at Hanford’s tank farms, the Savannah River report found ongoing emissions of toxic chemical vapors from waste tanks, inadequate worker health and safety procedures and evidence that "strongly suggests a causal link between chemical vapor releases and subsequent health effects."

 

For the entire article, see

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/17668/nuclear_workers_dangers

El Paso Times Editorial calls area polluted with hafnium (from nuclear control rods) "prime real estate"

"I think this would be a great opportunity and a great benefit for UT El Paso," Regent Ernest Aliseda of McAllen said.

The Asarco land is prime real estate for El Paso's future. Given the role UTEP must play in building that future, it makes sense for the UT System to consider the purchase.

And the regents' cautious approach makes sense. Nothing can be done before the environmental cleanup is complete.

[h.m. note: this "clean up" can never be complete, except for by ignoring what really happened there -- and, the ones involved are protected from disclosure under US 1940's Atomic Energy Act.   We have the data and documentation to show what is found around that site and that Asarco (and 2 other companies caught by EPA/US DOJ sending illegal stuff here) were US DOE High Level Radioactive Disposal Contractors, and $100 million is only a drop in the bucket for cleaning up what is there]

But eventual UTEP control of at least some of the Asarco land makes a lot of sense."

http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_26893997/ut-interest-asarco-land-makes-sense

11-08-14

[h.m. note: proper cleanup of the ASARCO site would have created billions of dollars of jobs for at LEAST ten years!]

CEMEX deemed liable for 1 million of ASARCO clean-up costs; Stanley Jobe as material witness

"Cemex Must Foot $1M Of Asarco's Lead, Arsenic Cleanup Bill

By Jeremy Heallen

Law 360, Houston (April 01, 2014, 7:18 PM ET) -- A Texas federal judge said Monday that Cemex Inc. is responsible for a portion of about $22 million that Asacro LLC paid in environmental cleanup costs associated with a Superfund site that both companies allegedly polluted.

U.S. District Judge Philip R. Martinez ruled that Cemex must pay Asarco $1.1 million under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, to cover its share of a $22 million settlement Asarco struck with the federal government to remediate lead and arsenic contamination on a 6-acre industrial site in...

Case Information

Case Title
Asarco LLC v. Cemex Corp

Case Number
3:12-cv-00155

Court
Texas Western

Nature of Suit
Environmental Matters

Judge
Philip R. Martinez

Law360 Coverage
Cemex Must Foot $1M Of Asarco's Lead, Arsenic Cleanup Bill
Asarco Says It Didn't Waive Cemex Claim In $19M Cleanup Row
Date Filed
April 26, 2012"

"

Track this case

Case Number:
3:12-cv-00155

Court:
Texas Western

Nature of Suit:
Environmental Matters

Cause
28:1331 Fed. Question

Judge:
Philip R. Martinez

Firms
Mounce Green
Ray Valdez
Companies
Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V.
Sectors & Industries:
Industrial Goods
Cement
Complaint
View recent docket activity »
Reflects complaints, answers, motions, orders and trial notes entered from Jan. 1, 2011.
Additional or older documents may be available in Pacer.
Coverage

April 1, 2014
Cemex Must Foot $1M Of Asarco's Lead, Arsenic Cleanup Bill
A Texas federal judge said Monday that Cemex Inc. is responsible for a portion of about $22 million that Asacro LLC paid in environmental cleanup costs associated with a Superfund site that both companies allegedly polluted.
Parties

Neutral
Christopher Antcliff
Represented by:
Plaintiff
Asarco LLC
Represented by:
Nicole Jennifer Anchondo, Ray, Valdez, McChristian & Jeans, PC

Laura G. Brys, Integer Law Corporation

Gregory Evans, Integer Law Corporation

Tanya Guerrero, Integer Law Corporation

David S. Jeans, Ray, Valdez, McChristian & Jeans

William R. Pletcher, Integar Law Corporation

James G. Warren, Integer Law Corporation

Defendant
Cemex Construction Materials South, LLC
Represented by:
Andres Eduardo Almanzan, Mounce, Green, Myers, Safi, Paxson & Galatzan

Steven Lee Hughes, Attorney at Law

Walter D. James, III, Walter D. James, III, PLLC

David Moises Mirazo, Mounce, Green, Myers, Safi, Paxson & Galatzan

TERMINATED: 03/22/2013
Cemex Corp
Represented by:
Andres Eduardo Almanzan, Mounce, Green, Myers, Safi, Paxson & Galatzan

Walter D. James, III, Walter D. James, III, PLLC

Defendant
Cemex, Inc.
Represented by:
Andres Eduardo Almanzan, Mounce, Green, Myers, Safi, Paxson & Galatzan

Steven Lee Hughes, Attorney at Law

Walter D. James, III, Walter D. James, III, PLLC

David Moises Mirazo, Mounce, Green, Myers, Safi, Paxson & Galatzan

Material Witness
Stanley Pruet Jobe
Represented by:
Marjorie Wilcox Jobe, 5588 Westside Drive"

1943 thru 1946 lead smelter and/or land leased from ASARCO produced uranium used in Manhattan Project

Page 1
DOE/AL/62350-210REV. 0 COMMENT AND RESPONSEDOCUMENT FOR THE LONG-TERM SURVEILLANCE PLAN FOR THE BODO CANYON DISPOSAL SITE DURANGO, COLORADO November 1995 ASTER DISCLAIMER This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, orprocess disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark,manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The viewsand opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect th.ose of theUnited States Government or any agency thereof. 1
Page 2
COMMENT AND RESPONSE DOCUMENT FOR THE BODO CANYON DISPOSAL SITE, WRANGO, COLORADO LONG-TERM SURVEILLANCE PLAN FOR THE STATE OF COLORADO UMTRA DOCUMENT REVIEW FORM COMMENT Site: Bodo Canyon Disposal I Site. Durango. Colorado Document: Draft Lona-Term Surveillance Plan Reviewer: State of Colorado Date: June 27. 1994Comment: 1, Paae 2-1, Section 2.1 Other histories of the Durango mill site indicate the U.S. Vanadium Corporation (USV)built and operated a uranium after leasing the site from American Smelting andRefining Company (ASARCO) who had operated a lead smelter at that location. This should be confirmed and, if correct, should be clarified in the first paragraph of the site history. The first paragraph seems confused about the chronology of events. It was USV not ASARCO who built and operated the vanadium mill in 1942 and who,from 1943 to the mill's closure in 1946, reprocessed vanadium tailings to provide uranium for the Manhattan Project [hm:leased from ASARCO, who was principle uranium ore buyer for US atomic energy commission (US DOE)].

RESPONSE Page: 2-1By: C. Saumur Date: September 1995 Section 2.1, Site History, has been rewritten to read as follows: "In 1942, U.S. Vanadium Corporation leased the property and constructed a uranium processing mill on the site. This mill operated until 1946, when the mill was shutdown."

[it is commonly known that in the early days lead smelters were used to separate out uranium from parent ores]

1995 Asarco silver troy oz silver registers radiation

An ASARCO 1995 silver "dollar" given as a "health safety excellence" award to "Best record Mission Complex" registers 25 micro-Sv on radiation scale for factory calibrated meter, when registering for gamma/beta/alpha particles, when tested for only a few minutes.  Background radiation in El Paso TX 3 miles from Asarco smelter site usually registers almost half that (14) with same meter.

Letter to Honorable Rep. O'Rourke, U.S. House of Representatives about Asarco, US DOE wastes, and plans to build elementary school on the old lead(Pb) dump

Statement made 2/21/2014 at 3PM EST for Honorable Rep. O’Rourke’s Attention

Masters in Science 
Fully endorsed by Nobel team winner Dr. Devra Davis, author of “Secret history of Cancer”
Attended Rachel Carson's College – she wrote "Silent Spring" a key book  about the dangers of both toxic chemicals and radiation
Trained under the last PHD student for Nobel Medical Prize Winner Dr. Niko Tinbergen
Fully certified designated highly qualified Science teacher grades 8-12, also, certified to teach gifted students (UTEP, 2010)
Bachelors of Science at the Ohio State University 
Endorsed by Father of semiotics, Dr. Thomas Sebeok (on file OSU), who participated in WA D.C. panel on how to label nuclear waste sites to warn off future generations

It has come to my attention that development is planned for a 200+ acres of land on the other side of TX Interstate I-10, part of the original Asarco properties a stone’s throw away from the site of the Asarco stacks. The plans for this site are to create family homes. Under smart code development requirements they are required to build an elementary school and playground. We know per Dr. Goodell (UTEP) statement to Channel 7 KVIA that paving the Asarco site will not make the area safe for people. We know that slag gives off gases (called "off-gassing") for nearly 100 years. Some of these gases are toxic (I.e Arsenic) and cannot be smelled or tasted. We know from the Mesita School Health Study (Peer reviewed) that children growing up attending that school close to the Asarco site have a greater chance in their lifetime of getting MS. 

• Honorable Rep. Beto O’Rourke has a greater chance of getting MS from attending the Mesita School.

• Males who have MS have greater chance of passing MS to their children. 

• According to smart code Dover Kohl diagram an elementary school will be placed on top of Asarco old lead dump, which is quite large. The grading permits are in place. 

• This lead dump was created during the 1940s and 1950s and has remained undisturbed throughout the cleanup. 

• During the 1940s the UTEP (formerly College of mines, next to Asarco site) grads were at the center of the largest uranium strikes found in the Western United States.

• Asarco during those years was a custom smelter. It would smelt anything. 

• Lead smelter during those years (1940s-1950s) were used to separate out Uranium from their parent ores (i.e. Wulfenite).

• The waste material (ores) would’ve been put in the old lead dump and likely are radioactive tailings.

• Under the bankruptcy agreement, the trustee for the cleanup is not required to address radioactive waste.

• Despite 8 years of research, all government agencies (EPA, USDA, DoD, DOJ, etc) have refused any information regarding "regulated" radioactive materials going through our El Paso Asarco site. They claim no knowledge and refuse to release key invoices listed in the 73 page US DOJ EPA Asarco confidential for settlement purposes only document (now in public domain, see NYTimes 10/2006)

• The old Atomic Energy Act still protects Asarco and all involved from disclosure and liability.

• I uncovered a document from Idaho National Laboratory Library detailing how Asarco, Dupont, Engelhard were official U.S. DOE high level radioactive waste disposal contractors from places like Oakridge TN and Hanford WA during the years Asarco was burning illegal, secret hazardous waste (1998 73 page USDOJ EPA Asarco formerly confidential for settlement purposes only document)(New York Times, front page story, October 2006).

• The community has not been told all the details about what has been burned all those years and is still not being told. 

• Engelhard, Dupont, Asarco were listed in the aforementioned 1998 confidential for settlement purposes only document sludges, incinerator ashes and only God knows what else through the two El Paso Asarco con-top furnaces (that metal curled stack was shorter than the others so its smoke stayed more local – likely a 30 mile radius including Juarez Mexico, Southern New Mexico and Texas).

• We have data showing that the chemical element Hafnium is found in greater quantities amount near the stack location. Hafnium is unusual. Hafnium is commonly found in nuclear control rods. 

• In 1998 an EPA publicly announced that El Paso had the highest Beta radiation levels in the nation. Higher than Oakridge, Higher than Hanford. In October 1998, Texas suddenly decided to deny the license of the Sierra Blanca Nuclear Dump site. During that time, the media coverage on that issue of the dump was so high that thousands of people were marching at the Capitol of Mexico against the dump. Media coverage was huge. 

• By December 1998, Asarco said in the El Paso Times it was thinking about "idling" the Asarco Smelter, and it did beginning of February 1999. The plant never re-opened.  All the staff who worked at the site's steam plant are dead now, from unusual diseases, according to an unnamed supervisor. 

• I asked all the environmental agencies representatives to give me a sample of slag from the Asarco water distillation unit (it went up in flames during clean-up) rated to remove radioactive waste from the plant's process water. They refused. 

Given all this information, we know Asarco ran U.S. DOE high level radioactive waste materials through the El Paso Asarco smelter and it is likely that the old lead dump contained radioactive material. That whole area would be contaminated by Arsenic for years to come. If the powers that be still continue with development of the Asarco site as detailed recently in an El Paso Inc article by David Crowder, I plead, deeply plead, with Honorable Representative Beto O’Rourke, given his own experience attending Mesita Elementary School a mile from Asarco, that they do not allow children to grow up on any of the Asarco land. That they do not build play grounds. That they do not build an elementary school there. He of all people should understand having attended Mesita the risks that that all these children will undergo if they allow the school and playground to be built. As a certified teacher and a Christian, it deeply grieves me. It hurts my heart to watch this happen. 

Sincerely,
Heather McMurray

The Environmental Agencies' Silence is Deafening

Amazing silence from the Environmental Agencies (federal, state, local) about what ASARCO had to have contaminated us with --- from what the EPA told the Federal DOJ Asarco did here in the 1990's (illegal secret burning of toxic wastes for profit, for years).

To add insult to injury, apparently the NM Sec. of the Environment is the new EPA regional administrator --- is that the reward these days for keeping one's mouth shut? Neither he or the NM Governor have answered the evidence or questions in the letter from the Sunland Park Grassroots Environmental group. That letter was hand delivered twice, over two years, directly to the Governor.

Meanwhile the BLM land within the shadow of the Asarco stacks was given to the state of NM (without declaring the toxic wastes that have to be there from Asarco) so that UP Railroad can then buy them "at auction" and construct the modal rail center for its Sunset Line --- within a few miles of the infamous Camino Real Dump (i.e. "landfill") that has accepted maquiladora wastes for years, and right by the Foxconn & Verde Group Santa Teresa San Jeronimo International City. Somehow none of these business entities have managed to help the landowners at Loma Del Poleo from the concrete-concentration-camp fencing and machine-gun armed "guards" right by this Santa Teresa development (the landowners hold deeds from 30 years ago -- which the government and prior landowners -- Zaragoza, Lugo, etc. won't recognize now).

The previous Lomas del Poleo attorney was killed. Environmentalists, activists, are dying like flies in Juarez & Mexico, hidden in the violence and called "collateral damage": one ejected from a car, another strangled, another shot six times, another shot. Here in the USA key people are being dragged through the courts or losing employment/income at the most inopportune times.

NM  hired a DHS Secretary --- he recently had retired in 2008 from a 30 year C.I.A. career -- with five years of that in Mexico.

This is the border... what a recent NAFTA conference called "the most competitive spot in North and South America". What those same speakers refer to as "San Diego to Brownsville". They are developing the first international-city model here that could then be propagated through the entire San Diego to Brownsville region.

This is the border --- where for years the NYC mafia railed New York City sludge down 90 miles from El Paso to the tiny town of Sierra Blanca TX with the blessings of many including the TNRCC (the old TCEQ), many University (sludge-funded) "studies", New York State, the railroad --- until NY State Prosecutors were able to put the owners into federal prison for 10 years (2001 to around 2010). The sludges were too toxic to dump anywhere in the entire state of New York.

Now a company that started a few years ago wants to mine a mountain next to the tiny town of Sierra blanca for rare earth minerals.  These are combined with an extremely toxic form of beryllium; and, with thorium.  Beneath it all lies a huge deposit of uranium.  This mine is close to an interstate highway and a similar railroad.  Current plans call for leaching out the rare earth minerals over a liner with acids; and, who knows, they may add in materials brought in from other sites.  The Banker in charge is from New Jersey.  In my opinion the whole thing stinks.  IMHO with that kind of contamination you can't possibly run a profit unless you either ignore the radioactive waste dump created, or you use the dump to get rid of toxic waste --- something that has happened in our region  BIG TIME with Asarco so who is to say it is not possible it could happen again?  As the US DOJ said, the money was good.

You cannot eat, drink, or breathe money...

“Only when the last tree had died And the last river had been poisoned And the last fish has been caught Will we realize we cannot eat money.” ~ Cree proverb

Sunland Park NM to be sacrificed by asarco wastes, waste connections, even maybe el paso as if 2007 never happened...

Latest IBWC public meeting revealed that IBWC plans to dig up all the contaminated soil beneath them next to old Smelter town and ship it across the NM state line to dump in Waste Connection's Sunland Park Dump. This waste is extremely toxic. It contains radioactive particles. This is the dump that the small town residents tried to close to any out of state wastes and/or shut it down (2 week administrative hearing winter, unheated hall, 2 weeks before Christmas back in 2007. The residents who stuck it out day after day (9 am to 9 or 10 pm, Monday through Saturday)against 3 law firm groups were petition-residents from anapra mexico (Mariana Chew would sit in for them at times), Taylor Moore, esq., Robert Ardovino, Luz Vargus, Heather McMurray. Also City of Sunland Park. We showed strong evidence about how there is a surface fault running from the waste water pond across the rio grande, and that the chief engineer could not correctly testify how the leachate (waste) collection system needed to have liners installed at certain distances--- strongly suggesting that the leachate/chemical waste collection system does not work correctly and it runs into the pond, which may act as an unofficial injection well. In 2007 they were collecting only gallons of liquids from their leachate "catch" system, claiming it was a dry desert environment....... This is the dump that during the hearing was demonstrated to be concentrating radioactive radium (which gives off radon gas). The waste connections company flew their chief attorney (V.P.) out for the remainder of the trial. He was taller than anyone in the room, wore an impeccable long black (cashmere?) coat, and had a head cold. They spent much money on witnesses, providing an expert witness who worked to remove anthrax from buildings (former NYC Mayor Guliani's company), did only a literature search, claimed he had made assumption that nothing radioactive could have been in the dump, and that if the government said something then it must be true... when he testified he had the unfortunate condition where his head would randomly pull his face over to his shoulder, in a regrettable muscle tic or spasm. When we pointed out he had done no community health assessment, that no peer reviewed health assessment had ever been done, and his work was a literature review, he got angry. Now, five years later, waste connections again wants to stop flow control in el paso, have that El Paso TX waste go to their dump next to the tiny elementary school in tiny Sunland Park, New Mexico; and, also accept the IBWC asarco dirt. What people may not know is that thousands of tons of asarco zinc plant EPA-remediation debris concrete and dirt went to the Camino real dump around 2001: the admin. Judge and opposing law firms would only allow around five pages of that testimony into the record in 2007.

Emily Dickinson XVIII: POEM The Book of Martyrs modified in honor of Gloria Guerra Addington's efforts against a nuclear dump; also a H.S. senior who was told she'd lose her deca college scholarship for refusing to recant a petition against a corrupt principal; her teacher, who quit after yrs of successful teaching, retrained ,interviewed 20 times until he was quietly told he'd been blacklisted regionally; to the young Jessica who quit teaching mid year after her dad betrayed a fellow teacher to protect his daughter from corruption; to the Human Resources lady who quit and left her corrupt boss; to the lead-contaminated kids of anapra NM who will always have short anger fuses, and are being yet again knowingly sacrificed to El Paso's wastes from IBWC; to the middle school where when the wind blew from the direction of dump they inexplicably got nose bleeds; to the retired Messita elementary school Principal who got brain cancer after retirement (overheard); to the researcher(s) and attorney(s) sacrificed (losing homes, health, employment) fighting against the grinding machine of unlimited attorneys for the corruption; to all the women in this region who complain of rampant reproductive cancers and said, quote "Asarco should just have dropped a bomb on them"; to the babies born quietly during the 1990's at the county hospital to women who lived along the river -- whose babies died from lack of a liver or a pancreas or a brain; to all the thousands who protested the Sierra Blanca Nuclear dump and so unknowingly idled a smelting illegal radioactive behemoth, too; and to the present "kingdom" of El Paso who remain unaware, or worse knew and held onto a love of money, and failed to help even at the risk of their immortal souls.... this poem is dedicated.

Read, sweet, how others [in the Paso del Norte] strove, Till we are stouter [old]; What they renounced [gave up while others kept], Till we are less afraid [could rest a little easier from the good got done]; How many times they bore The faithful witness, Till we [the community, the children] are helped, As if a kingdom cared! [they don't] Read then of faith That shone above the fagot [bundle of iron under high melting heat]; Clear strains of hymn The river could not drown; Brave names of men And celestial women, Passed out of record [forgotten] Into renown [rewards of heaven] !

History repeats itself (Asarco has not apparently changed): Up and Running Hayden AZ Asarco Smelter gets slap on hand from EPA: El Pasoans watch in eerie reminder of PCB's/transformers found at Asarco El Paso smelter (exworkers believe the illegal wastes burned at the El Paso site included PCB's)

"EPA Fines Asarco over Improper Handling of PCBs LEGISLATION & REGULATIONS Company also will spend more than $115,000 to clean up its facility in Hayden, Ariz. Recycling Today Staff SEPTEMBER 23, 2013 Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on pinterest_share Share on linkedin Share on email Share on print The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fined Asarco LLC $30,900 for using buildings contaminated with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and improper management of PCB waste. The EPA also announced that Asarco will spend $115,714 to reduce PCBs at its copper smelter in Hayden, Ariz. The violations stemmed from a 2011 inspection in which EPA inspectors found two buildings contaminated with PCBs that Asarco employees continued to use, a violation of the federal Toxic Substances Control Act. As part of the agreement, Asarco has agreed to replace three PCB transformers at the smelter, reducing future risk of exposure to workers and the environment. "