Seven years ago Carlyle Group created a team to begin investing in Mexico...

"In January 2004, the Carlyle Group put together a new team to begin investing in Mexico. The team consisted of Luis T?llez, who was then an executive vice president of Desc, one of Mexico's largest companies; Joaquin Avila, who was then a managing director of Lehman Brothers; and Mark McLarty, the president of Kissinger McLarty Associates and chief of staff to and special envoy to the Americas for President Bill Clinton."....'At the March 2005 meeting at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, President Bush, President Fox of Mexico and Canada's Prime Minister Paul Martin announced a joint decision to form a tri-lateral partnership named "The Security Prosperity Partnership of North America," or SPP."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50334

What do ASARCO, Grupo Mexico, NEBRASKA, CLEAN COAL ENERGY and RAILROADS all have in common?

Asarco is suing EPA  in Nebraska (EPA Region 7) -- home to Union Pacific Railroad Co. and also Peru's FCCA Railroad (owned by 'Railroad Development Corp.')

“We’re aware of the filing and are reviewing it,” Justice Department spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said in a phone interview today. “We will respond appropriately in court.”

In a separate lawsuit in federal court in Nebraska, Union Pacific Railroad Co., which the EPA also blamed for the pollution at the Omaha site, refused to settle and sued the agency seeking the same contamination studies that Asarco had requested."

see:
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Southern_Copper_%28PCU%29/Class_Actions
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2010-12-17/asarco-claims-epa-lied-destroyed-evidence-in-nebraska-lead-pollution-case.html

An interesting aside is that Asarco is owned by Grupo Mexico whom (along with Carlyle Group) controls over 50% of the Freight-rail-right-of-way in Mexico; and, whom wants to merge Ferromex with Ferrosur and deliver Pacific NAFTA goods from a proposed-Mexico-seaport to the USA Eastern Seaboard through Chicago (search for "Punta Colonet" on this blog).  Carlyle owns CSX railroad (USA eastern seaboard).

Besides being home for Union Pacific Railroad Co., Nebraska is headquarters to an international-railroad-company  that is uniquely situated to deliver NAFTA goods from various points in the central USA to Chicago, RDC.  Its management also serve as executives to the Hawthorne Group (apparently the same group mentioned by Wikipedia in connection with the "2009 debate over the [Clean Coal] Waxman/Markey bill").  One of the RDC officers "played a key role in RDC's activities in Peru" (see below), where Asarco has the SPCC (Southern Peru Copper Corp.).   RDC operates FCCA in Peru along with connections to neighbor(s); Grupo Mexico has its own railroad in Peru for SPCC.

"Iowa Interstate Railroad, LTD (acquired by RDC in 2004) is a privately held Delaware Corporation and subsidiary of Railroad Development Corporation. It is also one of the few Regional Railroads that connects with the entire Class 1 railroad system (BNSF, UP, CN, CP, KCS, CSXT, and NS) at multiple locations. ...As a result, IAIS customers have the capability to ship and receive their goods to or from anywhere in North America. ...Our service pattern is 7 days per week between the Omaha area and Chicago. We also offer access to the Mississippi and Illinois River terminals....http://www.iaisrr.com/

Mgt. of RDC:

"Henry Posner III ...serves as Chairman of RDC; Chairman of Iowa Interstate Railroad; Chairman of Ferrovias Guatemala; a Director of América Latina Logística-Central & Mesopotámico (Argentina); and as Vice Chairman of The Hawthorne Group." http://www.rrdc.com/mgmt_bio_posner.html

Mr. Pietrandrea [President of RDC] also serves as ...Chief Operating Officer of The Hawthorne Group.
http://www.rrdc.com/mgmt_bio_pietrandrea.htmlWilliam J. Duggan [is] Vice President-Operations [of RDC and the ] President, Ferrovias Guatemala...[he] has since played a key role in RDC's activities in Peru and Guatemala....
Since 2003, Mr. Hensler has served as RDC's Chief Financial Officer.....[he] is also a Vice President of The Hawthorne Group, a private investment and management company which invests through affiliates primarily in media and communication companies."
http://www.rrdc.com/mgmt_bio_hensler.html

"The intention of Grupo Mexico is to maintain and improve the productive plant of SPCC, - that means continuing with the mine and concentrator facility expansion in Toquepala, the construction of an SXEW facility in Cuajone or the expansion of the one located in Toquepala."
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Grupo+Mexico,+S.A.+de+C.V.+Strategies+for+Southern+Peru+Copper...-a058295607

"Rail transport in Peru [Home of Grupo Mexico Southern Peru Copper Corp]: ...
Since 1999 it has been operated as the Ferrocarril Central Andino (FCCA)... by the Pittsburgh-registered Railroad Development Corporation. ....The Central is extended by the Ferrocarril Huancayo - Huancavelica ...Also connecting with the Central, at La Oroya, is the Cerro de Pasco railway ...The owning company was nationalised as Centromín in 1974 and operation of the railway was taken over by FCCA...The newest railway in Peru is a standard gauge line opened in 1959 by the Southern Peru Copper Corporation from its opencast mine at Toquepala to the port of Ilo (187 km/116 mi) with a later branch largely in tunnel to its workings at Cuajone. "  http://www.thefullwiki.org/Rail_transport_in_Peru

"Controversy:  During the 2009 debate over the Waxman/Markey bill, Bonner & Associates, a Washington, D.C. lobbying firm subcontracted by ACCCE ["American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity"]  though the Hawthorne Group to drum up "grassroots support" for this effort, sent a number of fraudulent letters to lawmakers on behalf of ACCCE. ^..."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Coalition_for_Clean_Coal_Electricity"

Asarco Omaha NE smelter shut down in 1997 - did it also burn the illegal secret hazardous wastes?

Asarco's Omaha NE smelter shut down in 1997 - did it also burn the illegal secret hazardous wastes that Asarco's whistleblower let us know were handled by Asarco-ENCYCLE (and then sent to smelters in E. Helena MT and El Paso TX) for the years throughout the 1990's??   Will we ever know? (Rep. Reyes, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee said that ASARCO paid millions of dollars on the condition that the details of what it had done would never become public (El Paso Times online article 2006))

"Google Alert - asarco bankruptcy
DJ Grupo Mexico Seeks To Recover $210M In Asarco Lead Damages
Trading Markets
Asarco paid $1.6 billion in environmental liabilities as part of a settlement with the US Justice Department when the company exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy ..."

Energy Renewal Partners who is cleaning up ASARCO ENCYCLE worked for Carlyle/Riverstone Holdings

"Some of the clients our employees have supported include:

• Carlyle/Riverstone Holdings"

http://www.energyrenewalpartners.com/

More than 3 million dollars slated for asbestos removal at ASARCO site that sent untracked-unmanifested hazardous wastes for disposal for years to E. Helena MT and El Paso TX

"Asbestos removal and demolition of the Encycle/ASARCO plant approved

Corpus Christi, Texas - December 19, 2010

U.S. Bankruptcy Court has approved a $3.6 million contract to demolish 50 buildings, silos and storage tanks and remove asbestos at the Encycle/ASARCO plant in Corpus Christi, Texas....According to the agreement between the bankruptcy trustee and Energy Renewal Partners, the project deadline is May 29, 2013 and seven general use buildings will not be demolished, but rather offered for sale once demolition of the other structures is complete."

http://www.mesothelioma.com/news/2010/12/asbestos-removal-and-demolition-of-the-encycleasarco-plant-approved.htm