Update how you do google searches

 Use 

Before: 2023 

In front of your search and watch the differences...all the seo stuff removed (awesome)

DECEMBER 6, 2010 Ex-ASARCO Workers Claim Secret Dump Sites In Plant

 RecastingtheSmelter.com

DECEMBER 6, 2010

Ex-ASARCO Workers Claim Secret Dump Sites In Plant

Monica Balderrama-KFOX News Reporter

EL PASO, Texas — A handful of ex-ASARCO employees claim that working at the smelter has made them sick and toxic waste still remains on the property.

Ex-workers, along with an attorney with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid Inc., held a press conference Monday disclosing concerns about the remediation process of the plant.

“While I was working there I came down with some rashes and my skin would crack,” said Mario Nevarez, a 12-year ASARCO worker.

Nevarez and several other co-workers said their illnesses have been a mystery for years. But the workers said they now realize why they’re so sick. They blame the years they worked at ASARCO, the copper smelter.

The Environmental Protection Agency reached a landmark national $20 million cleanup and penalty settlement with ASARCO in 1999, the year the plant shut down. The details of the violations were not disclosed until years later.

A few years ago, a 1998 confidential memorandum regarding the ASARCO settlement statement was obtained by two El Paso environmental groups. In the document, the EPA said ASARCO had a permit to extract metals from hazardous waste products, but it was illegally burning waste. The EPA states, “This activity, plain and simple, was illegal treatment and disposal of hazardous waste.”

“All this is new to me as well, I didn’t know they were burning this stuff illegally. Not knowing why I was sick,” said Patrick Garza.

Garza along with other employees have interviewed other workers and uncovered information identifying six unregulated dump sites on ASARCO property. Workers disclosed that in the late ’70s they were given instructions to excavate around the property and bury oils.

The group feels that the trustee selected to manage work plans, data consolidation and conduct community outreach has not incorporated their concerns. They believe the site hasn’t been tested properly because if it was they would have found the dump sites. Veronica Carbajal, an attorney with the Texas RioGrande Legal Aid said nearby residents and future residents could be at risk.

“However, the community will be in danger. Schools, apartments, homes that maybe established in that people, owners may not know,” said Carbajal.

The workers have contacted the EPA and asked to take over the oversight and corrective action of the ASARCO site.

© 2024 Project Navigator, Ltd. All rights reserved. { 91,807 VISITORS } Contact

Site Trustee Responds to Emailed Questions 2010

Recasting the Smelter 

NOVEMBER 17, 2010

Site Trustee Responds to Emailed Questions from Heather McMurray

Trustee responses are in bold.

Dear Ms. McMurray,

Thank you once again for your continuing interest in this very challenging project. We have been researching and compiling responses to your previous questions. Your questions and our responses are below; your questions appear in black font and our responses are in bold.

Mr. Puga:

Current research by M.D.’s (2009) show significant radon contamination throughout El Paso – heavily associated with the dirt outside of homes, and they recommend clean-up. The levels are very significant. It is very interesting that you state “El Paso County has low radon potential” when the medical doctors are finding radon to be a huge problem here.

Response: As we pointed out in our previous response and as described in the paper referenced, radon is naturally occurring. Radon is a recognized concern in homes in some areas of the country. The Asarco plant area is a commercial / industrial site and since no residences are present on the property, radon is simply not a constituent of concern to be measured. The paper you are referring to which is by Dr. Irina Cech and others from the University of Texas titled: Factors Contributing to Elevated Indoor Radon in the Paso Del Norte Region of the Texas-Mexico Border: Information for Physicians published in the in the Southern Medical Journal, July 2009 – Volume 102 – Issue 7 – pp 701-706 discusses the issue. Notwithstanding the discussion in the paper relating soil radon to levels in homes, the fact is that both EPA and the State of Texas rate El Paso County as having low overall radon potential. While the paper gives cause to consider the matter in a broader public health forum, plainly stated, there is simply no linkage between natural radon levels discussed the paper and the smelter operations that warrant additional investigation.

We already know from the EPA that El Paso TX had the highest Beta Radiation levels in the nation just before Asarco El Paso shut down in 2/99. Mr. Bill Luthans asserted that this was “naturally occurring radiation” (or “NORM”/”TENORM”) and said it was not a problem – but could not provide data to back-up his statement that the radiation was not a problem.

Response: We are unaware of any information regarding high beta radiation levels in El Paso during the 1998-1999 time period that you refer to. The EPA maintains a series of monitoring stations which record radiation levels in air, water and precipitation throughout the country and radiation monitors in El Paso have operated continuously between 1981 and 2010. EPA data for the time period between June 1998 and June 1999 show no anomalous gross beta radiation readings. The only significant beta readings in El Paso as well as in other locations in the US occur between March and June of 1986 which corresponds to the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Russia.

To the extent we can comment on Mr. Luthans response, we do not believe that any sort of beta radiation can be attributed to the El Paso smelter given the nature of the mineral concentrates sent to the plant for smelting. To clarify, NORM is essentially natural uranium, thorium and potassium that is present in trace amounts in all rock, soil, water and air. These elements are present from the time the Earth was created and over time, decay and change into “daughter” products, some of which are radioactive (i.e. radon), others of which are stable or non-radioactive. Processing can “Technologically Enhance” NORM and create “TENORM” under certain chemical conditions. We know TENORM occurs in copper mining and leaching operations in Arizona and given this fact, we carefully reviewed the study by EPA produced in 1999 on this subject and reviewed additional data sheets from mining companies producing concentrates. Beta radiation issues are not reported in this study. To the extent of our information, given the nature of the smelter feed and the level of documentation on the subject, we do not believe that the concentrates processed at the plant could result in elevated beta radiation, TENORM or other radioactive materials above any regulatory limits. For further information on natural radioactivity see this link (http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/natural.htm).

You are incorrect to state that “Radon gas, which is a naturally occurring substance, is not measured using XRF methods”. Radon is an element that appears from radium decay, and can be detected with many different methods. It is radioactive and hazardous to our health.

Response: It is correct that radon can be measured a number of different ways. However, as we stated previously, radon gas is not measured using XRF methods. Methods to measure radon under field and laboratory conditions which are documented by EPA may be found at the EPA’s website. http://www.epa.gov/radon/pubs/device_protocols.html. XRF methods are not included in this list.

You did not provide any links or documents showing any XRF data from ASARCO. In fact, Asarco El Paso refused to allow XRF technology to be tested on-site) to determine what chemicals have been left here by the nearly ten years of illegal, untracked, incineration of both military and industrial wastes for profit by Asarco El Paso.

Response: The Asarco site has been extensively investigated and the results from the various site investigations which include the analytical results for metals done by XRF methods may be found at the TCEQ website. These results are included in the attachments and appendices to the investigation reports. See the following website: http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/remediation/sites/asarco/downloads

The metal results in previous site investigations appear to be laboratory XRF results. We should point out that XRF methods are primarily screening tools for detecting metals at semi-quantitative levels and are not used to measure organic chemicals. We cannot comment on Asarco’s use of these instruments since their activities ceased long before the Trust took possession of the property. From a compliance perspective, we rely on laboratory analytical results which are much more accurate and sensitive than analytical field methods such as XRF.

I would like to know why Project Navigator continues to dodge the question of the illegal chemical residues at the site. I would like Project Navigator to provide data showing the radon, radium and radio-isotope levels at the site. EPA has provided proof now that ASARCO handled radioactive materials.

Response: As we have stated previously, both the EPA and GAO have reviewed and reported on the Asarco and Encycle matter which addressed the issue of improper waste handling. Enforcement action was taken against Asarco and the matter was settled in 1999. The GAO report and subsequent EPA documents are clear in their findings and conclusions regarding the issue.

As we discussed above, Asarco, as a large integrated metal producer and refiner obviously handled a wide variety materials including radioactive materials. Given the scrutiny of the site from both state and federal authorities, we do not expect man-made radioisotopes, TENORM, byproducts or residues at levels above their respective natural levels. Our focus is on the identified constituents which include lead, arsenic and cadmium.

A review of the available records found a December of 1995 letter where ENCYCLE informed the TNRCC that it had received a lead sulfide waste; containing naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). This letter stated that the NORM was present at quantities less than the regulated level; but it did not indicate the quantity of material or if the material was shipped to the Asarco El Paso smelter.

We reviewed the letter described and it only states that Encycle received some type of lead sulfide material containing NORM. There is no other information we have found which shows where the material went or the quantity.

I would like to know who Mary Koks is (you copied her on your reply) at ; and, why you felt it necessary to also copy the TCEQ attorney, Caroline Sweeney on your reply. Are Radon and NORM/TENORM at ASARCO something that Project Navigator is afraid to discuss with the public?

Response: Mary Koks is the attorney for Texas Custodial Trust and is part of the project team. As part of the project team she is copied on correspondence and reviews product produced by the Trust. Since Trust operates at the direction of the TCEQ, they are copied on correspondence relating to the site submitted by the public. We have been completely up-front with our information regarding issues of contamination at the site including radon as discussed above.

Details about what chemicals have been left here by the nearly ten years of illegal, untracked, incineration of both military and industrial wastes for profit by Asarco El Paso continue to be kept secret; but, such secrecy/gag is likely illegal now that the Federal Dept. of Justice made the confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only EPA-DOJ-Asarco agreement public domain.

Project Navigator should honor the intent of this public-domain-release of information; and, also the La Paz Accord JAC committee International Recommendation (to measure background contamination levels). To continue to withhold full disclosure from the public about the poisons remaining around this site is ethically and morally wrong; potentially places the elderly, the young, the unborn and the ill in grave dangers that could be averted; and potentially puts Project Navigator in the sad role of making profits in a fake clean-up at the expense of our future generations.

Heather Mcmurray

Response: As we have stated previously, the Trust has been completely transparent in its discussions regarding the constituents of concern at the site and made available to the public all material it has and there is nothing kept “secret” by the Trust. Any other documents not in our possession are available from TCEQ or EPA. For the current cleanup program, the Trust has posted on its website all documents it produces in the form of plans, specifications, presentations and reports. The allegation that the Trust, which is charged with cleaning up the Asarco site, is somehow withholding information or failing to pursue issues relevant to health and safety of the community is simply false and unsupported by its actions.

The Trust operates under the direction of TCEQ and EPA, however, cross-border matters as they relate to the La Paz Accord are not within the scope of the Trust’s charge. These matters are managed EPA.

Project Navigator will continue to review information related the Asarco El Paso smelter as appropriate and we will seek the guidance of the regulatory agencies as new information becomes available.

We believe we have responded to your, and the El Paso community’s, questions openly and honestly. We will continue to do so during the course of our activities at the site.

Best Regards,

Roberto Puga

Trustee

© 2024 Project Navigator, Ltd. All rights reserved. { 91,416 VISITORS }

[Putting my entire email and his response in blog under "fair use", noting his comment that project navigator's cleanup is under Gov. TCEQ purview and so should be, if nothing to hide, open to FOIA and publication. Trustee's response , which should be in bold is shown after each "response" ]

Letter to mr puga site cleanup trustee

 Copied to Hon. Rep Escobar

Dear Mr. Puga,

The website said to contact you because I am subscribed to el paso asarco cleanup site notifications but did not receive notifications.

See news:

https://elpasomatters.org/2024/03/17/trustee-of-former-asarco-site-still-sees-utep-as-ideal-buyer/

This article covers land sales and channel creation with black slag, but I was not notified through the site email.

I am very concerned that you continue to say it is safe for development, when you know a respected utep geologist said that it was not. And, when you have never asked for the now public domain invoices listed in the now public domain but formerly "usdoj epa asarco confidential for settlement purposes 73 page document".

We do not know the levels of many contaminants -- e.g. pcbs, dioxins, the "forever chemicals" like in fire fighting foam, and the beta radioactive particles reported by epa 1998 to be highest in the nation in el pado texas (water and air).  I am sure there are many more dangerous chemicals not listed in the official chemicals with levels of concern (arsenic, lead, cadmium, etc).

You must know in your heart it is wrong to sell the land. Such contaminated land should only be transferred into government hands. 

Both sites that handled same materials ( hayden az and east helena mt) (during or after)are now super fund sites. They are receiving more monies for cleanup while el paso tx yearns to sell off toxic land for a mere ten million. It is ludicrous.

Who is arcadis

 Arcadis.com

"Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are more than 36,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life."

Yeah, right. Using 20 plus year old slag that releases 100% of its contaminants over a 100 years, so it can wash downriver.

This year 2024 the EPWU says 50% of our drinking water will come from the rio grande.

Now who will eventually pay the $$$ to remove the contaminants from the water? Future generations.  You may see a gradual rising (eventually sky high) of your storm water fee, because the contaminants will go there, into stormwater and the river. 

The rich are already putting osmosis filters into their homes. Where do the filters go when full? Our landfills, which then may drain if not careful into our arroyos, to the  river and thus our water.

But we dont have to hold asarco responsible, right? EPA is toothless now, run by attorneys and contractors. The epa database has gotten rid of all my asarco foias, and incorrectly stated that the last (only one in their new database) had no response (it id, six searchable dvds.) The wa- d.c.- foia-attorney refuses to open the email showing him the actual response although he was cooperative over the phone 🙄🤔🤣

We all crave safety: a job, a home, education for the kids, good safe foods, retirement.  We fail at times to speak up when these are affected at a slow pot boil (ie frog in a warming pan). 

You all are in a slow pot boil.

May God help us all because what they burned at asarco for a decade (more, imho) was worst of the bad, and after i got the 73 page document released thru nytimes and the el paso site shut down, they moved it to Hayden, arizona - - now a superfund (just like east helena mt, which received what el paso tx received/burned.)

The cleanup trustee never looked at the invoices/contaminants listed in that nytimes revealed document. Those invoices are in the public domain because they are listed in the back of a now public document---- but, are still kept sealed. No journalist or attorney has ever gone after those.

We do not know the level of following contaminants:

Pcbs

Dioxins

Forever chemicals used in firefighting foams

Beta radioactive particles (reported by epa to be highest in the usa in 1998 El Paso TX)

And others just as bad or worse

Read this!!!!

 Asarco cleanup trustee selling off land without disclosing ANY of the contaminants listed in now public document's invoice list (see usdoj epa asarco 73 page confidential for settlement purposes only document)

See picture of the guy overseeing lining channel with contaminated black slag. He wears an ARCADIS shirt.

EPA lowers soil-lead threshold for East Helena yard cleanups Helena Independent Record

 "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with more cleanup of lead in East Helena residential yards following the closing of a public comment period.

The federal agency said Friday in a news release it finalized what is called an "explanation of significant differences" document that lowers the soil-lead cleanup level at the East Helena Superfund Site from 500 parts per million to 400 ppm. The new language also removes the 1,000 ppm cleanup action level previously used to trigger yard cleanups at the site......

The EPA also recently released national guidance lowering the screening level for soil-lead in residential yards to 200 ppm, or to 100 ppm if there are multiple sources of lead contamination."

Story link

BATTLE FOR SECRET ASARCO DOCUMENTS CONTINUES( 2010)

The Texas Observer

BATTLE FOR SECRET ASARCO DOCUMENTS CONTINUES

by FORREST WILDER

JANUARY 28, 2010, 12:00 AM, CST

"The following is a report by super-duper Observer intern Laura Burke:

Really, what would inspire the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to renew the permit of one of the worst polluters in Texas’ history? State Senator Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) is pretty sure the answer to that question lies hidden in internal documents that TCEQ is fighting like hell to keep under seal.

The internal agency documents might reveal details about secret meetings between TCEQ commissioners and representatives of the now-defunct copper smelter ASARCO that occurred while TCEQ was considering the renewal of the company’s air permit in 2008....."

Link to story