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Thursday, June 27, 2024

1999 october ..."indicted in a Russian money-laundering probe involving accounts at the Bank of New York. The charges relate to about $7 billion""

 "Phelps Dodge

(PD)

extended its exchange offer for all outstanding shares of Asarco

(AR)

to Oct. 13 from the previous Oct. 5 [1999, A year After that epa published online in 1998 that el paso tx had highest beta radiation levels in u.s.a. ] deadline. Phelps Dodge said as of today about 1.7 million Asarco shares had been tendered.

Asarco is currently a takeover target for both Phelps Dodge and grupo Mexico

, which already owns a 10% stake. The value of Phelps Dodge's cash and stock offer is $972 million, based on Asarco's closing stock price today, while Grupo Mexico's offer is valued at about $1.03 billion. Asarco's board voted last night to recommend that shareholders not tender their shares into either offer, saying the process to obtain the best bid was not complete. Asarco had set a 6 p.m. EDT Tuesday deadline for final bids,

Reuters

reported, citing sources close to the situation.

A former Bank of New York

(BK)

executive, Lucy Edwards, her husband Peter Berlin and the company

Benex International

, were indicted in a Russian money-laundering probe involving accounts at the Bank of New York. The charges relate to about $7 billion which was transmitted through accounts on behalf of Benex and another defendant,

Becs International

, and are the first to emerge from the U.S. government's probe"

https://www.thestreet.com/markets/phelps-dodge-extends-exchange-offer-for-asarco-after-hours-trading-update-791192

Article link

Published under fair use

@1995 "Asarco bids for Russian gold mine"

The Northern Miner


Asarco bids for Russian gold mine

A joint-venture company 25%-owned by Asarco (NYSE), Kamgold, has won a bid to develop a gold mine 50 miles west of Milkova on the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia. By mid-1995, the company expects to begin developing the Aginskoe mine,...


[Except published under fair use]

COPYRIGHT © 2019 THE NORTHERN MINER

2007/10/29 repost county attorney asked tceq to investigate

 

Reposted under fair use

https://eliotshapleigh.com/news/1435-asarco-criminal-allegations-sent-to-tceq

Link to document


Asarco Criminal Allegations Sent to TCEQ

October 29, 2007


El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez announced recently that he is asking the state environmental agency to review the possibility of criminal charges against Asarco stemming from alleged violations in the "transportation, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes."


Written by Sito Negron, Newspaper Tree


9

El Paso County Attorney Jose Rodriguez announced Monday that he is asking the state environmental agency to review the possibility of criminal charges against Asarco stemming from alleged violations in the "transportation, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes."


Under state law, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality must review charges referred to the agency by a licensed peace officer. Rodriguez was requested to make the referral by Get The Lead Out, a coalition that opposes the reopening of Asarco.


The TCEQ has 45 days to make a decision whether to pursue administrative penalties, criminal penalties, or decline to pursue the matter. TCEQ officials were not available for comment late Monday.


Rodriguez said he decided to refer the matter because Asarco had a poor track record of compliance with both environmental laws and with abiding by penalties.


"After six weeks of reviewing the information, the abundant information, I might add … the peace officer in my office concluded there was sufficient information (to refer the complaint)," Rodriguez said at a news conference Monday. "Asarco has not complied with the original or modified decree in 2004."


He said he could not answer questions about the specifics of the complaint because "I am speaking today as a prosecutor and cannot go into detail."


Critics of Asarco say the company used its Contop smelter to burn hazardous waste shipped from Encycle, an Asarco subsidiary in Corpus Christi.


The issues were raised in a 1999 Consent Decree, a document in which Asarco does not admit to any wrongdoing but agrees to pay fines and take other corrective actions. During its investigation of that and other public records associated with oversight of Asarco, a member of GTLO found a memo that was used by investigators as part of their case against Asarco.


The memo alleged that Asarco was engaged in "sham recycling," in which it sent product from Encycle to facilities in El Paso and East Helena, Mont. The product was meant to be byproducts that contained enough copper material to make it worthwhile to Asarco to "recycle," but investigators alleged the amount of ore was too negligible to recycle.


The consent decree, which covered Asarco activities in several jurisdictions, called for the company in El Paso to pay $1.85 million to pave streets and for it to take other corrective actions at the smelter.


The company has disputed the characterization of its activities as "burning hazardous waste," stating that "no wrongdoing was found" in the final Consent Decree, which involved state and federal investigators.


"These governmental entities had the authority to choose between civil, criminal, or administrative enforcement and they chose civil, based on the merits of the case. In addition, no wrong doing was found regarding the procedures followed by the Asarco El Paso Plant," the company stated in an October news release.


Asarco paid less than half the $1.85 million when it went into bankruptcy.


The company in a different statement said that it offered to make monthly payments on the balance, but the city refused that method of payment. "The remaining balance is not subject to the bankruptcy process," the Asarco statement read.


Monday, Asarco responded the Rodriguez's news conference by questioning whether he had a conflict. The company released a video of an anti-Asarco rally Jan. 8, 2005, and a statement.


"The video shows the county attorney participating in an anti-Asarco rally and clearly demonstrates a conflict of interest in his decision making that should have been disclosed to the public," read the statement, which also questioned the role of Assistant County Attorney Lee Shapleigh, who is married to state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, a leader in the anti-Asarco campaign.


Rodriguez could not be reached for comment late Monday, but his office released a statement responding to the charge: “The County Attorney takes his duties and responsibilities very seriously and he does not agree that there is a conflict of interest. The matter has been referred to the appropriate state agency which will be making the determination, not the County Attorney, as to whether Asarco should be criminally prosecuted.”


(click on the clipboard below for a copy of the criminal enforcement review referral.) 


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Related Stories


From the Senator's Desk. . .

February 11, 2010


Fellow Paseños--


National Public Radio had a great story on “ASARCO—the Toxic Century” The best line was now, “El Paso can begin to look to the future.”


From the Senator's Desk. . .

February 4, 2010


Texans want to leave a cleaner, healthier state for their children and grandchildren to enjoy. Despite this, Texas' air and water are amongst some of the dirtiest in the nation. Texas is first in the nation in air pollution emissions, the amount of cancer-causing carcinogens released into the air, and the amount of carbon dioxide emissions. It's second in the amount of hazardous waste generated and seventh in the amount of carcinogens released into the water. We have a governor and environmental agency that prides itself in opposing increased air standards that would save both lives and money.


A Toxic Century: Mining Giant Must Clean Up Mess

February 4, 2010


In December, the Justice Department announced a settlement in one of the largest environmental bankruptcies in U.S. history.


The American Smelting and Refining Company, known as Asarco, will pay a record $1.79 billion to settle claims for hazardous waste pollution at 80 sites in as many as 20 states.


Cleanup will begin this year on one of Asarco's most notorious properties — the copper smelter in El Paso, Texas.


Court showdown over the public's right to know

January 28, 2010


State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh is headed into court this afternoon fighting for documents from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that he says will show the agency is little but a lapdog for polluters.


Appeals court gets TCEQ records case

January 27, 2010


A state senator's pursuit of documents he believes will lead to a criminal investigation of senior staff members of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is now in the hands of an appeals court that heard arguments Wednesday about whether the records should be public.




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2007 may 8 rrpost of press release by mcmurray(epgtlo)


NEWS (fyi epgtlo was not GTLO, but a subgroup run by mrs mcmurray)

"(PRN) Sham Recycling Creates Sham Decision?

By

PRNewswire

May 8, 2007

The TCEQ Executive Director's Asarco Air Permit Renewal decision ignores hidden contamination in international waters, soils and air from secret burning of toxic waste; What are elected officials, TCEQ and EPA concealing?

EL PASO, Texas, May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Representative Reyes and the GAO fail to investigate the specific incident that involved Asarco — instead, "will focus on the overall procedures and processes that DOD follows for disposing of hazardous waste that is created by military facilities and how the transport and disposal of this type of waste by the contractors is monitored and tracked."

At the base of the Asarco smelter, the International Boundary and Water Commission's (IBWC) American Dam diverts Rio Grande River water to over 70 miles of public drinking supply and irrigation canals. American Dam employees are sick, and the State Department Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recommended bringing in expert independent medical review.

The first canal travels along the Asarco ore handling staging area and chemical ponds. Representative Reyes' office calls the 9-04-06 Asarco levee collapse, spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of poisons into this drinking water, a "minor incident." El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU) reports showed elevated poisons at the Canal Street station after the event. The EPWU Canal St. plant pumps water up the Franklin Mt. and distributes it throughout El Paso.

IBWC data shows leakage of 24 million dollars worth of Asarco groundwater contamination into the canal, near where Asarco Hydrometrics consultants found groundwater arsenic levels at 35,000 [yes, 35 K] times the legal limit. Alluvial sediment beneath the Rio Grande is filled with fault lines above the international Hueco Bolson aquifer.

EPA Water officials cannot find any data for Rio Grande water tests at the smelter meant to confirm EPA data taken five years earlier, even though EPA mentioned the testing on public radio.

Asarco is sending poisons from the bottom of its ponds to TX US Ecology, the company that also manages Hanford Reservation Nuclear Waste in Washington State. A complete chemical analysis of these poisons has not been made available despite requests.

The El Paso GTLO, SPEG (Sunland Park Environmental Group), El Paso Sierra Club members and concerned groups want the Asarco Contamination exposed, the responsible officials to "step down," and correct clean-up to begin.

    Contact Information:

    Heather McMurray

    El Paso Get the Lead Out

    Sunland Park Grassroots Environmental Group

    Members of the El Paso Regional Group of the Sierra Club

    heamc@earthlink.net

    (915) 539-3388

This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com."


(After this, the teacher mrs mcmurray, m.s. biol. Sciences ---whose school's science-group-head was previous irrigation group mgr and whose school board's district head was married to present head --- was removed. No definite reason mentioned.  Later the superintendent, her principal and others -- including one of the 3 people (linda) who voted against her-- were convicted of crimes.  She never taught again.  The SEO google engine buries the epgtlo blog and link to scribd documents so it is almost impossible to find. Had it not been for the front page nytimes story from documrnt she found, asarco would be succeeding in burying the story.  As Rep. Reyes said , "Asarco paid millions on the condition that details of what it had done would never see light of day" (paraphrased).  Many people in important roles (&  quoted in articles) have signed non disclosure agreements, ensuring that data showing nuclear control rods were burned in smelter would never hit the news. )