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. "

Asarco Aldrich calls explosion "Mishap"

Is Asarco still a U.S. DOE high level radioactive waste disposal contractor?  Did Asarco "clean-up its mess from encycle/elpaso/hayden/colorado to build a "duplicate" haz-waste disposal operation now out of Hayden?  How on earth could they turn themselves away from that easy money that the U.S. DOJ and EPA described Asarco had made from its illegal incinerations of the 1990's? When those illegal wastes are burned they cause explosions (even in clean-ups, in el paso).   The company burned the wastes so hot and fast through their new CONTOPs in 1992-3 that they had to rebuild it.  Sound similar........Without the split samples the El Paso community asked for (never got) how will truth -- scientific truth EVER come out for the workers in Hayden... Corpus Christi, and, here?  

"Asarco's Hayden smelter shut after mishap September 06, 2013 17:01 CDT HAYDEN, Ariz. (AP) -- A mishap at copper miner Asarco LLC's Hayden smelter damaged the plant and will shut down operations for about a week as repairs are made. Asarco vice president for environmental affairs Thomas Aldrich says molten metal broke out of the side walls of the flash furnace at about 4:30 a.m. Friday. The molten copper hit nearby water pipes, triggering a series of explosion-like concussions.

Read More at: http://www.kfoxtv.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.tx/3ef7144d-www.kfoxtv.com.shtml

"

The Paisano TX State Route 62 route that authorities want to build an 800 million$ elevated toll road over --- that is poisoned land. TCEQ has published a picture showing how the poisons from Asarco travel underground right beneath the cracked water canals, Paisano, old smeltertown, right to the Rio Grande the entire length of the Asarco property. To build the new highway requires drilling pylons deep into this contamination every 20 or 30 feet, and about the same distance down. This will expose workers to gases that can't be smelled, that are KNOWN to cause M.S.. I had told the people responsible for this project YEARS ago, face to face, that it was poisoned there and communities would suffer. They did not care. AT an MPO meeting, where Norma Cavez supported me, Chairman Rep. Pickett said "He would hold ASARCO's feet to the fire". Pickett never did. During the 2005 Asarco air permit hearing, a conservative kind businessman said to me, "You have the best interests at heart but are naive. Senator Shapleigh and those folks have no intention of really cleaning up Asarco -- all they want is the land". Eight years later we can see what is the truth of it. The love of money governs this whole mock-Asarco "cleanup", and the building of a toll highway where the poor will drive below, with the trucks and the poisons. Entire neighborhoods will be affected by this. Our water supply, now under new County control, will be affected by this. The poisons not only run under the ground at the beginning of the huge Hueco aquifer, but are on our mountains and lands --- those living within the EPA 3 mile zone get the worst exposure (even with Asarco closed); then those within 9 miles get the worst lead (Pb) exposure (including radioactive lead); and experts predict the worst to have contaminated out to 30 miles (1000 square miles) -- including radioactive particles. The smallest particles would have stayed in the skies for weeks, traveling hundreds of miles at least. This highway should not be built. WHEN will our news agencies wake up and start reporting on what the common person already knows, but the average middleclass worker who barely has time for the Newspaper and TV News, is totally unaware?

New law requires County of El Paso to run Water Improvement District elections by Alberto Tomas Halpern // August 16, 2013 // Government "A new law set to take effect on September 1 will require the El Paso County Water Improvement District #1 (EPCWID) to contract with El Paso County’s Elections Department to run its elections. In addition, the new law, Senate Bill 856, authored by state senator Jose Rodriguez, mandates that the water district maintain a website and make available online: campaign finance reports for each elected board director, meeting agendas and minutes, archived video and audio for each meeting, the water district’s budget, and any audits of the district. The water district already maintains a website, but the minutes, budgets, audits, and campaign finance reports are not currently available online...."

While Asarco was burning secret illegal wastes and putting $$ into Swiss Bank, verified secret memo now shows how "top US Treasury officials secretly conspired with a small cabal of banker big-shots to rip apart financial regulation" $$$

Greg Palast | Larry Summers and the Secret 'End-Game' Memo (includes links to memos)

Greg Palast, News Investigation: The Memo confirmed every conspiracy freak's fantasy: that in the late 1990s, the top US Treasury officials secretly conspired with a small cabal of banker big-shots to rip apart financial regulation across the planet. When you see 26.3 percent unemployment in Spain, desperation and hunger in Greece, riots in Indonesia and Detroit in bankruptcy, go back to this End Game memo, the genesis of the blood and tears. The Treasury official playing the bankers' secret End Game was Larry Summers.

http://www.nationofchange.org/larry-summers-and-secret-end-game-memo-1377266262#

NY Times sold Boston Globe for 70 Million (carrying 14% interest on 250 million$ loan from Carlos Slim in 2009)

Anyone got an update on the NY Times 250 mil loan?  Did it get paid off already?

NYTimes  had to take it out just seven months after  releasing (front page 10/06)  my US DOJ EPA 1998 73 page conf for settlement purposes only document (a document that hid Asarco, Dupont and Englehard were acting as a US DOE High level radioactive waste disposal contractors while burning unlisted illegal materials at El Paso's smelter for big $$.)   The Asarco hedge fund creditor Harbinger spent huge sum of money those following months to try to buy control of the NY Times Board, but failed.  NYTimes took out loan (below) with Slim, who later had Slim's company take big control of Asarco SPCC mine.  (use internal search engine to read more).   

NOW NY Times sold Boston Globe for 70 million:

"Within a single week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos agreed to spend $250 million to buy The Washington Post from the Graham family and Red Sox owner John W. Henry declared his intention to acquire The Boston Globe from The New York Times Co. for $70 million.

Earlier this summer, BH Media, the newspaper division of billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway outfit, said it was snapping up The Press of Atlantic City for an undisclosed sum. BH Media already owned dozens of newspapers, including the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Omaha World-Herald.

Meanwhile, the arch-conservative billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch are still believed to be angling for the Los Angeles Times over the loud objections of the newspaper's own staff. "

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Saturday, May 23, 2009

NYTimes now in debt to Carlos Slim and Harbinger has two seats on its board....

"Harbinger acquired its stake in the NYTimes in 2007. Since then, the $500 million investment has lost more than three quarters of its value. Harbinger has two seats on the Times board of directors."..."The Times' $1 billion-plus in debt forced it to take a loan from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim worth $250 million earlier this year.[2009] The Times paid $4.5 million up front to borrow the money and will pay 14% interest." http://www.thewrap.com/article/fortune-geffen-almost-had-his-hands-new-york-times)

Posted by Elpaso at Saturday, May 23, 2009 

Why over-produce copper at AZ Asarco mine?

Conjecture suggests that this could eventually cause a layoff and possibly influence another state's union negotiations at around the exact same time some critical Texas negotiations are occurring.  Usually in the past gossip suggests that union attorney will sacrifice one location's negotiation's to save jobs at another if necessary.  

ASARCO was (and the company still may be) a US DOE High Level Radioactive Waste Disposal contractor (along with two other companies caught illegally incinerating massive amounts of material by US DOJ/EPA from 1991 thru 1998: Dupont and Engelhard); also one or more government sites that sent materials to Encycle/El Paso were contaminated by things like Beryllium.   

After 8 years and numerous requests, El Pasoans have not been told the answer to the simplest question for a copper smelter:"how much radioactive lead (Pb) is present at the El Paso smelter?"  Appalling. Inhalation of one alpha radioactive nano-particle like that is more toxic than arsenic and would have boiled out of the collapsing stacks within the black soot, mixed with the other dust and drifted into neighborhoods -both USA and Mexico.   All such smelters were producers of radioactive lead (Pb).

Arizona Daily Star

mission copper output to rise 16%, says Asarco

"Despite a slowdown in copper prices for most of this year, Asarco plans to boost annual copper production at its Mission mine complex by 16 percent, by expanding its copper concentrator.

The company also recently reopened a molybdenum production plant at Mission, about five years after it closed.

Between them, the two projects will mean 25 additional jobs at the Mission complex south of Tucson, bringing the workforce there to 663."

Radioactivity near Tuscon and possibly near Asarco water supply (i.e. end of CAP supply line)

when asked where he stood on building the mine.

Speaking to the Democrats of Oro Valley, community activitist Gayle Hartmann gives an overview of the Rosemont Project, and efforts to curb the proposed mine by the Save the Santa Rita Environmental Group.

Meanwhile, huge crowds have turned out in the permitting process to protest what they saw as an attack on their way of life. These are the people of Elgin, Sonoita, Sahuarita and Green Valley, including Charles Huckelberry, Pima's county manager and Ed Norris, Chairman of the Tohono O'odham people both who represent large parts of southern Arizona. To counter, Rosemont sponsored the Tour of Tucson Bike Race one year and yet another it sponsored the epic 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo Mountain Bike Race all in hopes of raising it's "environmental" image and trying to fit into the Tucson community by spreading cash among many community support groups. Most recently Rosemont complained about the slow process (they hoped to be in construction by now) and complained the Pima County permitting process was biased and intentionally derailing their timeline and progress. They told the Feds they would appeal to Arizona's Dept of Environmental Quality! Given ADEQ's record of assists in Hayden for ASARCO, there is little doubt, their appeal will move forward and eventually be approved.

Augusta came to Arizona because of Rosemont's world class copper deposit, full of molybdenum and silver. This mine promises to be 10 per cent of U.S. Copper output and the corporation was energized by Arizona's "stable mining laws and a clear regulatory regime" Rosemont hopes to harvest a 7.7 billion pound copper source. Each year they hope to produce 221 million pounds of copper, along with another 4.7 million pounds of molybdenum and 2.4 million ounces of silver each year for over 20 years.Rosemont has a reserve of 190 million pounds of molybdenum, and 80 million ounces of silver. The project will require a $900 million capitol expenditure to start. 

Rosemont issued an environmental report that uses the newest technology and the best practices of the industry, it sees no difficulties, clear sailing ahead and they plan to open a environmentally aware mining operation, the best the world has ever seen. Rosemont has no experience as miners, they have never done this before, so mistakes are always possible. One reader of their huge environmental impact study who followed each footnote to outside studies, reports their study is a smoke screen and makes little actual sense. Regardless of the environmental impact study, which the EPA called the worst they have ever reviewed–once you get past the tailing stacked in a scenic zone, the whole things boils down to water. Rosemont has identified groundwater and CAP Water as their principal water source. It is important to note the new mine lies in a drainage that feeds Tucson underground water aquifer. It feeds both the Pantano and Tanque Verde, both seasonal rivers that flow right through Tucson's fashionable East Side, and recharges our water table. Rosemont says their best practices will not allow contamination to Tucson water supply, it's a no brainer, they say. Google any copper mine towns in Arizona, goggle their water supply and they all are compromised. Rosemont promises they will work this mine for 50 years and they just want to be Tucson's best buddy. The mine will employ about the same number of (348) employees they hire for a couple of "big box stores", salaries may be better. History shows a "boom and bust" cycles with mines who have just walked away from environmental disasters or problems beyond their ability to fix. Don't believe an open pit won't contaminate our water, it is just a matter of when.

The first ore taken from the Morenci Mine were 80 per cent pure. The above Morenci photo was taken during a 1980′s Bust Cycle when everyone was fired and equipment idled waiting for the return of favorable copper prices. Rosemont Mine projects it will spend $900 million to build the Rosemont Complex and that is the same $900 million that will be required to clean up Clifton/Morenci after 162 years of toxic hardrock mining. Phelps Dodge was ordered to spend $1Billion to clean up the smelter in El Paso, opponents of the settlement say PD got off with pennies on the dollar and not a penny goes across the border to folks downwind for 100 years.< Does anyone really think Rosemont will be around when cleanup is needed. Historically, a property sells to someone who goes bankrupt and the taxpayer pays for the mess.

No one can anticipate Acts of God, Karma is always a big factor. So in 1979 when an earthen dam breached and spilled 1,100 tons of radioactive mill wastes and 90 million gallons of contaminated water into a tributary of the Little Colorado River or in 1984, when a flash flood washed tons of high grade uranium ore from Hack Canyon Mine into Kanab Creek. The Grand Canyon's Orphan Mine still continues to contaminate creeks, it produced 4.3 million pounds of some of the purest uranium ever found in the U.S. before closing in 1969. The Orphan Mine was declared a Superfund site by the EPA. The National Park Service warns backpackers along the Tonto Trail not to use water from either drainage. Another spill 30 years ago, occurred on July 19, 1979 when an earthen tailing dam near the United Nuclear Church Rock Uranium mine collapsed, spilling 90 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste and 1100 tons of solid mill wastes into the Rio Puerco River. The spill contaminated water, land and air at least 50 miles downstream into New Mexico and Arizona. It is believed more radiation was released in that spill than at the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, making the Church Rock spill a Superfund site and the largest release of radioactive waste ever in the U.S..

Spills happen and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission acknowledges that many toxic tailing have been washed into our region's waterways and collectively, these events have documented risks and offer harm to people's health. Drive through any Arizona copper town which are blighted and personal property values decline dramatically. If no drinking water is found outside grocery stores or water stations good luck selling your house. The Central Arizona Project taps the Colorado River which provides 26 million people throughout the Southwest with drinking water. Last year, Lake Mead water levels stood within 50 feet of water restrictions which will hit Tucson first, hit Las Vegas hardest and be a major inconvenience to California. Rosemont Mine lies at the end of that pipeline. Green Valley groundwater levels already suffering with an annual water deficit withdraw without adding another copper mine which takes the same water that another 25,000 residents need. Population growth will easily fulfill that need, and all water use adds up and it is a finite resource. Rosemont proposes to recharge the aquifer from various sources and the newest estimates are the Rio Colorado could be dry by 2020

"Strong demand for growth out of China, India, Brazil and Russia, with a struggling supply response", was the all the motivation needed for Wildcat Silver Corporation, a Canadian-based mining company, to step up their Patagonia exploration. Wildcat wants to conduct extensive exploratory drilling on Forest land near Patagonia to map out a plan to construct an open-pit mine near Harshaw. Wildcat's Hermosa project, also called the Hardshell project, involves an area six miles east of Patagonia along the Harshaw Road. The Wildcat Silver Corporation could bring in $99 million annually in profits if it gets state and federal approval. Wildcat will spend $337 million to build the project. Each year for 18 years, the mine plans to mine 4.1 million ounces of silver, about 256,000 tons of a manganese compound, about 22,200 tons of zinc and about 1,050 tons of copper from Southern Arizona.

Harshaw was a large community with a large Catholic Church

this was the Harshaw Mill in 1879

Wildcat will dig a 600-foot-deep open pit, and then mine at least 1,800 feet underground to collect minerals too deep for the pit. The mine's water needs will dramatically draw on the aquifer pulling down 720,000 gallons of groundwater daily. Large ore trucks will dramatically change driving up and down the Harshaw Road, a narrow winding mountain road winding through Scrub Oak, Juniper Forest which has access to the old mining towns left behind the last time this good idea went bad. Patagonia folks sound scared. Few say jobs, most say goodbye to their way of life., Patagonia was once called "Arizona's best kept secret", the village's residents believe what they know now, will be no longer……

The Tombstone Exploration Company holds the largest chunk, 11,863 acres, of Tombstone's historical mining District. In March TEC received approval for State Exploration Permits for minerals, including gold, silver and copper in the eastern edge of the Tombstone, the additional permits, approved, doubles their existing holdings. Study of the mineral content of the Tombstone Mining District show a wide assortment of mineralization including silver, gold, copper, lead, and zinc minerals, along with manganese, tellurium, molybdenum, and vanadium. Although Tombstone is famous for bonanza silver deposits it is essentially a precious-metal district. Alan Brown, President of Tombstone, states, "With prices for metals at historic high levels, the time to move aggressively forward is now. We are currently planning exploration and a drill program for the Zebra property."

BISBEE HAD A OPEN PIT IN THE CENTER OF THE COMMUNITY FOR OVER A 100 YEARS. MAYBE WE TAKE GIVE TOURS OF THE OPEN PIT OR FLOOD IT AND WATER SKI ON TUCSON SOUTHEAST SIDE.

Further down the Harshaw Road a large group of mines with over 80 existing claims covering 1,600 acres extends beyond Washington, Az on the north and to about a mile west and southwest of Duquesne, Az on the south. It is owned chiefly by the Duquesne Mining & Reduction Co. of Pittsburgh, PA, with local headquarters at Duquesne, and the reduction plant at Washington. Duquesne and Washington Camp were once thriving mining camps and at one point both were busy places, now they are ghost towns.

The Johnson Camp Mine in Cochise County

The Johnson Camp property is 65 miles east of Tucson in Cochise County. The Johnson Camp mine, is an open pit copper mine and production facility using solvent extraction. Johnson Camp includes two existing open pits, the Burro and Copper Chief bulk mining pits which are expected to produce 25 million pounds of copper cathodes annually over a mine life of 13 years. Recently it idled to build a new leaching facility but hopes to mine in 2012.

Wildcat Silver recently withdrew a contested request for 15 exploratory drill holes, saying they now wish to drill 176 exploratory holes on claims on public land in the Patagonia Mountains.

HARSHAW CREEK DRILL AREA

The corporation needs to map the silver content lying underneath nine square miles of Shrub Oak Woodlands. The corporation has recently doubled it estimates from 123 million ounces to 271 million for the future Hermosa Mine which is expected to be in the top 25% of all silver mines in the world.

At its peak in the 1880s and 1890s, Harshaw's was once considered scenic, it was surrounded by oak forests, lush pastures, and had enough pure mountain water to run the mill and work the ore. Today, Harshaw Creek is lined with sycamores, cottonwoods, and willows which are typical foliage in more arid riparian zones. While Harshaw Creek still flows, they are no longer as pure as a 100 years ago. Recent water studies according to Wikipedia have found high levels of copper and zinc, as well as high acidity in the creek. While many factors contribute to this pollution, mining and milling residue from waste dumps are the most significant source. The abandoned Endless Chain Mine, near the headwaters of Harshaw Creek, is one of the biggest contributing factors to the pollution.

Finally, a letter from the Arizona Game & Fish Department says damage will occur no matter what the federal government and the mine's developer do to compensate for its effects."We believe that the project will render the northern portion of the Santa Rita Mountains virtually worthless as wildlife habitat and as a functioning ecosystem, and thus also worthless for wildlife recreation," said the letter, written by the habitat program manager for the Tucson office. "Furthermore, the project has great potential to impact wildlife and habitat off the forest." The letter was among up to 4,000 public comments the U.S. Forest Service received on the 4,400-acre Rosemont Mine.

Are we heading down a path we might regret in the future?" YES, is the obvious answer! Is there anything we can do about it? NO, once a valid claim is made there is no legal authority to stop it. Mining law elevates mining above all other uses of federal land and contains no environmental protection.

Tucson will have a new open pit, Hwy 83 beloved for its drive in the countryside winding through the mountain pass opening up to the Santa Rita foothills, will be changed forever. This is no small price that Southern Arizona is paying, this is a crown jewel, and it will not stop here. If we don't throw out the carpetbaggers who sell their vote to big corporations allegedly for support, this will never stop, in fact get used to it-this is just the beginning.

This ASARCO Mine lies in the foothills of the Silverbell Mountains and shows by example how a mine in the Santa Rita Foothills would change the land forever.

MORE COPPER COUNTRY PHOTOS SEE SOUTHWEST PHOTOBANK GALLERY … CLICK HERE

El Paso Asarco clean-up Trustee Mr. Puga has absolutely refused to split any of the dirt/etc. samples he tests, so how can we believe any of his test results?! It was especially telling when he, the EPA (Charles Fisher) and TCEQ all absolutely refused to let me have a chain of custody (i.e. official) piece of slag from the Ionics Brine Distillation unit after it melted down --- it had been removing radioactive material from the site's process water since the illegal waste burning began. Slag, like what was left from it melting down, is well known as concentrating the bad stuff so it is easier to find when testing. One of our citizens had done full metals analyses through a CA emissions testing company of his 100 year old homes' attic dusts in 2003. One house was about 2 miles from the smelter and the other 3 miles. He never released the data publicly, and during a 2009 TCEQ, EPA US DOJ community meeting he explained how he'd given this data to Asarco to get compensated before/during the bankruptcy and they ignored him. Email from this person indicated it showed hafnium (found in nuclear control rods) was higher nearer the smelter than further away. He asked me to not release this information. After he allowed the public into the house he'd given me data for and they wanted to convert it into a coffee house, I released that full metals analysis; but, this citizen never shared all the test results with me or the community. Had he done so, many children would have been protected. We know know that Asarco, Dupont and Englehard --- all caught by EPA and the US DOJ as sending illegal wastes to be burned here (the EPA still refused to release the invoices listed by ID numbers in the 1998 73 page US DOJ EPA secret document NYTimes 10/2006) were US DOE HIGH LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL CONTRACTORS. TO THIS DAY none of them have been held responsible through the bankruptcy court for ANY of the illegal waste disposal damage to our community and its water. But, I was non-renewed and regionally blacklisted from working again after disclosing Asarco's impact to our water. Very Sad when the community was afraid to back me up publicly, and I watched this happen to at least two other people. # of the 5 who handled the process and vote to non-renew me were later caught in criminal conduct including stealing. One (a former policeman) was recently put into federal prison for four years. The community needs to know what actually happened so that the bad people who allowed a lot of this to go on do not continue to have the power they have. But many are extremely powerful and people are still afraid. Some pose as model citizens and you do not dare to challenge that. Dr. Davis (part of a team that won the 2007 Nobel Peace prize) thanked me for my courage, in a handwritten preface to her 2nd book; and, Mexican activist Selfa Chew (senior, Mother of Dr. Mariana Chew who worked for Sierra Club several years before abandoning the job for another to run the sewage treatment plant in Anapra NM), who started the first labor union across from Asarco wrote me a card in 2008 saying , " Gracias por compastir con migo tos Ideales" among other kind words for my work researching Asarco. One of my students wrote me years later, " I'm proud and honored that you were my biology teacher." I continue to thank those who stood by me, support me, and say good words not gossip to others.

ASARCO: dead silence

EPA and the Asarco El Paso Trustee have been totally silent after the ASARCO stacks came down, breaking into pieces releasing clouds of black soot containing radioactive materials. To this day they refuse to disclose how much radioactive Lead (Pb) is at the site, or strontium, and these are COMMON to copper smelters. Now Asarco is suing local El Paso quarry owner Jobe, (who served time in federal prison until Pres. Clinton pardoned him), RMC who bought his quarries for awhile, and Cemex. There is little information in the local papers on this lawsuit.

Total absence of any written replies from EPA, TCEQ or the TRUST. It is becoming extremely obvious that EPA and the TRUST are afraid to comment on Asarco and two other of the companies caught (see 10/2006 front page NYTimes story ) sending waste sludges and incinerator ash here throughout the 1990's -- that they were US DOE high level radioactive waste disposal contractors; or to comment that EPA reported just before Asarco El Paso idled that we had the highest beta radiation levels in the USA; and that attic dust metals reports show hafnium levels to be higher closer to the plant (a chemical found mostly in nuclear control rods). Why are they so afraid to write ANYTHING back? Because they carry liabilities, especially since releasing the soot from two stacks into a massive cloud that flowed over children and two countries. Just one good dust wipe of that soot , well documented/confirmed, would contain the physical evidence to win billions for residents of El Paso, possibly. For 8 years our agencies have denied us that sample.

EPA begs the question again on Asarco. No honest services when split samples are denied.

From: heamc 

To: "Sanchez,Carlos" , "aguavida, "kvia@kvia.com" , lorinda.gardner@tceq.texas.gov, "rardovino

Cc: "Gray,David" , "Fisher,Charles" , "Phillips,Pam" , "Meyer,John" , "Anderson,Israel"

Subject: RE: El Paso Demolition

Date: Apr 19, 2013 4:41 PM

Dear Mr. Sanchez, You are begging the question, providing no samples, claiming that "The EPA has released all non-confidential documents associated with past site activities" which is not true ---- the former EPA administrator promised us the open records release of all the invoices listed by number in the 73 page now public EPA U.S. D.O.J. 1998 Asarco confidential for settlement purposes only document.   We never got those invoices listing the illegal radioactive and hazardous wastes.  AND THEY ARE now PUBLIC DOMAIN.  The EPA never told us EVER that Asarco, Engelhard and Dupont were acting as high level radioactive waste disposal contractors. The top of both stacks clearly has been photographed during demolition releasing massive amounts of soot, which would contain at the least those illegal materials; and definitely sulfur, radioactive lead, arsenic, lead, cadmium, and asbestos/silica. Likely Beryllium. Definitely dioxins. The EPA HAS taken samples at Corpus Christi (refused to split samples) and here and it is wrong to assure us that everything is "Safe" without being willing to split samples with us.  Especially when there is precedent -- we already are correctly storing official soil samples.  If TCEQ is in charge of samples and not you, then you needed to include the Regional Director in your "cc" or "to" addresses. We have had wind gusts up to 35 mph all week, low visibility and everyone I have met is complaining about the symptoms.   People with COPD are coughing up very dark dusts, trying to clear their lungs.   Does EPA care?  They never have shown us full cooperation and help EVER here.  The children of Mexico across the smelter are not the only ones affected.   Mexico was smart enough to shut its closest elementary school down one week to thoroughly clean.  THAT DID NOT HAPPEN HERE.  The children still went to school in the dust.  When that happens it is common to see nose bleeds.  Lower Immune systems may occur, given the chemicals common to the illegal hazardous wastes that we know of (nerve agent quench water).  There are entire families with flu this week, now.   coincidence or not We have the map (on epgtlo) that shows the area marked by our EPA where the Asarco Encycle material was stored when it reached Asarco El Paso.   They were that worried about those illegal hazardous chemicals.  But during the demolition no one seemed worried about that same material exiting the tops and breaks in both stacks and flowing over neighborhoods and our water.  Why? The demolition of the stacks was not handled well.   The dust should have stayed on site; or the community and the water utilities notified that they'd be exposed. Mr. Puga claimed he had covered the American canal -- he failed to tell me on the telephone that he had not covered ANY of the open canal running right next to the 80 foot wall of Asarco slag (the cloud of dust flowed over the canal, the river into Mexico) but led me to believe he had covered the american canal.   The demolition could have been delayed until after the spring windy season.  Mr. Puga grew up here.   He knew we had a spring windy season. AS YOU ARE WELL AWARE AT EPA the Trustee/TRUST is NOT required to test for or clean up any of the hazardous wastes that went through ASARCO that ten years (http:epgtlo.blogspot.com).   They test, tell us everything is fine and refuse to give us key samples that would put all questions to rest -- so did Mr. Charles Fisher and the TCEQ rep. and Mr. Puga refuse to give us a two-inch official sample when we wanted a piece of slag from the Ionics brine distillation unit fire that had removed low level radioactive wastes from the plant's process waters. You say that the Governor is responsible for handling the issue of the dust that flowed into Mexico.  You failed to mention that the La Paz Accord EPA "JAC" committee chaired by EPA Bill Luthans since the years that Asarco illegally burned hazmat materials (and an Asarco rep. was on the council then, too) and a similar chair from Mexico usually have dealt with such problems, without avail.   Over 3 years ago I presented a Medical Peer review paper on the critical Radon (radium) problem in El Paso TX to the JAC and JAC/EPA did NOTHING. As I said, my confidence in the EPA is very low given how we have been consistently lied to or omitted key info. from the EPA over eight years.   I have called the White House and the new Admin.' office.  Something has to change.  We in El Paso, our children, deserve better than this.  You know that.  So do all the staff who live here near the Asarco stack; or the EPA staff who work in an office overlooking the site. Mrs. McMurray, m.s. biology certified science teacher 8-12 -----Original Message----- From: "Sanchez, Carlos"  Sent: Apr 17, 2013 2:04 PM To: heamc , "aguavida , "kvia@kvia.com" , "lorinda.gardner"   Cc: "Gray, David" , "Fisher, Charles" , "Phillips, Pam" , "Meyer, John" , "Anderson, Israel"  Subject: RE: El Paso Demolition Ms. McMurray, The EPA is not collecting spilt samples at the ASARCO site and therefore cannot provide samples to you.  EPA works through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality who has the lead for the oversight of cleanup activities at the site.  Please coordinate with them regarding the collection of spilt samples. The EPA believes that the stack testing conducted by the Trustee and information included in my previous e-mail, addresses your concerns regarding other contaminants that may be present at the site. The Trustee has conducted extensive testing during all cleanup activities and will continue testing site materials until the cleanup is completed. The EPA has released all non-confidential documents associated with past site activities.  We are including previous information that was provided to you regarding your concerns on radiation.  We are also including information regarding the Molycorp NORM materials. The EPA believes that the dust suppression methods being used at the site will address dust from the site.  If dust levels are exceeded, additional measures will be taken. Regarding the questions submitted by the children of Anapra, New Mexico to the New Mexico Governor, the EPA believes that the Governor’s office should respond to those questions. Carlos A. Sanchez Chief, Ark/Tx Section (6SF-RA) Superfund Division 214-665-8507 sanchez.carlos@epa.gov From: heamc [mailto:heamc@earthlink.net] Sent: Tuesday, April 16, 2013 11:24 PM To: Sanchez, Carlos; aguavida@valornet.com; kvia@kvia.com; lorinda.gardner,rardovino Cc: Gray, David; Fisher, Charles; Edlund, Carl; Phillips, Pam; Meyer, John; Anderson, Israel Subject: Re: El Paso Demolition Mr. Sanchez, Will your bosses authorize you to give us an official chain of custody split stack sample(s)?  We have other samples in proper storage, and this is not an idle request.  Although the TCEQ has cooperated, the EPA has refused twice to release split samples to us. Otherwise I have no confidence in your test results, given the secrecy and lies our community has had to handle and deal with since this began back in 1987.   Our health, environmental governmental agencies, our courts have all failed to protect public health; and, worse of all given the documents we now have we realize the extent of it.  NO ONE in eight years in any FOIA or PIA request let us know that ASARCO had been acting as a High Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Contractor for the U.S. D.O.E. handling sites like Hanford and Oakridge.  In 1998 when the smelter decided to idle the plant, El Paso had the highest Beta radiation levels in the nation according to the EPA.    When I asked BIll Luthans and his health physicist about it, they played word games with me, saying it was normal background radiation and did not tell us about Molycorp and its high levels of NORM going through our plants.  Luthans has been here through the 1990's, serving as chair of the La Paz "JAC" for the USA along with an Asarco executive for many years.   That JAC has not even responded to the critical Radon problem documented in El Paso TX years ago, and presented to the JAC. Several years ago, Mr. Charles Fisher came here to the Asarco El Paso site and refused (along with the TCEQ rep. and Puga)  to release to me a 2 inch piece of slag from the Ionics Brine Distillation plant' fire that handled all the site's process waters, was installed during the 1990's, and was rated to remove LLRW.  He was not helpful, gave no new information, and maintained the status quo for the EPA.  Meanwhile, Puga was picking other stuff off the ground in buildings and handing it to me to "save". You know that our wind picks up late afternoon and goes full force at night.  Dust suppression "to control dust generated during the movement of stack concrete materials to the onsite landfill." will be of no help to us.  The dust can be tasted in the air and people need dust masks.  Good rated dust masks.  Handed out for free by our Public Health Dept.  Oops.  We do not have a public health dept. as of 3 years ago.  What shall we do -- ask our government for help?  Ask our medical community?  Ask our community leading citizens? (quote: "this site is perfect for infill"  "is a valuable piece of real estate" "do not worry, the smoke stayed in the valley". Thank you for writing but your response is hardly reassuring after the eight years I have put into trying to get actual scientific samples and real data from our government. IF YOU WANT MY CONFIDENCE then release all the invoices listed by invoice number in the 1998 73 page EPA US D.O.J. confidential for settlement purposes only document.  I was promised copies.   I am still waiting, years later.  I wonder why there is such resistance to releasing what is Public Information (once the invoice numbers were released in a public document, they became public information).  Release a full metals analysis like the one on my blog site done by a local citizen on the sludge sent from the Asarco El Paso main circulation pond to the dump in Robstown TX for disposal in 2006.  Answer the questions submitted by the children of Anapra N.M. regarding Asarco El Paso to the N.M. Governor/Ron Curry. You know that this site, even more than East Helena MT should be a Superfund Site, to be protective of public health and drinking water. Sincerely, Heather Mcmurray, m.s. biological sciences, certified science teacher -----Original Message-----  From: "Sanchez, Carlos" Sent: Apr 15, 2013 2:39 PM To: "heamc@earthlink.net" Cc: "Gray, David" , "Fisher, Charles" , "Edlund, Carl" , "Phillips, Pam" , "Meyer, John" , "Anderson, Israel" Subject: El Paso Demolition Ms McMurray, I am sending to you information regarding the testing of the ASARCO stack conducted prior to demolition.  Additional stack testing will be conducted prior to placement of the concrete materials in the onsite cell. Also, dust samples collected during demolition activities will be tested.  As soon as that information is available, we will provide it to you. During the handling of demolition materials, dust suppression methods, in accordance with the site workplan, will be used to control dust generated during the movement of stack concrete materials to the onsite landfill.  CAS Carlos A. Sanchez Chief, Ark/Tx Section (6SF-RA) Superfund Division 214-665-8507 sanchez.carlos@epa.gov

Asarco: Free from accountability for the ten years of illegal hazardous and radioactive wastes ?? Why.

Called Office of Legislative Affairs for the National Science Foundation.  They could not help and referred me to the EPA.   NSF gives grants to University Professors, like at UTEP, and should be holding those people accountable for any work pertaining to the diseases associated with the illegal hazardous Asarco wastes, our water supply's integrity; and, the integrity of the practice of science.

But that is not their initiative.  I was told that they give monies to new students to learn "science"; and, for stem cell research.

The Office couldn't wait to get me off the phone, which is very sad.  NSF was always the bulwark of science when I was growing up; and to see them turn away from the corruption of science, well that was just pathetic.

There is very little independent basic research being funded; and most Universities and it has traveled down to the high school level -- are focused on making monies, and teaching students the tools necessary for Industry.   True science teaching, like the background Rachel Carson got ("Silent Spring") and governmental agencies with the integrity that hers had, in Fish and Wildlife, are becoming rare.

Winds in El Paso TX are 35 mph currently at 2 PM WSW and beginning to gust on westside near asarco

NO ONE has promised to stabilize the asarco site with all its demolition debris and illegal hazardous waste chemicals during the night when winds in the desert can pick up significantly.  

EPA has not yet answered my request for split samples of the chemicals they are testing and sending "results".  It is all about monies.  We have 50 million for the cleanup plus whatever the Trust can sell.   His profit increases accordingly since he is part owner of the cleanup company.  They all just want all of us to forget asarco, and sweep it under the rug.

EPA insists that none of the asarco material is classified, but failed since 1987 to tell us that asarco was a high level radioactive waste disposal contractor;  failed to make the bankruptcy court hold asarco responsible for over ten years of secret hazardous and radioactive waste disposal; and allowed the trust off the hook, too.

I was told that the Trust tested the stack concrete for radioactive materials but did not incinerate any sample, which is how you test for alpha particles.

Now former Mayor rancis and others talk about this valuable real estate.  Land that they would not live or work on themselves.... Former Senator Shapleigh is no where to be seen - impossible to be held accountable for failing to tell his GTLO meeting folks about the planned developments of highways at the site.  At the end he had switched sides so far that he said all the land needed was a good powerwashing and had his UTEP students recommending adding student housing to the site.   Fortunately rumor is that UTEP now won't take the land even if given it.

ASARCO demolition smoke that flowed like water through miles of neighborhoods and the lower valley/Rio Grande

For all concerned, buy or get a library copy of Epidemiologist Dr. Devra Davis book " When smoke ran like water" @2005  or her copy of "A secret history of cancer" (Chptr. 13)

EPA offers information. But not the information we were promised. And, will they agree to split samples?

Cc: "Gray,David" , "Fisher,Charles" , "Edlund,Carl" , "Phillips,Pam" , "Meyer,John" , "Anderson,Israel"

Subject: Re: El Paso Demolition

Date: Apr 16, 2013 10:24 PM

Mr. Sanchez, Will your bosses authorize you to give us an official chain of custody split stack sample(s)?  We have other samples in proper storage, and this is not an idle request.  Although the TCEQ has cooperated, the EPA has refused twice to release split samples to us. Otherwise I have no confidence in your test results, given the secrecy and lies our community has had to handle and deal with since this began back in 1987.   Our health, environmental governmental agencies, our courts have all failed to protect public health; and, worse of all given the documents we now have we realize the extent of it.  NO ONE in eight years in any FOIA or PIA request let us know that ASARCO had been acting as a High Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Contractor for the U.S. D.O.E. handling sites like Hanford and Oakridge.  In 1998 when the smelter decided to idle the plant, El Paso had the highest Beta radiation levels in the nation according to the EPA.    When I asked BIll Luthans and his health physicist about it, they played word games with me, saying it was normal background radiation and did not tell us about Molycorp and its high levels of NORM going through our plants.  Luthans has been here through the 1990's, serving as chair of the La Paz "JAC" for the USA along with an Asarco executive for many years.   That JAC has not even responded to the critical Radon problem documented in El Paso TX years ago, and presented to the JAC. Several years ago, Mr. Charles Fisher came here to the Asarco El Paso site and refused (along with the TCEQ rep. and Puga)  to release to me a 2 inch piece of slag from the Ionics Brine Distillation plant' fire that handled all the site's process waters, was installed during the 1990's, and was rated to remove LLRW.  He was not helpful, gave no new information, and maintained the status quo for the EPA.  Meanwhile, Puga was picking other stuff off the ground in buildings and handing it to me to "save". You know that our wind picks up late afternoon and goes full force at night.  Dust suppression "to control dust generated during the movement of stack concrete materials to the onsite landfill." will be of no help to us.  The dust can be tasted in the air and people need dust masks.  Good rated dust masks.  Handed out for free by our Public Health Dept.  Oops.  We do not have a public health dept. as of 3 years ago.  What shall we do -- ask our government for help?  Ask our medical community?  Ask our community leading citizens? (quote: "this site is perfect for infill"  "is a valuable piece of real estate" "do not worry, the smoke stayed in the valley". Thank you for writing but your response is hardly reassuring after the eight years I have put into trying to get actual scientific samples and real data from our government. IF YOU WANT MY CONFIDENCE then release all the invoices listed by invoice number in the 1998 73 page EPA US D.O.J. confidential for settlement purposes only document.  I was promised copies.   I am still waiting, years later.  I wonder why there is such resistance to releasing what is Public Information (once the invoice numbers were released in a public document, they became public information).  Release a full metals analysis (like the one on my blog site done by a local citizen on his attic dust) on the sludge sent from the Asarco El Paso main circulation pond to the dump in Robstown TX for disposal in 2006.  Answer the questions submitted by the children of Anapra N.M. regarding Asarco El Paso to the N.M. Governor/Ron Curry. You know that this site, even more than East Helena MT should be a Superfund Site, to be protective of public health and drinking water. Sincerely, Heather Mcmurray, m.s. biological sciences, certified science teacher -----Original Message-----  From: "Sanchez, Carlos"  Sent: Apr 15, 2013 2:39 PM To: "heamc@earthlink.net"  Cc: "Gray, David" , "Fisher, Charles" , "Edlund, Carl" , "Phillips, Pam" , "Meyer, John" , "Anderson, Israel"  Subject: El Paso Demolition Ms McMurray, I am sending to you information regarding the testing of the ASARCO stack conducted prior to demolition.  Additional stack testing will be conducted prior to placement of the concrete materials in the onsite cell. Also, dust samples collected during demolition activities will be tested.  As soon as that information is available, we will provide it to you. During the handling of demolition materials, dust suppression methods, in accordance with the site workplan, will be used to control dust generated during the movement of stack concrete materials to the onsite landfill.  CAS Carlos A. Sanchez Chief, Ark/Tx Section (6SF-RA) Superfund Division 214-665-8507 sanchez.carlos@epa.gov