Blog shown in web view. Mrs. Mcmurray 's obtained proof Asarco smelter poisoned El Paso TX through what the EPA & US DOJ said was illegal burning of illegal hazardous/radioactive wastes 1991-98. (see 73 page 1998 conf. for settlement purposes only DOJ EPA Asarco doc,10/06 nytimes) We have never been told what actinides, forever chemicals, dioxins etc are present from illegal Asarco actions.
Hafnium
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Someone is making money... while the children of the Paso del Norte pay the costs of the Toxic pollution through Medicaid
A retired ASARCO supervisor told me that his only regret was watching the children playing outside in the dirt in the yards near the Asarco site and his fears for their health.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125266583730602707.html#
"Vendata makes fresh bid for ASARCO"
11-September-09
"BY DAVID MCLAUGHLIN Vedanta Resources PLC made a renewed bid to buy Asarco LLC out of bankruptcy, raising its offer to $2.56 billion ....Asarco said in court documents filed Thursday night that India-based Vedanta has agreed to pay $2.56 billion in cash to take Asarco out of bankruptcy, up from an earlier offer of about $2.29 billion. The new offer comes after a Texas judge recommended last week that Vedanta's offer should be rejected and that Asarco's assets should go to its parent, Grupo Mexico...."
Friday, September 11, 2009
Child born with missing bones, facial deformities and heart defect
[Westside El Paso] "....Lopez's daughter Danika was born in February 2006 with myriad health problems. She has Goldenhar syndrome, a congenital condition that causes facial deformities and also affected her heart. She has lung problems and was born without several body parts, including fingers, an ear and the bones of one forearm.
Danika spent the first 80 days of her life in a hospital, mostly in intensive care. Her parents' insurance covered her medical costs for a while, but it was maxed out at $5 million when she was about 2...."
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_13280354
" "We've also seen a lot of what is known as 'Goldenhar Syndrome,' that is where there is a missing left eye and left ear. It's very strange. A lot of people believe this has something to do with the radiological problem related to the use [in IRAQ] of depleted uranium [a radioactive isotope].""
http://nucnews.net/nucnews/2003nn/0307nn/030703nn.htm
ASARCO El Paso was shut down in February of 1999 after the EPA registered the highest Beta-radiation levels in the USA in El Paso in 1998 (we are assured that these readings mean nothing by the EPA, and that we are safe). Four months before the shut-down the TCEQ decided to deny the nuclear-dump-license for the Sierra Blanca site just about 80 miles from El Paso, after press/media events reached international levels.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The Paso del Norte: paying Asarco clean-up dollars out of your pocket and mine...
"On May 27, 2004 the El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board (PSB) promised DOD that PSB would build the world's largest inland desalination plant on Fort Bliss property to allow Fort Bliss to keep its existing wells in reserve as a strategic buffer"
AND ALL THAT TIME THE FEDERAL DEPT. OF JUSTICE, THE EPA, THE TCEQ and ASARCO KNEW THAT ASARCO HAD CONTAMINATED THE HUECO BOLSON AND THE RIO GRANDE; and, that ASARCO had signed onto a 1998 confidential settlement admitting it had burned secret illegal (and unknown) toxic wastes for profit for years. In exchange, Rep. Reyes later said, Asarco paid millions on condition that the details of what it had done would never be revealed to the community.
Some of that secret waste was military waste; and, now the desal plant that would remove 99% of the contaminants from the Hueco-Bolson-water was being built -- and, the contaminants piped over 20 miles N.E. to deep-well-injection sites on Fort Bliss property.
What exactly did Asarco burn? And what exactly did they contaminate the Hueco Bolson with and in what amounts? Why were we never told? And now, to add insult to injury, the Taxpayer will foot the bill to remove ASARCO toxic wastes from the Hueco Bolson water? (Asarco had dumped chemicals offsite to the sewage plant(s) for years, and then the water was treated as purple-pipe water to re-inject into the Hueco Bolson aquifer to replenish it.)
"May 13, 2005....the PSB General Manager signed an agreement to build the desalination plant on Fort Bliss property.(3) The agreement guaranteed PSB nothing in return."... "On Aug. 18, 2009, PSB announced plans to execute an easement, water supply contract (4) and water purchase contract (5) with Fort Bliss. If Fort Bliss does not pay its fair share of costs, El Paso citizens will be forced to make up the difference. The easement, water supply contract and water purchase contract could cost El Paso citizens as much as $930 million."
ASARCO EL PASO will pay only 52 million dollars to the community for clean-up of its site, under the Corpus Christi Bankruptcy court that is ignoring the liabilities from ASARCO EL PASO's illegal activities (the DOJ Bankruptcy Trustee and the Court are ignoring that the DOJ made PUBLIC the 1998 EPA-DOJ Asarco confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only-document).
"building a border fence is to build an economic platform" and the folks wanting this to happen have been planning for this "model" for years
Quote (see below): "The option to building a border fence is to build an economic platform which both creates economic and national security in urban cities..."
"But first we start with a question: What is the option to not building the exiting fence? Or is there another option?
bordercommerce.com would answer to this question with the following.
The option to building a border fence is to build an economic platform which both creates economic and national security in urban cities. When the levee is not proving flood protection, then it should also be used in an economic fashion. As part of the re-construction of the levee, which would mean a small height increase and creating a usable deck upon which it will become the foundation for economic development between El Paso and Cd. Juarez for all the approximately 20 miles of border they share.
Investment in this new levee with a deck, connections to this deck, development and / or re-development along these connections, personal ports of entry using this new deck are parts of what will become the new paradigm of securing our border urban cities [i.e "plural"] and creating economic activity to sustain this security.
This is how we answer the question above.
What about Asarco?
Well it is near this three state, two nation focal point where this new vision of the border can begin. Asarco, its land near the river and across the freeway towards Executive drive and bounded by UTEP as well, just happens to be between that area.
Monday, September 7, 2009
puerto de guaymas and Arizona rail route : What you aren't being told in the Paso del Norte
The Ferromex line [yellow] travels to Nogales and Naco. The dark blue line is the UP Railroad (east-west) Sunset Line. UP Railroad is the one that presently goes through the ASARCO contaminated site in El Paso Texas, and that uses crushed slag for ballast on its rails as far away as at least Alpine. UP is presently continuing on its plans for a fuel tank farm and intermodal loading/offloading ramp at the Santa Teresa Airport -- within the 15 mile zone of contamination from the ASARCO stacks....
"It was published in the Official Newspaper of the federation, the Rules of General Character in the matter of Foreign trade 2009, where the multimodal runner Guaymas-Mexicali gets up itself officially. Day 29 of April of this year, left published in the Official Newspaper of the federation, the Rules of General Character in the matter of Foreign trade 2009, where the multimodal runner Guaymas-Mexicali within the Agreement of Agreement for the Development of Multimodal Runners of the country gets up itself officially, supported in article 131 of the Customs Law, will be able to be promoted the international transit by railroad between the customs of Guaymas and running present Mexicali.El multimodal Guaymas-Arizona during the period of January-December of the 2008 registered a movement of 220.000 tons of merchandise in traffic of international transit, which is equivalent to a 206% of increase with respect to previous the immediate year."
(babelfish online translation) http://www.puertodeguaymas.com/noticias/12-notas-del-puerto/96-nuevo-corredor-multimodal-guaymas-mexicali- (see map above, from this weblink)
"In late 2008, the Puerto de Guaymas announced its plan to construct a new container terminal with capacity to handle more than 100 thousand container a year. The terminal will focus on traffic with the US’s southwestern markets and regional markets in Mexico."
Arcelor Mittal (Mexico plant) is providing the steel. This is the company that bought the Border Steel tiny plant just north of El Paso TX, about 30 miles away -- which may still put it in the contamination zone from Asarco.
"ARCELOR MITTAL starts operations on Puerto de Guaymas "
Arcelor Mittal is the company that bought the tiny "Border Steel" plant just up Inter-State Highway I10 from El Paso, TX. Arcelor Mittal has a bad environmental-reputation.
http://www.puertodeguaymas.com/home-interior?task=view
Sunday, September 6, 2009
"The Perfect Storm at the NAFTA Institute"
http://www.discussdac.com/blog/tag/economy/
"There’s a perfect storm brewing in and around southern Dona Ana County.
While much of the storm is off in the future, when combined with current conditions it will permanently transform Dona Ana County’s economy.
Specifically I’m talking about the following:
- The Santa Teresa International Border Crossing
- The Dona Ana County International Airport
- Access to I-10 and I-25
- The relocation and expansion of Union Pacific’s railroad station
- What will be one of the largest electronic manufacturing campuses in the world [FOXCONN]
- And a new port in northern Baja
Considering the dramatic affect that this list will have on our future, we need to be very aware of what is currently happening and where we are going.
Punta Colonet
Located in northern Baja, this new port will become to Mexico what the New York and New Jersey port is to the United States. In other words, this port will be massive.[Grupo Mexico is bidding on the 50 year contract to run the port and run the rail to Santa Teresa]
While it may seem logical that a port of this size would look to enter the U.S. at the closest international border crossing, southern California’s congestion and the strategic location of Santa Teresa may make it more efficient right here.
So what do they see in southern Dona Ana County?
Union Pacific
Union Pacific is relocating its fueling station out of downtown El Paso and into Santa Teresa with plans on expanding into a block swap and inter-modal station [the station's planning is done, the BLM land swap with N.M. is done, and the next step is for N.M. to "auction the land" off (i.e. to U.P.)]
Why does this matter? It matters because it will make railroad trade coming out of this area more efficient. The railroad will someday be able to avoid both downtown El Paso and downtown Juarez, and the open land offers room for growth and minimal utility conflicts.
Our location is currently the northern end of the Sunset Line which starts in San Diego. The route then opens up to the north, east and southeast. When you factor in the interstates, the international airport and the border into the equation, Santa Teresa could become one of the most efficient locations to start your trade in the United States.
Foxconn
The world’s largest manufacturer of electronics sees the potential for profit here.
In fact, they have invested in 240 hectors west of Juarez where they’re planning a manufacturing campus complete with dormitories, restaurants and recreation areas. They are planning to employ 10k employees in the next 2 years, and word on the street is they are looking to employ 30k in the long run. By the end of their first year they will already employ over 5k.
Where are we going?
When you combine the expansions of these companies into Dona Ana County with the airport, the border crossing, and the interstates you get something that exists nowhere else in the United States or Mexico. It truly is the perfect storm for the future of U.S./Mexico trade. [and it is being built within the 15 mile toxic-zone of ASARCO's stacks, without *anyone* declaring what the decade of illegal secret military/industrial waste-burning left in the Paso del Norte...and, without any effort to clean up dioxins, pcb's, polonium (radioactive lead), actinides (radioactive), etc.]
As manufactures look for the most efficient place to produce and distribute to the U.S. the Juarez/Santa Teresa area is destined to be at the top of the list.
To make this work we need to pay more attention to security on the border and consider more self imposed security measures. We also can’t forget that there are legitimate concerns with NAFTA in the United States, and we cannot ignore that manufacturers choose Mexico for its cheap labor.
While I am not about to enter into a lengthy examination of the pros and cons of NAFT in this article, it seems like only yesterday (actually 1998-1999) that I was studying the affects of NAFTA with Neil Harvey at New Mexico State University. Funny the way it is that today I am continuing to study this from a more unique position.
Dona Ana County's Role
And from my position today I’m looking at what Dona Ana County can do to benefit. Most pressing is the need for the county and Sunland Park to step up the efforts to finalize the utility and land management organization that will serve Santa Teresa.
In addition, the county needs to coordinate with other organizations. They include the New Mexico Department of Economic Development, the New Mexico Border Authority, the International Business Accelerator and the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance (among others).
Together we need to continue to recruit and market ourselves to the industries that are looking for a U.S. base of operations. And we need to be prepared to offer housing and commercial space for companies looking to work on the U.S. side of the border.
To succeed it will take the hard work of each organization listed above and we all need to be committed to finding the right way to benefit from our unique position in this perfect storm."
[reprinted for fair use]
El Paso Inc. Feb. 11 2007 "letter-to-the-Editor"
Dear Mr. Fenton,
Thank you for the article and photo about the repair of the old upper
American canal's broken panel, showing the Jobe Concrete truck pouring
cement for the new panel, near the American Dam (established by
International Treaty for the delivery of waters to Mexico and the USA).
http://www.elpasoinc.com/showArticle.asp?articleId=971
We know from the IBWC's reports that 24 million dollars worth of
hazardous waste is in the soil beneath those panels right there. Some
of it is odorless and tasteless. We know from the EPWU's water reports
above and below that buckled-panel that it is leaking into that water
still flowing past the feet of those men, who are now exposed to it.
Those men are not wearing masks, most are not wearing gloves -- no one
is wearing white environmental suits. Some of those men will wash their
clothes at home or in commercial laundromats, and family members (maybe
pregnant wives or growing kids) will handle the contaminated clothing.
We know that between mid-March and mid-October that El Paso will get its
drinking water from this canal; and, that contamination still leaks
through the old-joints and the weep-holes into the canal where
ground-water touches the liner. The contamination will pass along over
70 miles of agricultural irrigation canal. The farmland below Asarco
has been called an "arsenic time-bomb" in at least one research paper.
Our community knows that Asarco burned illegal hazardous waste for
nearly a decade just a stone's throw away from this liner.
Smeltertown, in the background of this photo on the EP Inc., had 18
inches of soil removed nearly 40 years ago, for just the Pb (lead)
content alone.
The panels in that old canal were made over 70 years ago of 3 inches of
concrete laid over re-bar, just like in that photo - and layered in two
directions. They should be made of 4 inches of reinforced concrete.
This is a patch-job it appears, and the rest of the 3 miles and 400 or
so panels are still in danger of failing. The panels' failure was
predicted years ago.
The State Department in spring of '05 reviewed the various IBWC sites
and said that the employees at American Dam next to old-smeltertown were
sick, and that they were not getting independent medical review from
this region.
How long will our regulatory agencies responsible for our well-being
continue to conceal its conflicts of interests from this community and
pass along the responsibilities to the next generation---
"pass-the-buck", in cancers, lead exposure, arsenic trioxides and
actinide exposures?
Thursday, September 3, 2009
[91 year old] former ASARCO worker sees no harm
"El Paso Times Staff Posted: 09/01/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT --- Former worker sees no Asarco harm
After reading and hearing so much about Asarco, and how it supposedly has caused severe medical conditions for some individuals, I would like to go on record with a different perspective. I began working at Asarco in 1937, interrupted my career to join the Army during World War II, and upon my return gladly resumed my duties there. With combat experience and all, plus almost 42 years of service to Asarco, I can honestly say I have never had health problems that my doctors or I believe were as a direct or indirect result from my time with Asarco. Indeed, as I hopefully turn 91 in a couple of weeks, I can further state with a great deal of certainty that my long, on-site exposure to Asarco had no impact on my physical or mental state during my tenure with it, or during my retirement.
Benjamin Sida"
Mexico stocks begin rebound now
"Mexico's IPC equity index rose 0.7% to 27,927 as investors hunted for bargains ...shares of Grupo Mexico added [3.5%] to their 14% surge from the previous session after a judge's ruling puts the company closer to regaining control of Asarco LLC, an
Market heavyweight
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djhighlights/200909021557DOWJONESDJONLINE000579.htm
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Hon Hai (Foxconn) shows record profits (So does Grupo Mexico)
— Kota Ezawa, Citigroup analyst" [Citigroup is an ASARCO principle bondholder, and Foxconn has become the anchor-maquiladora for the new international city being built within the toxic-shadow of the El Paso ASARCO smelter]
"Hon Hai, the world’s largest contract maker of electronics, gained 6.8 percent to close at NT$118.5 on the Taipei Stock Exchange, the highest level since Aug. 29 last year. The company on Monday posted its first profit increase in five quarters, beating analysts’ estimates. Second-quarter net income rose 27 percent to NT$15.1 billion (US$460 million) from a year earlier."
[both Grupo Mexico and Hon Hai are showing recent record profits. Meanwhile, the community of El Paso Texas gets @52 million to "remediate" 110 years of Asarco's legal and illegal incineration activities -- many of the remaining contamination has NOT BEEN DISCLOSED. The EPA has documentation saying that contamination is in our Rio Grande, the Hueco bolson, our soils and redistributed through our airshed.]
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2009/09/02/2003452602
FNS News: Sony Outsources Border Factory [to Foxconn in Tijuana] ASARCO Bondholder Citigroup Inc. analyst comments
Battered by multi-billion dollar losses, Sony Corp. ...announced this week it will sell a 90 percent interest in a [Tijuana/Baja] factory that manufactures LCD television screens to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.of Taiwan ...[it] will be managed by Hon Hais Foxconn division.
Foxconn, however, is among many electronics manufacturers that routinely outsource jobs to temporary employment agencies which dont pay the full range of benefits....In addition to Tijuana, Foxconn is currently expanding production activities in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua....
Sources: Frontera, September 1, 2009. Los Angeles Times/Associated Press, September 1, 2009. Juarez-El Paso Now, August 2009. Cereal report, October 2007. Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news Center for Latin American and Border Studies New Mexico State University Las Cruces,New Mexico"
see also http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2009/09/02/2003452602
"Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) will buy the stake in a liquid-crystal-display TV unit based in Tijuana, Mexico, and the unit’s manufacturing assets...The sale signals that Sony — which is cutting 16,000 jobs and has shut eight factories to revive its profitability as it heads into its first consecutive annual losses since its listing in 1958 — may eventually stop making TVs, said Kota Ezawa, an analyst at Citigroup Inc in Tokyo."
exactly how much "Caffeine" did Asarco release in the Paso del Norte?
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gRNiTtgwAEeIASdS5QDK8fH0NlQAD9AERFPO0 "Effort in NM to keep medications out of Rio GrandevBy SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN (AP) Sept 1, 2009 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico's largest water utility announced a plan Tuesday aimed at educating the public and keeping pharmaceuticals out of one of the West's most important water ways, the Rio Grande. The announcement by the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority follows a recent discovery in the Rio Grande of caffeine, which scientists often look for as a possible signal for the presence of other contaminants.[ i.e. the "canary in the mine"] An environmental group also reported earlier this summer that it found traces of pharmaceuticals in the Rio Grande Valley's irrigation system."
Grupo Mexico Attorney Firm
http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2009/09/the-bankruptcy-files-asarco-set-for-chapter-11-exit.html
For more, do a search with the blog's search engine.
and:
"Milbank is unquestionably one of the best firms around... standing in the top band nationally with Skadden, Latham, White & Case and Chadbourne. Working out of DC, NY and LA, the firm’s projects team interacts seamlessly with the London, Tokyo Hong Kong and Singapore offices on complex multijurisdictional financings, mainly on the lender side of power, mining, transportation infrastructure and oil and gas work. "
http://www.chambers-associate.com/chambers.aspx?fid=119
The Asarco Bankruptcy is only part of the story...
This city is the first of many (the model could be "sold") that could be built in the NAFTA zone from San Diego to Brownsville -- aimed toward the coveted target-market that lies within the 300 mile "zone" along our U.S.A. eastern seaboard.
Carlye owns CSX railroad along the eastern seaboard.
Grupo Mexico is hoping to bid and win on a 50 year contract to run the Port of Punta Colonet and the freight rail to this international city and its port of entry -- the north/south rail has already been arranged. UP Railroad has begun to aquire the land north of this site for its modal container platform and oil storage for its east-west Sunset line --- also within the toxic shadow of the EL Paso Asarco stacks.
- And it is all done by ignoring the illegal and secret ASARCO contamination sealed in the 1998 DOJ settlement with Asarco.
- It is all done by sacrificing the young, the elderly and infirm living in this region to the toxic waste.
- It is done by marginalizing those who seek to speak out, and eliminating their economic-base.
- It is done by sacrificing people living across from the smelter in Mexico and by sacrificing Mexican Americans in this border city.
- It is done by putting profit above health - - and profit above scruples.
- It is done by looking the other way and talking about "risk-assessment" when trying to link 110 years of smelting toxins to the health problems surrounding the stacks-of-asarco
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Who bet on Grupo Mexico? BIG gains in stock
Grupo Mexico Jumps Most in 15 Years After Asarco Unit Ruling "Bloomberg US Bankruptcy Judge Richard Schmidt yesterday sent his recommendation to a district court judge who will make the final decision on Asarco, more than five ..." |
Grupo Mexico stock surges after Asarco ruling Forbes ... "surged on Tuesday after a US judge recommended that the company be allowed to take control of US copper miner Asarco as it emerges from bankruptcy. ..." |
"Bankruptcy Court Recommends Parent Plan [Grupo Mexico] in ASARCO LLC Reorganization"
Bankruptcy Court Recommends Parent Plan in ASARCO LLC Reorganization "Reuters The judge`s recommendation proposes that the federal district court approve the parent companies` plan rather than the one filed by the debtor, ASARCO LLC ..." (google alert) |
Monday, August 31, 2009
ASARCO Montana EPA Chief dies from climbing accident Thursday August 20, two weeks after the stacks were demolished
[Montana's State EPA Chief...]"John Wardell arguably changed the landscape across Montana more than any other single person in recent times, and his death last week in a climbing accident is being mourned throughout the Treasure State....Wardell died last Thursday after tumbling down a steep mountainside in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area near Libby....Wardell also presided over most of reclamation work in ... East Helena [Asarco]. Just two weeks ago, he watched as the three Asarco smokestacks in East Helena were blown up...he mused about how he had worked on the East Helena site even before moving to Montana, and how he anticipated signing the final Record of Decision regarding the city's Superfund cleanup work.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
A careful balancing Act: Neither side willing to admit what happened in El Paso Texas...
The following is an excerpt of M. Bosque's TX Observer article http://www.voiceyourself.com/site/the_big_issues/article.php?article_id=5908&prev_id=
"....On a hot afternoon in June, the 54-year-old Larrea, one of the world's richest men, took the witness stand at the federal courthouse in Brownsville. It was the first time many of the people inside the courtroom - including attorneys on his payroll - had ever seen the reclusive Mexican billionaire. There are few available photos of Larrea and little public information about his private life. He had fought the federal subpoena compelling him to testify for days. He had finally relented and flown into Brownsville on his private jet from Mexico City earlier that morning. Security guards had banned photographers from the front steps of the courthouse. Shortly before his testimony, Larrea was whisked into the courtroom under the escort of several armed U.S. marshals, who remained on site throughout his five hours on the stand.
Seated in the witness chair, Larrea glowered at the 30 lawyers in the courtroom - representing Asarco, and Grupo Mexico - business reporters, miners, and large, moveable bookcases of evidence that had been wheeled into the room. Larrea had come to defend himself in a lawsuit alleging that he had defrauded Asarco's creditors.
The case in which Larrea was testifying is an outgrowth of the bankruptcy. When Asarco filed for Chapter 11, federal Judge Richard Schmidt removed Asarco from Larrea's control. Bankruptcy experts say this was a highly unusual move. Larrea's Grupo Mexico still technically owns the company, but no longer has any say in operations. The judge appointed a three-member independent board to oversee Asarco (the board remolded the company into an entity called Asarco LLC). The board is supposed to ensure that the company isn't deceiving several hundred creditors with unpaid contracts and asbestos claims.
Controlled by the independent board, Asarco LLC then sued its former bosses at Grupo Mexico. The lawsuit alleges that Larrea had defrauded Asarco's creditors by swiping Asarco's most valuable asset - Peru's largest copper company. The Peruvian mines' stock was worth $8.25 billion at the time the lawsuit was filed in 2007, according to court records, though Larrea transferred the mines from Asarco to a Grupo Mexico subsidiary at a grossly undervalued price, $756 million, according to the lawsuit. The suit accuses Larrea of bilking creditors out of billions of dollars. "The plaintiff contends that the sale, therefore, was not made to improve Asarco's financial position, but was solely a means for Grupo to 'cherry-pick' Asarco's most prized asset before it was lost to creditors or by bankruptcy," the suit alleges. Asarco LLC wants the value of the Peruvian company stocks returned to Asarco LLC creditors.
The lawsuit is a legal sideshow to the larger bankruptcy case. But the outcome of the lawsuit could have a huge impact. Some of the money at stake in the lawsuit over the Peruvian mines could help pay for cleanup of Asarco's environmental pollution. (The U.S. government considers the Peruvian mines a crucial asset in paying to clean up Asarco's many toxic sites.)
On this June day in Brownsville, Larrea had come to tell his side of the story. Federal Judge Andrew Hanen had to silence the courtroom before Larrea could begin his testimony. The CEO wore a conservative, well-tailored, dark blue business suit with a red tie. For such a powerful man, Larrea was surprisingly soft-spoken, answering the lawyers and judge in a hushed and barely audible, but fluent, English. Several times, the judge asked him to speak louder so that people in the back of the courtroom could hear.
Larrea repeatedly denied that his motive for purchasing Asarco was to gain control of the valuable Andean copper mines. The CEO said the decision on the mines was solely the opinion of some Asarco and Grupo Mexico officials. (U.S. marshals ensured that no journalists could get within speaking distance of the billionaire.) In a separate statement from his company, he called Asarco LLC's lawsuit "reprehensible."
His history with Asarco began in 1999, when Larrea took over as CEO of Grupo Mexico shortly after his father's death. One of his first purchases was Asarco, for $2.2 billion. [Purchased after the EPA/DOJ sealed the information about what had happened, and after the El Paso site was shut down "temporarily"] At the time, however, the once-powerful Asarco was hemorrhaging cash.
Initially, Larrea testified in Hanen's courtroom, he believed the company's growing environmental liabilities could be solved through negotiations. [What negotiations were made to get someone on the board of Asarco (Grupo Mexico) to buy it after this devastating environmental catastrophe happened -- i.e., incinerating unmanifested illegal toxic wastes from military & industrial sources for years in the heart of a community??!] "In those days, we were confident we could reach an agreement with all parties on the remediations," Larrea said. "But then the company started losing too much money on legal issues."
By 2002 [Right after the EPA came to El Paso TX to "test" in 2001, but EPA still kept the real contamination SECRET], officials in the U.S. Department of Justice worried that Asarco would sell off its most valuable asset - the Peruvian mines - and would be left with nothing to pay for its numerous environmental cleanups. The department sought an injunction to stop the sale. Negotiations between the Justice Department and Grupo Mexico labored on until the end of 2002.[Just how bad was that contamination??] Finally, Grupo agreed to fund a $100 million trust to help pay Asarco's $1 billion in environmental liabilities at the time. [Remember, there was a change-over from the Clinton Administration to the Bush Administration during this time, and that Carlyle Group now owns 20% of Grupo Mexico]
It was a good deal for Larrea. The Justice Department allowed Larrea to proceed with his sale of the lucrative Peruvian mines in exchange for paying one-tenth of Asarco's environmental cleanup costs...." [which came partially from the ASARCO company burning military wastes illegally along with whatever other unmanifested (i.e. "untracked") wastes were burned during the 1990's].
Have you had your Lead (Pb) Test today?
ASARCO's own Hydrometrics-report-map shows one place at the site where Lead is 19,000 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil. Near the Historic Smelter cemetery the map shows Lead values that are over 12,000 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil.
If 1000 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil is "nearly three times the EPA standard" then what is 12,000 or 19,000?? How about-- 36 and 57 times the EPA standard for residential -- and this dust is picked up in every dust storm and distributed around the City...
And what about Polonium (Radioactive Lead?). It is *very* commonly found around smelters and we have never been told what its levels are, here.
http://www.regionalidentity.com/the-end-of-asarco