Baker Botts makes 100 Mil while Mexican American community gets around 52 Mil for clean-up...

[note:  for a (primarily Mexican-American) community of 742,062 people (not counting Sunland Park N.M., or Cd Juarez), that comes to Asarco being willing to pay less than 74$ a head to make sure that each person in El Paso has clean air and water from 110 years of smelting....]

Baker Botts Hits $100 Million Mark in Asarco Bankruptcy by Brian Baxter
.... "The final closing argument on the confirmation hearing was today and we expect a ruling from the judge on Monday."
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202433446608#

Baker Botts lists offices in:

Dubai
Austin
Bejing
Dallas
Abu Dhabi
Hong Kong
Houston
London
Moscow
New York
Palo Alto
Riyadh
Washington (D.C.)
http://www.bakerbotts.com/about/

Arcelor Mittal who took over the old Border Steel plant.... now plans to restart two furnaces in USA

"UPDATE 1-Furnace restarts signal US steel industry rebound
Thursday August 20, 2009 03:06:21 PM GMT

USA-STEEL/ (UPDATE 1)
* ArcelorMittal to restart two U.S. furnaces"
http://www.forexyard.com/en/reuters_inner.tpl?action=2009-08-20T210615Z_01_N20536727_RTRIDST_0_USA-STEEL-UPDATE-1

(do a search in this blog for "Arcelor Mittal")

"Mexico Peso slips; Grupo Mexico up on Asarco bets"

The USA wants Mexico's Oil and petroleum/natural-gas exploration/equipment contracts; and, Mexico wants to ship goods to that 300-mile-wide "magic" NAFTA-consumer-zone along the USA eastern seaboard....

Incredible buying power along the USA eastern seaboard.  Trade Companies world-wide aim shipments toward that population...

Meanwhile, El Paso Texas sits in the middle of it - the nexus and the center of it -- and to pull this all off the powers-that-be have to ignore the EPA-Federal DOJ confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only document that tells the tale about how Asarco burned unmanifested (secret) toxic-waste for years to make $$$ --- from both military and industrial sources.

(see NYTimes front-page article)

Coincidentally, Carlye owns 20% of Grupo Mexico (which controls Ferromex/UP railroad), Carlyle controls all of the CSX railroad along the USA eastern seaboard, and a former high-level executive for the guy who created the 1st planned international city that all this rail will go through (next to ASARCO El Paso) now is in charge of the Carlyle USA Realty group.  (use this blog's search engine to look for "Carlyle")

Google News Alert for: asarco

Mexican peso slips; Grupo Mexico up on Asarco bets Reuters MXX rose 0.40 percent, lifted by a gain in shares of Grupo Mexico on bets it could win control of bankrupt copper miner Asarco LLC. ... See all stories on this topic

"MEXICO CITY, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Mexico's peso slipped on Friday, as data on U.S. consumers added to worries of a sluggish recovery in the United States, Mexico's top trading partner...The IPC stock index .MXX rose 0.40 percent, lifted by a gain in shares of Grupo Mexico on bets it could win control of bankrupt copper miner Asarco LLC....Mexico sends more than 80 percent of its exports to the United States and a rebound in U.S. consumer demand is key to spur a recovery for Mexico from its deepest recession since the 1930s...."

"Asarco has paid $241,316,423 to professionals working on the bankruptcy case" (@ One Quarter of a Billion dollars)

and the community fighting for its health?  3 people have been fired/non-renewed for their research and support against Asarco contamination of our drinking water, and others have experienced concurrent apparent retaliations.  Asarco paid the El Paso City Schools less than $25,000 for the contamination of our children's schools in the settlement (see recent El Paso Times Asarco article).

Google News Alert for: asarco

Arizona Daily Star There's huge money for attorneys in Asarco bankruptcy Arizona Daily Star Asarco LLC, the Tucson-based copper producer, hired an elite Houston law firm, Baker Botts, for its bankruptcy case. Baker Botts, in turn has assembled a ... See all stories on this topic

"From August 2005, when Asarco made its bankruptcy filing through July 31 this year, Asarco has paid Baker Botts $102.2 million in legal fees. ...They include Navigant Consulting, which has received $10.7 million for its “advisory services,” and Recon Real Estate Consultants, which has been paid $1.5 million. .... remember that all these payments are approved by the bankruptcy judge."

NO MENTION OF THE YEARS OF SECRET TOXIC WASTE

"In contrast, the United Steelworkers of America have threatened to strike Asarco if Grupo Mexico should take back control of the company, and Kinzie said the parent's proposal will leave Grupo Mexico dangerously short on available cash.

Asarco also noted its plan has the backing of bondholders [HARBINGER, CITIGROUP] , the unsecured creditors committee, and its largest creditor, the U.S. government, which holds more than $1 billion in environmental claims.[...while the EPA and the DOJ continue to IGNORE the DOJ and EPA's OWN now-public evidence that Asarco secretly incinerated military and industrial unmanifested-wastes for years, for money] "

Google News Alert for: asarco

The Daily Docket: Creditors Seek Tribune Probe Wall Street Journal Blogs The future of Asarco LLC rests in the hands of a Texas bankruptcy judge after a two-week long confirmation hearing in the Arizona mining company's case drew ... See all stories on this topic

Asarco Attorney (also represented a client once whose President now runs AIG) argues for due process of law

Ironically, the El Paso Community has been asking for due process of law regarding the contamination left by years of Asarco secret-toxic waste burning ....  will Grupo Mexico get "due process" while the Court ignores this community and ignores its evidence??  

Google News Alert for: asarco

Grupo México is Confident Its Reorganization Plan for ASARCO Will ... Business Wire (press release) (AMC), is entitled under applicable US law to retain control of its wholly owned subsidiary ASARCO through the full payment plan offered to creditors on ... See all stories on this topic

"AMC attorney Robert Moore [do a search on his name in the blog's search-engine] presented the company’s final arguments to U.S. Judge Richard Schmidt of the Corpus Christi Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday, arguing that GMEXICO’s offer to pay the ASARCO creditors $2.2 billion in cash represented a full and fair offer, and one that meets the necessary legal obligations to retain ownership of the company. ...“Our view is that we're facing what in my view is a constitutional level issue,” Mr. Moore argued in his closing statement. “It's an issue of due process. It's an issue of unfair taking."

Asarco contamination of the Hueco Bolson

What we know now is that during those years of El Paso-secret-toxic-waste-incineration ASARCO dumped stuff to the waste water (Sewage) plant and then that water was treated and sent out throughout the city as "purple pipe" water to our schools, parks, and golf courses -- potentially exposing anyone who uses those to the secret undeclared toxic-wastes.   (Anyone who loves to golf could possibly be exposed, also, for example).  That purple pipe water was also injected into the Hueco Bolson.   This may likely be why the EPA mainly-sampled these grassy-areas when they came out here in 2001 - and, the EPA are still not telling us what poisons ASARCO's secret-years left here.  But years later the powers-that-be  built a Hueco Bolson desal plant capable of removing 99% of toxins from the water (and the rest is deep-well injected 20 miles away on Military Property).

Why is there NO Dioxin data available?  Just shameful that this Mexican-American community cannot get basic-chemical information that communities up north have (see Mother Jone's recent issue about Dioxin Dorms).   And also shameful that several of us have been fired/non-renewed for asking about this water contamination.  This community should be the first to support anyone who wants to support Mexican-American community's Right-To-Know.

ASARCO records RECORD PROFITS

Google News Alert for: asarco

July profits 2nd-best of '09 for Asarco Arizona Daily Star The Tucson-based Asarco LLC copper company reported Wednesday that it made an $11.2 million profit in July as it moved toward exiting bankruptcy. ... See all stories on this topic

"July was Asarco's second-best month of the year, after March's $20.4 million net income, the filing says. Since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2005, Asarco has recorded profits totaling $1.1 billion."

Bank associated with ASARCO bonds (Citigroup) Energy Trader payday in Oil price speculation...

Citigroup's Oil Trader's $100,000,000 Payday: A Wakeup Call for the Nation

"WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A BANK DOING IN THE OIL TRADING BUSINESS?!"

Google "Citigroup" in search engine for epgtlo.blogspot.com and also google "PEMEX"

WHY ARE THE DOJ and the EPA allowing this Asarco bankruptcy fraud to continue

THE BANKRUPTCY COURT FAILS TO CONSIDER THE SECRET and ILLEGAL TOXIC WASTE that the EPA told the Federal DOJ THAT ASARCO BURNED FOR YEARS in EL Paso TX and E. Helena MT.

Both military and industrial unmanifested-wastes were burned for years to make money, the EPA told the DOJ.

So WHY ARE THE DOJ and the EPA allowing this fraud to continue, and acting as if this now-public document is still secret!??   Why aren't we being told what chemicals are left in our community from the years of secret activity??

WHY HASN'T THE DOJ BANKRUPTCY TRUSTEE TAKEN ACTION and why is this fraud allowed to continue?  The Bankruptcy court has not considered this toxic-waste when looking at all the liabilities this company has....

Asarco LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 05-21207

People vary widely in ability to eliminate arsenic from the body

People vary widely in ability to eliminate arsenic from the body

Public release date: 26-Aug-2009


Contact: Michael Woods
m_woods@acs.org
202-872-6293
American Chemical Society

Large variations exist in peoples' ability to eliminate arsenic from the body, according to a new study that questions existing standards for evaluating the human health risks from the potentially toxic substance. The study found that some people eliminate more than 90 percent of the arsenic consumed in the diet. Others store arsenic in their bodies, where it can have harmful effects. The research, based on the first application of new methods for studying arsenic, is scheduled for the Sept. 21 issue of ACS's Chemical Research in Toxicology, a monthly journal.

In the study, Kevin Francesconi and colleagues point out that drinking water in many parts of the world, including some regions of the United States, contain amounts of arsenic that exceed the World Health Organization's maximum acceptable levels. Consumption of seafood, the article notes, is another major source of arsenic contamination. Health effects from chronic arsenic exposure include skin and internal cancers, cardiovascular disease, and possibly diabetes, it adds.

The scientists describe monitoring arsenic excretion in the urine of human volunteers. They found that ability to eliminate arsenic from the body varied greatly, with some participants excreting up to 95 percent of the ingested arsenic but others eliminating as little as four percent. "This observed individual variability in handling [arsenic] exposure has considerable implications for the risk assessment of arsenic ingestion," the paper states. It adds that further study is needed to assess potential risks to humans consuming seafood products. "The data presented here suggest that the long held view that seafood arsenic is harmless because it is present mainly as organoarsenic compounds needs to be reassessed."

###

ARTICLE #2 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Individual Variability in the Human Metabolism of an Arsenic-Containing Carbohydrate, 2',3'-Dihydroxypropyl 5-deoxy-5-dimethylarsinoyl-ß-D-riboside, a Naturally Occurring Arsenical in Seafood"

DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT ARTICLE:
http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/tx900158h


CONTACT:
Kevin Francesconi, Ph.D.
Karl-Franzens University Graz
Graz, Austria
Phone: 43 316 380 5301
Email: kevin.francesconi@uni-graz.at

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/acs-pvw082609.php#

posted by





Deborah Elaine Barrie
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El Paso Times fails to mention secret toxic waste from ASARCO or even the bankruptcy fraud...

El Paso Times fails to mention the EPA confidential for settlement purposes only ASARCO document to the DOJ that showed ASARCO burned secret military and industrial wastes for YEARS; and, that was covered by the NYTimes in a front page story.    The principle-bondholder for ASARCO several months later threw $500,000 million dollars at the NYTIMES in an attempt to win control of the board/seats-on-the-board.

The Bankruptcy court is ignoring the liabilities of this secret toxic waste, and and acts as if this now-public document is still secret.

Shame on the El Paso Times for failing to cover the bankrupcty fraud or even mentioning the secret years of secret-waste-burnings.

Google News Alert for: asarco

Asarco claims surpassed $15M Trading Markets (press release) The city of El Paso, the El Paso Independent School District, Alberto Pacheco and former Asarco employee Danny Arellano filed the biggest claims. ... See all stories on this topic

Consent Decree about DUPONT--- EPA and DOJ

http://micahsmission.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html
<cid:part1.09050308.09050903@gmail.com>

Auction of Asarco likely

My Business Writings: Stalemate over Asarco bid; auction likely ...  (blog post by Dipesh Dipu in Hyderabad, Andhrapradesh, India)

“There does not seem to be an easy end to this and the deal seems to be heading to an auction-like situation,”said PwC principal consultant Dipesh Dipu. .....US-based Harbinger Capital, which was also in the race to acquire Asarco, has already withdrawn its $500-million offer and is reported to be supporting Sterlite's bid. Meanwhile, Vedanta has already claimed that its bid for Asarco is being backed by the US government and the trade union...."

Harbinger is the company that threw 1/2 billion dollars at the New York Times to try to win control of its board months after the NYTimes broke a front-page story releasing a formerly secret EPA-DOJ Asarco confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only document in which the EPA stated ASARCO El Paso (and E. Helena MT) had secretly burned toxic wastes for profit for years.     The Bankruptcy court and the DOJ Trustee have not brought this now public document to the table to discuss the liabilities for this toxic waste incineration.    The EPA ignores the toxic waste and has not reported what has been left here in the communities from the years of secret military/industrial waste burning.  Yet this document is NOW PUBLIC and we know what happened.   Grupo Mexico sat on Asarco's board during the years this occurred.

This is a fraud on a massive scale.

No one wants to discuss the toxic wastes, yet there is an arsenic plume moving beneath the ASARCO El Paso smelter with levels 32,000 times and 6200 times the legal limit for groundwater right toward the Rio Grande --- and God only knows what else is in that water from the years of the illegal activities.

The Federal State Department (3/05) wrote that its workers at American Dam next to Asarco El Paso can't get independent medical review IN THE ENTIRE REGION.

So, we know that the wastes were secretly burned.  We know that federal workers at the epicenter of the incineration can't get independent medical review.  And, we know that this is all being ignored and covered up so that even the Asarco Bankruptcy court is not required to talk about it.

And we know that the first (of many) planned international city of San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa (and the connecting international rail, and keystone maquiladoras like Foxconn (maker of the iPhone)) could not easily-move-forward without ignoring the illegal secret toxic wastes in the 15-mile zone around this 110 year old Smelter.....

This is the Environmental Justice sacrifice zone from Hell. 

This "zone" is the most competitive zone anywhere in North and South America and this region routes products to the most active-consumers on the planet --- the 300 mile-wide "zone" along the USA eastern seaboard.

All we want to know (and the La Paz Accord Joint Advisory Committee's international Resolution agrees) are what chemicals have been left in our community from the illegal activities of the ASARCO El Paso smelter??

"Sterlite ups Asarco bid by $500 m" and Asbestos Creditors have a put-option ("bet") in place

Mumbai, Aug 20

"...The revised bid will be $2.1 billion in cash. While there is an increase in the cash consideration, Sterlite will receive about 72.5 per cent interest in the Litigation Trust, to be set up by the ‘Debtors in Possession’ (Asarco), at the closing of the transaction consequent to a US court judgment against Americas Mining Corporation, the company said.   The nine-year copper price participation note of $207.9 million and a put option granted to the Asbestos creditors against their share of 27 per cent litigation interest remain unchanged.   The move follows Grupo Mexico announcement that it would raise its offer to $2.2 billion in cash, in addition to a $280 million note, an increase of about $500 million over its previous offer..."

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/08/21/stories/2009082152180100.htm

Possible striking workers

Google News Alert for: asarco

Grupo Mexico Says It Hasn't Prepared for Steelworkers Strike Bloomberg The United Steelworkers of America union had said it would order a strike if Grupo Mexico takes back control of Asarco LLC without first negotiating a new ... See all stories on this topic

---

Beryllium

Protection didn't work

"Protection didn't work. So 25 workers poisoned by beryllium now risk death. (

image) David Sanders, The Arizona Daily Star Two don protective clothing, ..."
www.azstarnet.com/beryllium/0509n14.html

"Panama Canal Project Gets Surety Bond"

This is the project that is going head-to-head with the Punta Colonet seaport project that Grupo Mexico (Carlyle owns 20%) wants to win-a-bid for --- Grupo Mexico wants to win a 50 year lease to run the seaport and also to run the freight along its Ferromex/UP rail line up through Santa Teresa less than 15 miles from the ASARCO El PASO Toxic waste site...

"by admin on August 19, 2009

In conjunction with the projects broker Marsh Zurichs Surety Credit and Political Risk group is providing a surety bond for the Panama Canal expansion project one of the largest projects ever bonded by Zurich More here: Panama Canal Project Gets Surety Bond http://institutionalpartners.com/2009/08/panama-canal-project-gets-surety-bond/"

SAIC - the company that did the EPA testing for ASARCO EL PASO TEXAS in the 1990's when the TCEQ said this kind of testing was "outside their [the TCEQ's] jurisdiction"

http://www.pr-inside.com/print1409455.htm

"2009-07-27 18:47:07 - An investigation on behalf of former and current employees, who participated in the company plan of SAIC, Inc in regards to a lawsuit by a former employee, later joined by the Department of Justice alleging SAIC rigged $3.2B contract – The contract was awarded to SAIC in April 2004 and Galloway's company Applied Enterprise Solutions became a subcontractor for SAIC, according to the suit. According to the government, in October 2006, after being notified of Department of Justice's investigation, Adamec put all of his office documents relating to the NCCIPS in burn bags and gave instructions to his staff to do the same. The government claims he also instructed Knesel to have the hard drive and all backup disks to his computer destroyed."

Industrial outgassing hurting our oceans