Letter sent to newspaper about Asarco hazards

"Asarco hazards

What is wrong with our elected officials? City, state and federal. Asarco's long history of polluting our city did not go away because it is not re-opening. Those same pollutants remain.

The EPA and our own congressman's investigation proves they were illegally disposing toxic chemicals for profit. The trustee, state senator and our city officials are proceeding with plans for the future. Nothing wrong with progress when done honestly -- a power-washing will not rid these toxins.

First, they must test for the illegal toxins and incinerated chemicals that took place for almost 10 years. Ten years of contaminating our drinking and irrigation water. Our water remains contaminated, more so around the plant. With the rains breaking records, it concerns me what we are being exposed to.

Asarco shut down, but the dangers remain in the shadows of this dirty, smelly contaminated location. As per the trustee, the clean-up will be that for industrial use, not nearly for any population use. Power-washing? What an insult and not funny in the slightest sense. So what happens to the kids of Anapra and Sunland Park? They don't count?

Carlos Rodriguez
East El Paso"
http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_14916023

"Asarco Sues EPA To Nix $34M Superfund Claims"

" Law360, New York (April 19, 2010) -- Asarco LLC is suing the U.S. government to scratch $33.6 million in claims the reorganized mining giant maintains have been wrongly and tardily imposed in connection with the cleanup of a Superfund site in California.

The complaint, lodged April 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, claims Asarco doesn’t owe a penny for vast contamination at the Blue Ledge Mine..."

http://environmental.law360.com/registrations/user_registration?article_id=162611&concurrency_check=false