NEWS (fyi epgtlo was not GTLO, but a subgroup run by mrs mcmurray)
"(PRN) Sham Recycling Creates Sham Decision?
By
PRNewswire
May 8, 2007
The TCEQ Executive Director's Asarco Air Permit Renewal decision ignores hidden contamination in international waters, soils and air from secret burning of toxic waste; What are elected officials, TCEQ and EPA concealing?
EL PASO, Texas, May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Representative Reyes and the GAO fail to investigate the specific incident that involved Asarco — instead, "will focus on the overall procedures and processes that DOD follows for disposing of hazardous waste that is created by military facilities and how the transport and disposal of this type of waste by the contractors is monitored and tracked."
At the base of the Asarco smelter, the International Boundary and Water Commission's (IBWC) American Dam diverts Rio Grande River water to over 70 miles of public drinking supply and irrigation canals. American Dam employees are sick, and the State Department Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recommended bringing in expert independent medical review.
The first canal travels along the Asarco ore handling staging area and chemical ponds. Representative Reyes' office calls the 9-04-06 Asarco levee collapse, spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of poisons into this drinking water, a "minor incident." El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU) reports showed elevated poisons at the Canal Street station after the event. The EPWU Canal St. plant pumps water up the Franklin Mt. and distributes it throughout El Paso.
IBWC data shows leakage of 24 million dollars worth of Asarco groundwater contamination into the canal, near where Asarco Hydrometrics consultants found groundwater arsenic levels at 35,000 [yes, 35 K] times the legal limit. Alluvial sediment beneath the Rio Grande is filled with fault lines above the international Hueco Bolson aquifer.
EPA Water officials cannot find any data for Rio Grande water tests at the smelter meant to confirm EPA data taken five years earlier, even though EPA mentioned the testing on public radio.
Asarco is sending poisons from the bottom of its ponds to TX US Ecology, the company that also manages Hanford Reservation Nuclear Waste in Washington State. A complete chemical analysis of these poisons has not been made available despite requests.
The El Paso GTLO, SPEG (Sunland Park Environmental Group), El Paso Sierra Club members and concerned groups want the Asarco Contamination exposed, the responsible officials to "step down," and correct clean-up to begin.
Contact Information:
Heather McMurray
El Paso Get the Lead Out
Sunland Park Grassroots Environmental Group
Members of the El Paso Regional Group of the Sierra Club
heamc@earthlink.net
(915) 539-3388
This release was issued through eReleases(TM). For more information, visit http://www.ereleases.com."
(After this, the teacher mrs mcmurray, m.s. biol. Sciences ---whose school's science-group-head was previous irrigation group mgr and whose school board's district head was married to present head --- was removed. No definite reason mentioned. Later the superintendent, her principal and others -- including one of the 3 people (linda) who voted against her-- were convicted of crimes. She never taught again. The SEO google engine buries the epgtlo blog and link to scribd documents so it is almost impossible to find. Had it not been for the front page nytimes story from documrnt she found, asarco would be succeeding in burying the story. As Rep. Reyes said , "Asarco paid millions on the condition that details of what it had done would never see light of day" (paraphrased). Many people in important roles (& quoted in articles) have signed non disclosure agreements, ensuring that data showing nuclear control rods were burned in smelter would never hit the news. )
