20091103 Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett) bid 34 BILLION to buy Burlington Northern Railroad

"November 3....Warren Buffett's legendary Berkshire Hathaway offered a whopping $34 billion to buy Burlington Northern Railroad.  The bid marked a 31.5% premium and was the largest acquisition in Berkshire Hathaway's history!"

quoted from Motley Fool newsletter

ASARCO?? El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board Water System - Toxic Waters - The New York Times

http://projects.nytimes.com/toxic-waters/contaminants/tx/el-paso/tx0710002-elpaso-water-utilities-public-service-board

Notice the Alpha, gross-beta and the Radium levels.

Why did the gross-beta radiation level exceed the legal limits in one sample?   Why are Alpha and Radium levels a concern?

2002 ATSDR CDC EL PASO TX study suggested that nearly 30% of children within one mile of ASARCO had elevated blood lead levels

http://shapleigh.org/system/reporting_document/file/337/ASARCO_Parcel_Acres_2.jpg
THIS IS NEAR THE NEW WALMART DEVELOPMENT AND THE MONTECILLO PLANNED DEVELOPMENT that dug off the toxic overburden (by the way -- where did they take it??).

"The distance of residence from smelter versus percentage of elevated blood lead suggests children living closer to the smelter had higher percentages of elevated blood lead test results than children living farther away from the smelter (Figures 6 and 7). Seven of the 24 children (29%) living within a mile of the smelter had elevated blood lead results (Table 4)."

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hac/PHA/elpaso2/elp_p1.html

WHEN WILL THE EPA CLEAN UP ITS OWN CORRUPTION - STARTING WITH THE ASARCO FRAUD IN EL PASO TX?!

The EPA fails to catch its own crooks - starting with why a Federal science agency (EPA) cannot even deliver DIOXIN results to the community of El Paso/Juarez/Sunland Park N.M.   SHAME EPA!

"Today's turning point coercion allotment will yield roughly a single billion dollars to purify up soiled Superfund sites," pronounced Cynthia Giles, Assistant Administrator for a EPA's Office of Enforcement as well as Compliance Assurance. "This will meant cleaner land, H2O as well as air for communities [across the] country."

http://news.furutravel.com/superior-environmental-pileruptcy-in-u-s-story-will-product-in-payment-of-1-79-invoiceion-nears-environmental-attack/

Why is there an Asarco A.G. Swiss Bank (Asarco SA, Asarco inc.) and why did our Justice System send the UBS Swiss Bank whistle blower to prison (but not the bankers?)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BT4DJ20091230

"Bradley Birkenfeld, a 44-year-old U.S. citizen, has been hailed by whistleblower advocates and U.S. prosecutors alike as pivotal to the case against UBS... targeted in a wide probe by U.S. authorities for helping U.S. tax cheats to hide assets in UBS accounts...Birkenfeld seems both angered and stunned by the fact that he is due to enter prison on January 8 for a 40-month term.

Birkenfeld was handed his sentence by a Florida district court judge in August, two days after U.S. and Swiss authorities signed a pact in which Switzerland agreed to reveal the names of about 4,450 wealthy American clients of UBS to U.S. tax investigators.

No other UBS bankers have been jailed in connection with the massive tax fraud case."

THE IRONY ABOUT ASARCO EL PASO: EPA Seeks Public Input on Interim Guidance for Dioxins in Soil Cleanup Goals

What irony -- the EPA and TCEQ have failed to disclose the amounts of dioxins around the ASARCO El Paso Plant even though it has been three years since the public-release of the EPA-DOJ Asarco confidential for settlement purposes only document that let us know ASARCO burned unmanifested wastes for profit for years.  Dioxins are extremely common around secondary smelters and copper smelters.   Yet, after YEARS of repeated requests, our community still does not have access to this basic information.  This is appalling and a serious comment on the lack of scientific integrity of our National and State Environmental protection agencies.

Dear Stakeholders / Interested Parties:

 Today [DEC-31-09]  the Agency asked the public to comment on the draft interim remediation plans for cleaning up dioxins in soil. Details are below. Be sure to read more about the draft recommended guidance and how to comment at: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/policy/remedy/sfremedy/remedies/dioxinsoil.html   Best wishes for a Happy New Year,  Bonnie Piper Office of Public Outreach Office of Public Engagement Office of the Administrator O: 202-564-7836 Fax: 202-501-1770 email:  piper.bonnie@epa.gov   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Dec. 31, 2009  EPA Seeks Public Input on Interim Guidance for Dioxins in Soil Cleanup Goals  WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today it is seeking public comment on draft interim preliminary remediation goals (PRGs) for cleanup of dioxins in soil.  Today’s announcement fulfills a commitment by EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson to announce interim cleanup goals by the end of 2009.  Dioxins are contaminants that are very widespread in the environment that have been of concern to EPA and the public health community for decades.  This action would strengthen EPA’s preliminary remediation goals at dioxin contaminated sites.  “While EPA works to complete the dioxin reassessment, this interim guidance will help us make better informed decisions on cleanup alternatives at contaminated sites,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. “We are following through on our commitment to use the best available science to help protect human health and the environment.”  Dioxins may cause a large number of different health effects, like cancer and reproductive effects. Dioxins are of concern because they are the result of combustion, and are absorbed from the air into the food chain where they can stay for many years.  Currently, EPA’s recommended dioxin PRGs are 1,000 part per trillion (ppt) for dioxin in residential soil and a level within the range of 5,000-20,000 ppt in commercial/industrial soil.  The draft interim PRGs proposed today are 72 ppt for residential land uses and 950 ppt for commercial/industrial land uses, thus lowering the amount of dioxins levels for residential land uses and commercial/industrial land uses.  In addition, the draft interim PRGs differ from the current dioxin PRGs in that they include consideration of the potential absorption of dioxin through skin exposure.  This will provide a tool for site evaluation that was not available when EPA last recommended PRGs for dioxins in soil in 1998.  In 1991, in light of significant new data on the potential human health effects of dioxins, EPA began the development of a comprehensive evaluation of exposure and human health effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), the most toxic of the group of chemicals known as dioxins, and other dioxin-like compounds. This draft dioxins assessment has been through several independent external peer reviews, the latest a 2004 review by a scientific panel convened by the National Academy of Sciences. When the EPA dioxin risk assessment is complete, it will be the agency’s scientific foundation for future decision-making about dioxins in the environment.  EPA will be taking public comment on the draft interim PRGs for 50 days following publication in the Federal Register, and anticipates issuing the final interim PRGs in June 2010.  Upon completion of the dioxins reassessment, currently expected by the end of 2010, EPA will consider the need to update the interim PRGs.  More information on the draft recommended interim PRGs and how to comment: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/policy/remedy/sfremedy/remedies/dioxinsoil.html   R401

20091230 "Obama Curbs Secrecy of Classified Documents "

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/us/politics/30secrets.html

"...President Obama declared on Tuesday that “no information may remain classified indefinitely” as part of a sweeping overhaul of the executive branch’s system for protecting classified national security information.

In an executive order and an accompanying presidential memorandum to agency heads, Mr. Obama signaled that the government should try harder to make information public if possible, including by requiring agencies to regularly review what kinds of information they classify and to eliminate any obsolete secrecy requirements.

“Agency heads shall complete on a periodic basis a comprehensive review of the agency’s classification guidance, particularly classification guides, to ensure the guidance reflects current circumstances and to identify classified information that no longer requires protection and can be declassified,” Mr. Obama wrote in the order..."

additional ASARCO El Paso information available online in an easy format

Link to Government Regulations regarding ASARCO El Paso

Google Alert - United Steel Workers last August 2009 opposed ASARCO court recommendation

The Steelworkers Union Attorneys [along with the Federal DOJ, the EPA, the TCEQ and N.M. Env. Dept.] failed to ask the Courts to look at the liabilities from ASARCO illegally burning unmanifested toxic-wastes (hazardous wastes) for years in both El Paso TX and E. Helena, MT.  WHY??!!

District Information Center | United Steelworkers USW Opposes ASARCO Bankruptcy Recommendation ... Throughout the more than four years that ASARCO has been in bankruptcy, Asarco, Inc. has been displaced ...

---

"According to Robert LaVenture, Director of USW District 12 and chairman of bargaining with ASARCO, the USW is continuing to closely analyze the bankruptcy’s court lengthy report. LaVenture stated that “the USW believes the bankruptcy court failed to deal with the Union's key argument that Grupo Mexico’s proposed plan of reorganization cannot and should not be confirmed because of its failure to reach a new labor agreement with the USW, which is an obligation found in the current collective bargaining agreement.”  LaVenture states that the Union intends to file pleadings in the district court addressing what the USW believes to be the legal and other errors in the bankruptcy court’s recommendation."

Who gamed the Bankruptcy system?

WHY DID THE ENTIRE BANKRUPTCY "SYSTEM" IGNORE THE LIABILITIES FROM what the EPA/DOJ told us (after 8 years of secrecy!) was THE ILLEGAL and SECRET BURNING OF UNMANIFESTED WASTES FOR PROFIT, incinerated over YEARS?!  Who exactly gamed the Bankruptcy system?  The owners of ASARCO or the regulators?  We have evidence that the regulators knew what happened and concealed it in 2001 from the community.  What deals have been made to sacrifice the peoples of the Paso del Norte region to this contamination, and why?!?

Why has the Asarco Bankruptcy completely ignored what was almost a decade of illegal toxic poisons spread over El Paso/Juarez/N.M. and E. Helena MT by these burnings of military and industrial unreported wastes??  

Rep. Reyes, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee said that Asarco paid MILLIONS on condition that the details of what it had done were never made public.    WHY WERE THESE POISONS NEVER MADE PUBLIC?  Why couldn't the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee make these poisons public?   Why have we never been told what these poisons are -- even after an international La Paz committee made a recommendation/resolution that the background contamination be studied and reported?!?

Google Web Alert for: Asarco

Asarco owner tried to game bankruptcy system officials say | MORE ... Dec. 27, 2009 - WASHINGTON — A 562-foot smokestack that spewed a plume of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals over 1000 square miles of Washington state's ...

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El Paso Inc article link: Asarco: cleaning the mess

http://www.elpasoinc.com/readArticle.aspx?issueid=263&xrec=4742 <cid:part1.08040803.04070307@gmail.com>

20091009 USB informant "harsher-than-expected treatment by the US Justice Department"

Prosecution of UBS informant seen backfiring on US

By Tom Brown of Reuters MIAMI - The key informant in the US tax evasion case against Swiss bank UBS AG faces prison next year, but his harsher-than-expected treatment by the US Justice Department will undermine efforts to expose secretive offshore tax havens, lawyers and whistle-blower advocates say. Bradley Birkenfeld,...

Tags: tax, UBS AG, U.S. Department Of Justice

News items 2009-10-09

Birkenfeld, the UBS Banker who exposed UBS

Whistle-blower advocates seek review of former UBS banker's treatment

"Whistle-blower advocates are asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to review the treatment of tipster Bradley C. Birkenfeld, the former UBS banker who was sentenced to 40 months in prison despite his pivotal help in the groundbreaking case against the Swiss banking giant."

Asarco A.G. Swiss Bank

WHY IS THERE A SWISS ASARCO BANK (Asarco SA, Asarco Inc) represented by a Chicago Attorney (Irving Drobny) who also represents the Royal Family of Vietnam? [see google search for this blog, "Swiss bank ASARCO"]

"Irving Drobny Attorney at Law for The Imperial Nguyen Dynasty by Appointment to The Imperial Grand Council and H.I.H. Prince Regent Nguyen Phuc Buu Chanh of Vietnam"
http://vcml.homestead.com/

BHP Billiton and Tio Tinto Joint Venture (worth a predicted excess of 10 Billion dollars)

"International mining giants, BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT, ASX: BHP) [who in 1/09 assumed 50% of Mitra's Vietnam well equity]  (‘BHP’) and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO, ASX: RIO) (‘Rio’) signed binding agreements in relation to the proposed Iron Ore Production Joint Venture (‘JV’), in the Pilbara mining district, Western Australia. This 50:50 collaboration follows years of on-off negotiations, with many previous JV’s and potential mergers falling by the way-side. BHP and Rio believe the JV’s unique production and development synergies will be in excess of US$10 billion."

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/3678/bhp-billiton-and-rio-tinto-sign-binding-agreement-to-create-iron-ore-joint-venture-3678.html

20050000 Milbank Firm and Citigroup

2005 "[Michael] Fitzgerald advised on the first Mexican equity offering to reach the international markets in almost five years. Milbank Tweed was counsel to Urbi Desarrollos Urbanos, which sold 60% of its $180 million initial public offering (IPO) under Rule 144A and Regulation S. The firm went on to advise [Asarco Principle bondholder] Citigroup and Merrill Lynch on Desarrolladora Homex's $160 million New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listing, the first Mexican company to list on the NYSE since 1999. Milbank Tweed also advised Citigroup Global Markets and Morgan Stanley on the Nasdaq portion of the TOM Online IPO." http://www.iflr1000.com/pdfs/Directories/5/United%20States%20%281027-1093%29%20i.pdf

Vietnam: Mitra Energy group completes seismic acquisition (the land was last licensed in the 1970's)...

"03 Sep 2009  ...Two wildcat exploration wells are planned for the PSC in 2010. In January 2009, Mitra farmed out 50% of its 100% equity in the PSC to BHP Billiton, while continuing to operate the PSC. Vietnamese Governmental approval of the farm-in was granted on 19th August 2009.   A consortium consisting of Mitra (40% equity and Operator), Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company 40% and Singapore Petroleum Corporation 20% was awarded the Block 19 PSC and Block 20 PSC, following the 2008 Nam Con Son Basin bid round. Each PSC covers approximately 4,500 square kilometres"....Source: Mitra Energy

20081121 Milbank firm advised Mitra Group on buyout of Indonesia's largest Petroleum driller

"SINGAPORE, November 21, 2008 –– The international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP has advised PT Mitra Rajasa Tbk (Mitra Group) on its US$638 million leveraged buyout of Indonesia's largest onshore and offshore driller, PT Apexindo Pratama Duta Tbk." http://www.milbank.com/en/NewsEvents/PressRelArchMilbank_Advises_on_US638_Million_Acquisition_Financing_of_PT+Apexindo+Pratama+Duta+TBK.htm

"Bankruptcy Border War Ends With Milbank Win For Grupo Mexico"

google alert

Bankruptcy Border War Ends With Milbank Win For Grupo Mexico A four-year bankruptcy battle for control of Asarco finally ended Wednesday when the Tucson, .... Baker Botts Hits $100 Million Mark in Asarco Bankruptcy ...

"....Michael Fitzgerald, chairman of Milbank's global securities group and Latin American practice, led a team from the firm advising Grupo Mexico on the financing side of the Asarco deal.... Haynes and Boone bankruptcy partner Charles Beckham Jr., and litigation partner Brian Antweil served as Grupo's local counsel."

GLOBE Asarco plant dirt too hazardous

Document outlining how the Denver Colorado GLOBE Asarco Plant property cannot be used for residential use EVER --- that the groundwater can never be used or the haz-waste covers disturbed.

http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/hm/covenant/pdf/HMCOV00014.pdf