The Camino Real Landfill can accept URANIUM MINING AND MILLING WASTE

There is a "however" clause hidden in the Camino Real 10-yr renewal (finalized) application that allows it to accept Uranium mining waste.

(There is a bunch of these wastes sitting up north in coyote canyon, n.m. needing disposal)

DO YOU WANT URANIUM MINING WASTE sitting on top of YOUR DRINKING WATER??

YOU GET OVER 60% OF YOUR DRINKING WATER FROM THE RIO GRANDE,
(just about 4 miles below this dump Canal Street treatment plant -- it pumps the
water up the Franklin mt, and mixes/distributes it throughout the city; and, it plans to expand and
pump it through Juarez).

Please spread the word to your friends about the danger to the Rio Grande (that dump's liners won't last forever and
the radioactivity will!!!) and what deception is going-down here in our region. That dump has already accepted demolition debris from
ASARCO in the 1990's that would have been covered with the illegal poisons from their illegal toxic-waste burning (the debris from the zinc plant demolition project that lasted years -- the "S.E.P.").

Ask what ASARCO is hiding - what poisons they burned illegally. Demand to know what our environmental
agencies are hiding from us.

Ask that the Corpus Christi Bankruptcy Court immediately release the draft of their ASARCO REORGANIZATION PLAN --
Find out what it is that they have planned for our community.

Will we be the toxic-waste disposal capital of the nation? Be involved somehow -- try to help somehow!!! This affects ALL of us!

David K. : STILL NOT TALKING ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTE

" If you've got to lie... maybe you're just wrong?

By David K
I finally got around to reading this week's El Paso Inc. and was shocked, I repeat - SHOCKED they mayor took it upon himself to lie about the findings of UTEP's report on ASARCO. Apparently he decided to make the mistake of lumping all ...
Refuse the Juice - http://refusethejuice.typepad.com/thinkaboutit/
"
why won't David K. and this community start talking about the TOXIC WASTE that ASARCO and our environmental officials are HIDING??

Waste Incineration : South Africa

---

'Clean' waste incineration sparks anger

By Leon Marshall

As Naples continued to choke on its garbage this week, with landfill sites overflowing and the army being called in to help clear the mess on the streets after violent protests, a testy meeting in Pretoria demonstrated how South Africa's own mounting rubbish problem is beginning to rack nerves.

As in the Italian city, the key question is how to get rid of the ever-growing heaps of waste being produced by our growing population and rapid industrialisation.

Egmont Otterman, reflecting the exasperation and representing the Association of Cement Producers, warned the Pretoria meeting: "We dare not procrastinate. What is happening in Naples will happen here."

The meeting was called by the department of environmental affairs (Deat) to discuss the proposed incineration of hazardous waste, which is broadly classified as waste that is harmful to human health or the environment. It includes plastics, paint, pesticides, used oil and tyres. The proposal was that the materials should be passed on to cement factories where it could be used to fuel their kilns.

The solution seemed innovative and simple, but it turned out to be highly controversial. International experts contracted by Deat and representatives of the cement industry said the incineration process was one of complete combustion,[except for pm 10's and pm2.5's] which made it safe.

The ash was harmless and useful for mixing with cement. Although gas such as carbon dioxide was released, it would actually amount to a saving on the volumes produced, because otherwise coal would have to be burnt and the hazardous materials themselves would release greenhouse gases over time.

The experts told the meeting that it had been done for decades in Europe and in the United States where stringent safety standards were applied.

Incineration also had other benefits for cement factories. The materials, especially tyres, would save on the cost of coal. Iron, which can be obtained from burnt tyres, is a necessary additive to cement, thereby contributing another saving.

But several representatives of communities and non-governmental organisations who attended the meeting did not take kindly to the proposal. They feared that noxious substances would be emitted and that local communities, particularly the poor, would pay the price.

Past experience had much to do with their concern. A Tshwane councillor spoke of the many people in his ward who had been hospitalised with respiratory problems. Suspicions fell on the nearby cement factory.

Similar complaints came from a community representative from Lichtenburg in North West.

Others complained that waste sites were invariably placed near poor communities, which had to live with the filth and stench. "We all know," one representative said, "how these overfull and badly managed dumps catch alight and what toxic smoke gets sent into the air."

A Durban South spokesperson told the meeting about the high incidence of cancer and lung disease in his community and claimed that factory emissions and the illegal dumping of hazardous waste were to blame. He said that the incineration of waste would only add to the problem.

They wanted to know what guarantees there were that incineration would not add to their problems.

Non-governmental organisations warned that, even if safety standards were legally prescribed, the problem would be with monitoring and law enforcement.

"We have already seen how this has failed in the case of rivers, wetlands and such. For all the protective laws there are, they just keep getting destroyed. The trouble lies with the lack of enforcement," said Karen Marx of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa.

Air pollution from industrial plants in general and the issue of incineration became the subject of such heated exchanges that Nolwazi Cobbinah, Deat's chief director in charge of pollution and waste management, had to intervene and added: "We are not fighting - we are here to find solutions."

But the meeting did not end on a good note for the NGOs and community representatives. They charged that the government was intent on going ahead with incineration without answering their concerns.

But the issue of waste goes much further. Besides being an environmental problem, it involves climate change and water security.

The government's attempts to devise a national strategy for dealing with the growing problem go back to 2002. The purpose has been to devise a plan that would include waste separation and recycling, as well as reductions in the production of waste. Incineration is another option, on which consultations have been taking place over the past year.

The tense meeting in the serene surrounds of the South African Biodiversity Institute in Pretoria was part of the consultation.

That there is a growing urgency about getting a national strategy and its supporting legislation in place was clear from Cobbinah's opening statement as chairman: "We are behind schedule. We should by now have had a policy document ready."

Underlying the NGOs' concerns about safety standards is the lack of information on the quantity and types of hazardous and other waste.

A Deat official explained that a waste information system had been set up to collect this data. But this itself became the subject of a chicken-and-egg argument. For the system to operate properly, the official said, data reporting had to be mandatory, which could only be done through enabling legislation.

The counterargument was that legislation to impose waste treatment through risky means such as incineration could not be legally enforced without proper information on the extent of the problem.

Jorn Lauridsen, an international expert from Denmark who is doing research on waste for the department, told the meeting that the most recent study done in 1997 showed that the country was producing 160 000 tons of hazardous organic waste a year.

His own research showed that a single waste-collecting company in Gauteng in 2006 handled 100 000 tons of such waste.

• This article was originally published on page 6 of The Sunday Independent on January 20, 2008

Published on the Web by IOL on 2008-01-20 08:34:00

---

© Independent Online 2005. All rights reserved. IOL publishes this article in good faith but is not liable for any loss or damage caused by reliance on the information it contains.

Italy's problem with their city dump at Pianura and another reason for cities to RECYCLE

mothers blame Mafia as toxic rubbish spills over
Guardian Unlimited - UK

" Sheep with eyes staring out from below their mouths have been born in the fields near Caserta, north of Naples, and doctors are seeing girls menstruate at the age of seven. Government-run blood testing of residents for dioxin levels will start next month and now there are plans to do the same in the city, including Pianura.

'In Naples, we could stop the Camorra from putting poison into city dumps by simply recycling,' said Marfella. 'The Camorra is scared stiff of recycling.' "

Investors signing confidential agreements with ASARCO

"
Investors show strong interest in resurgent copper producer
Arizona Republic - Phoenix,AZ,USA
Tucson copper producer Asarco LLC has so far signed confidentiality agreements with 14 investors interested in funding its eventual emergence from Chapter ...

"

David K won't talk about the Toxic waste either ... why not?

"Google Blogs Alert for: asarco

ASARCO - The eyesore effects rich people's property values
By David K
The city spent $50000 of your tax dollars to find out what I've known all along - ASARCO is about rich people wanting to increase their property values in Kern at the expense of good jobs. The city was nice enough to prove my theory. ...
Refuse the Juice - http://refusethejuice.typepad.com/thinkaboutit/
"

WHAT ABOUT THE TOXIC WASTE?

WHY don't the management ever talk about the toxic waste???

"Google News Alert for: asarco

ASARCO Plant Manager Bob Litle Responds
KTSM-TV - El Paso,TX,USA
Specifically, the majority of the businesses contacted are in favor of ASARCO opening (5-2). In addition, the most recent residential poll that was ..."

Asarco filing deadline moved from February to mid-APRIL

"Copper-miner Asarco seeks delay in filing exit plan

Associated Press - January 16, 2008 1:24 PM ET WASHINGTON (AP) - Asarco says it needs two more months to file its bankruptcy-exit plan. The Tucson-based copper-miner says its parent...
KVOA - News - http://www.kvoa.com/global/category.asp?c=40644

Tucson-based Asarco requests more time to exit bankruptcy
Tucson-based Asarco LLC needs two more months to file its bankruptcy-exit plan and says its parent company, a unit of Mexican mining company Grupo Mexico SA, is behind the delay.
All Headlines - http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/allheadlines/

---

 This as-it-happens Google Alert is brought to you by Google."

WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE

"The landfill here in Pianura was shut more than a decade ago. Now, there is talk of reopening it. Local residents say no. "We understand the emergency," says Salvatore, who lives just across the street. He has a tumor which he blames on exposure to toxic waste. "We can't accept garbage anymore," he says. "We are afraid and concerned about our health.""

...."Nearby, housewife Luciana carefully recycles her trash while surrounded by a mountain of refuse. "Can you really make the difference," I ask her. "Now, it's too late," she says, "but we are all responsible, the politicians, but also people who are uncivilized and did this [i.e. dumping of illegal hazardous wastes within the dump].""

(the mob-run garbage industry in Pianura region, Italy:  http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/studentnews/01/15/transcript.wed/  )

Asarco and Arizona

"Google News Alert for: asarco

Answers to water quality hard to get
Nogales International - Nogales,AZ,USA
We didn't know what we had and didn't know what to do with it" In the mid 1990s, Asarco wanted to purchase parts of Unit 3 and, although Wilson says he does ..."

"

In Italy, clans and their middlemen earned over 65 billion dollars in just four years from waste management

"...Below the surface lies the cause. Campania, according to Legambiente, the environmental group, is the industrial dumping ground of Italy, and Europe. Just as Naples is the port that sucks in counterfeited goods and raw materials for clothing made in Campania and sent round the world, so the region is also where much comes back to be buried. And both are controlled by the Camorra, the Naples mafia.

If all of southern Italy's illegally stashed trash were piled together, estimates Legambiente, it would tower above Everest and weigh 14m tonnes."....

"It is the triangle of death," says Marco the protester....."significantly inc­reased rates" of congenital malformation and cancer in parts of Naples and Caserta."

"Understandably, Campania's residents fear that if incinerators are used, as the government has proposed for years, illegal toxic waste will simply be blasted into the atmosphere. Private "consortiu...... Mr Saviano, who lives under police protection, estimates Camorra clans and their middlemen earned €44bn ($65.5bn, £33.5bn) in just four years from waste management. Such are their skills that Chinese gangs have studied and copied their methods, turning farmland in southern China into poisoned wasteland.

In Italy a whole chain of people is involved and officials are complicit in signing off the paperwork.....

Everyone blames everyone, especially the easily targeted Camorra, but no one is taking responsibility."
15/1/2008 3:53:17 πμ
http://www.euro2day.gr/printerfriendly.asp

ASARCO hiding data

"...Grupo Mexico SAB's Asarco Inc. unit said it wants an examiner to investigate reorganization talks involving Asarco LLC, the bankrupt copper miner run by a court-appointed independent board of directors.  Asarco LLC is hiding "crucial information regarding claims and valuation," Asarco Inc. said Thursday in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi, Texas...."

Grupo Mexico: Asarco hides data
Arizona Daily Star - Tucson,AZ,USA
By Edvard Pettersson

The story of the dumps around Naples Italy, mounting rubbish, and organized crime

The rotten heart of Italy: See Naples and die (of the stench)

The Campania Italy dump scandal...

"The hunt for Pecoraro Scanio has begun. He’s the guilty one. Not Bassolino, not Jervolino, not the Presidents of the Council for the last 15 years, not the Camorra [organized crime], not the companies of the North that got rid of toxic waste in Campania to save money, not the ones that took the billions of Euro from the European Community for public works that never got done, not the municipal companies that got politicized, not the parties, not the regional cabinets, not the mayors that are a continuation of organised crime, not those who didn’t allow recycling, not the magistrates who didn’t start enquiring, not the journalists who didn’t denounce a thing, not the parliamentarians from Campania who stay in Rome, not the health authorities who should check up on food products, not those who should check up on air pollution.
No one. No damned institution is responsible for a Region that is ruined, with radioactive detritus under the tomato fields and an alarming increase in cancers.
The ones at fault are the Greens, the people who want clean water, clean air, meat, eggs and mozzarella without dioxin. The ones at fault are those who want a park, a tree, a beach without sewage,, functioning purification systems.
The ones at fault are those who want recycling, zero refuse. The ones at fault are those who think that the people of Campania are civilised people like others who can get the same results for the environment as the Danes or the Californians.
The ones at fault are those who tell the truth about incinerators and Cip6, the tax on our Enel utility bill, that has taken away billions of Euro for renewable energy to gift it to the oil barons.
One of the greatest political failures of the Italian Republic has been transformed into a problem of public order. Bassolino reigns with De Gennaro at his right hand.
The ones at fault are Pecoraro the Scapegoat and all the inhabitants of Pianura who were promised that the tip would never be reopened...."

http://www.beppegrillo.it/eng/2008/01/pecoraro_the_scapegoat.html

Asarco asks court to boost Lehman's pay -- 2.6 MILLION so far.....

"Harbinger said Lehman has been paid $2.6 million for its work so far.

In August, Asarco asked the bankruptcy court to boost Lehman's monthly compensation and increase the fees the firm could earn based on a sale of Asarco's assets or the sale of debt or equity as part of a bankruptcy-exit plan."

Harbinger Blames Lehman in Asarco Case
Houston Chronicle - United States

ASARCO bond holder Harbinger trying to shoot down Lehman Brothers' bid to get paid in ASARCO bankruptcy hearing....

[it isn't called a "feeding frenzy" for nothing... note the Piranha-like effect!... meanwhile word-of-mouth gossip is that ASARCO is advertising in Louisiana for steelworkers to start work in El Paso for ASARCO when it opens....]

"Associated Press - January 9, 2008 3:15 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) - Hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners is trying to shoot down Lehman Brothers Holdings' bid to get paid in Asarco LLC's bankruptcy case..."

http://www.kswo.com/global/category.asp?c=84964

Edgren on ASARCO...

"Seems as if the Asarco types have been breathing their own emissions for too long.

When City Council announced that it would use a new strategy in the fight against Asarco by citing Texas environmental rules, Asarco vice president for environmental affairs Thomas L. Aldrich lashed back with "Never in our 110 years in El Paso has there been such an anti-business council ..."

Uh, hold it right there. Tommy. Better check your gas mask; probably the air-inlet filters are clogged and you're experiencing oxygen deprivation.

Calling this City Council anti-business is like calling Attila the Hun anti-violence. It just ain't so.

This city tosses out tax abatements like confetti at a political convention. It's bending over backward to do everything possible to welcome and make comfortable the new troops and dependents at Fort Bliss. Public-private partnerships with key business entities have been expanded. Downtown revitalization on the scale we're experiencing and anticipating is hardly anti-business. The list goes on and on and on.

Asarco is a 19th century polluter trying desperately to function in a 21st century environment whose inhabitants are cognizant of the huge dangers Asarco-type pollution poses.

We don't want Asarco. We don't need Asarco. No wonder Tommy is a bit churlish these days."

Posted by Charlie Edgren on January 09, 2008 at 11:24 AM in Environment | Permalink

Charlie's Angles - http://elpasotimes.typepad.com/politicsopinion/

Naples' trash crisis tied to mob, toxic waste

"Expert: Organized crime gets garbage contracts, then mixes in pollutants

updated 10:12 a.m. MT, Wed., Jan. 9, 2008

ROME - The Italian government's plan to resolve Naples' garbage crisis may clear trash temporarily, but mafia control of waste disposal and politicians' inability to guarantee safe dumps means the problem will return, a noted expert on organized crime said Wednesday...

... But Roberto Saviano, a writer and expert on the Neapolitan organized crime syndicate, the Camorra, said such measures do not address the underlying causes of the problem: the mob and politicians who are powerless to fight it."....

"Saviano said the Camorra controls the entire cycle of garbage disposal in Campania, running the dumps, waste transport companies and other businesses, raking in what anti-mafia prosecutors estimate is $880 million per year.".......

...."Saviano said Camorra-run companies routinely win contracts to dispose of toxic waste from northern Italian industries by underbidding competitors, then dispose of it illegally and untreated in Campania's rivers and dumps. Camorra-run companies also mix toxic waste with other materials and resell it as fertilizer, he said."...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22573281/

City New Action in Asarco Legal Battle

City starting new legal battle to keep Asarco closed
"El Paso Times - El Paso,TX,USA
By David Crowder / El Paso Times The city of El Paso is starting a second legal action in its battle to keep Asarco from reopening. ..."

"by Rene Leon   City Has Takes New Action in Asarco Legal Battle

The City Council voted on Tuesday to take a new step in its legal fight to keep Asarco closed, but Asarco claims it is just part of an "anti-business" environment.

Posted on January 8, 2008

The El Paso City Council on Tuesday took a new move in its legal battle against the possible reopening of Asarco.

With a unanimous vote, the council moved to allow the city’s outside counsel to file a petition calling for the revocation of the smelter’s air emissions permit issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or TCEQ...."

Toxic waste

"Google News Alert for: toxic waste

Naples rubbish crisis turns nasty
Independent - London,England,UK
... angry residents and the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia, continues to make money by controlling the illegal dumping of millions of tonnes of toxic waste. ..."

Two Letters

"Readers Respond 1.2.08: "Offensive Blather"

from the NPT Inbox

The first batch of response from the New Year! Readers respond to readers respond, and Asarco, and Leon and Burton.

Posted on January 2, 2008

Readers Respond 12.27.07

.....

As a party in the Contested Case Hearing for the Camino Real Landfill in SP, NM and One Who Stand Against Asarco, we as a regional community must wake up and smell the contaminating industries and the conflicted agencies that allow them to continue to cluster. The cumulative effects of the decades of environmental injustice will continue to harm our quality of life, the air we breathe, and the water we drink.

Join in with all the people yelling out loud for the cause and help take control of our community. To them - CHEERS! To NPT thanks for covering the story, To the EP Times where were/are you? and to the rest of you - How about a New Year’s resolution of meaningful involvement!! Get UP, GET Out and Get Involved. -- Robert

---

"Readers Respond to Asarco - volcanic rock?" If anyone is interested, - i.e. David claims that the hills around ASARCO are black because they are volcanic rock!!! - check out the Google Maps for ASARCO, El Paso, Texas, and you will see, that black is not volcanic rock, but the soot from ASARCO! You will see the black scar on the land and the rocks came from the smoke stacks at ASARCO. Do notbe fooled folks, as ASARCO is known for pulling the sooty wool over the public's eyes, that the real culprit is and always will be ASARCO/Grupo De Mexico. So if the Grupo De Mexico bankers want ASARCO so badly, let them dismantle the system, and smoke stacks and rebuild it in their own backyards and see how they like it. And if they don't do that, then why should they expect Americans to allow it back into smelting duty. It’s all that copper value - greed over public health and welfare. Business as usual - down and dirty. -- Lynda Duke"

Chamizal 1967

President Lyndon Johnson on Air Force One on October 28, 1967 with Senator Wayne Morse, Senator Bourke Hickenlooper flying to Andrews Air Force Base, El Paso, Texas for the visit of President Diaz Ordaz of Mexico.

--also see "Remarks at the Chamizal Ceremony, Juarez, Mexico.
October 28th, 1967" by President Johnson:

The great Mexican patriot, Benito Juarez, said: "Respect for the rights of others is peace." That principle is the foundation stone of our hemispheric relations.....we know that the American States must stand together if we are to assure that the weak are protected, that might does not make right, that our peoples are to have the privilege of democratic choice.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=28509

The Railroad Bridge Sixteen Years later, in 1936

KFOX update on ASARCO permit

"...El Paso Mayor John Cook said in a written statement, “The City hopes the commissioners will consider all of the evidence and do the right thing for the citizens by denying the ASARCO renewal application. The international opposition to ASARCO’s permit requests cuts across all political, partisan and geographical lines – and includes federal, state, city and county elected officials, the mayors of Sunland Park, N.M, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, local residents, prominent business owners, civic leaders, and health officials. This widespread opposition to the ASARCO renewal application is a result of ASARCO's flagrant record of non-compliance with environmental protection rules and its threat to public health.”"
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/14946096/detail.html

YES Magazine "The story of Stuff"

Letter to EP Times

"Asarco overstates

Asarco is probably the worst polluter in America. They have burned hazardous wastes and failed to meet the burden of proof that they would not detrimentally contribute to air quality in the El Paso area.

In addition, they are currently being assessed for legitimate IBWC liability claims in bankruptcy court. Common sense tells us that air quality effects soil and water, and that Asarco's proposed allowable per TCEQ permit No. 20345 would harm air, soil and water.

In response to Bob Litle's Dec. 12 letter, The IBWC is, too, an "affected party," because the smelter runs next to the Rio Grande and American Canal: a substantial source of our water. Further, the "legacy of environmental claims," against Asarco, has everything "to do with the permit renewal process," and disconnecting the facts only obscures the truth.

Asarco plant manager Litle's letter does not deny that Asarco is indeed environmentally liable, or even contesting the $27 million in liability. He is merely suggesting that environmental claims were "overstated."

However, by doing so he doesn't deny the actual damage that was done, he only denies the interpretations of that damage, and nothing more.

Scott Comar
Central El Paso"
http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_7831774

TCEQ CAN'T ADDRESS THE EVIDENCE *AND* THEY CAN'T AFFORD TO TELL US WHAT ASARCO POISONED US WITH...

"TCEQ Finally Sets Asarco Hearing   by Khushroo Ghadiali

The long-awaited hearing that could determine the fate of the Asarco smelter has finally been set by the TCEQ in Austin.

Posted on December 28, 2007

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, or TCEQ, has announced a hearing date for ASARCO’s appeal. The hearing, scheduled for Feb. 13, will be held in Austin.
This comes after Bruce Manvell, the investigator for the County Attorney's office replied to TCEQ’sletter of Dec 17 asking the TCEQ, in writing, to determine whether criminal prosecution against Asarco is warranted, and to explain why or why not.
NPT seeking a clarification of the letter was told that the agency would not comment any further. A spokeswoman for the agency said "What the executive director said (in the letter) is what we're going to say."   "
http://www.newspapertree.com/news/1953-tceq-finally-sets-asarco-hearing

New Mexico URANIUM mining and milling waste waiting for disposal :: Camino Real Landfill on Rio Grande (Sunland Park N.M.) has hidden clause allowing disposal of URANIUM Mining and milling waste with approval of the State...

[is it a coincidence that Camino Real Landfill hearing experts were lobbyists and experts from the Nuclear disposal industry; and, that a "however" clause in its permit would allow the disposal of toxic uranium mining and milling wastes next-to/on our water supply?]

"...The colorful printout of the abandoned [URANIUM] mines and mill sites was the size of a conference table. The most contaminated site was ranked number one. It ....is known to those who live there as Coyote Canyon [New Mexico].

With the data so clearly showing that Coyote Canyon posed a danger to residents, the EPA moved the Nez family and others into temporary shelters. Workers began cleaning up--basically digging up a foot of soil and stockpiling it at the United Nuclear Corporation site next to the Nezes' property. General Electric, which now owns the property, was supposed to haul the soil away and safely dispose of it.

When I visit Coyote Canyon in August 2007, the Nezes are back home, and the place doesn't look the same. I drive past the hogan where Bertha's father lived. The flags are gone; the dirt surrounding the octagonal structure has been scraped. So has the earth around the Nezes' home and horse corral.

But the massive mound of contaminated earth, which the EPA had covered in heavy black plastic, has not been moved. The plastic is torn and blowing in the wind, along with fine particles of contaminated soil--a threat to the Navajos that seems, in my mind, a metaphor for the nuclear waste problem downstream."
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200801/powerhungry/

DAY 13

There is a small "however" in the PROHIBITED SUBSTANCES section of the Camino Real landfill that would let them (with state authorization - but they can't state what that means) accept radioactive Uranium mining wastes and milling wastes into this landfill.

V.P. Mr. Little actually went home Monday from the hearing and it is Exec. V.P. Mr. Bob (Robert D.) Evans, general counsel to Waste Connnections Inc. who is here since late Monday evening. He has a law degree from Berkley CA and a background in economics. When he went to work for WCN in 2002 he quit his general partnership in a large CA law firm. He has sat through all the testimonies and questions since then.

There is also a UTEP Economist here.

Do you want uranium mining waste in a landfill on the Rio Grande that will supply drinking water? Come and listen. The meeting starts at 8:30 AM at DESERT VIEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in sunland park in the morning. Tonight it is at the Parrish Hall and they don't know how long it will go.

The Judge is Honorable Rudy Apodaca and his hearing-fees are posted on his website.

Landfill hearing

... if you are a reporter and you are not covering this landfill
hearing, you are missing a humdinger of a story.

DAY 12

The V.P. (Mr. J.M.Little) for Waste Control inc. (owner of El Paso Disposal, the Camino Real Landfill, and involved in the Andrews County Nuclear facilty) arrived last evening and has stayed through the day.

Waste Control Inc. (ticker WCN) makes about one billion in revenue a year; and has profits of about 1/4 of that.

This morning NMED (nm envir. dept) cabinet sec. Ms. Cindy Padilla was here to testify and announced that of yesterday she has a different Cabinet position (aging).

Meetings will continue to be held at the Catholic church community center Wednesday (end of sunland park rd, north on mcnutt - on the left) and after that it is likely to be at a school, perhaps desert elementary through friday. Usually it is 8 am to 9 pm. Last evening it went through 11 pm. It is cold - wear a warm coat (no heat except a few space heaters and a propane picnic heater).

Profits to the landfill from maquiladoras is declining year to year because of movement of companies to China one expert said; hypothetically it seems as if the landfill will need to find other revenue streams for Waste Control Inc.

They claim that although they deal with radioactive/toxic wastes that they don't need a non hazmat landfill. That is what they say.

Camino Real Landfill Hearing Day 11

Today the hearing ran from 9 am through 11 PM - we got an hour for lunch and one hour for dinner. The propane heater had disappeared but the opposing party went out and bought another.

We covered geological faulting today. NMED (NM Envir. dept) wasn't willing to accept evidence of the surface faulting even when a lot of the research came from Petroleum company and Asarco's own consulting company.

Malaysia : toxic waste in landfill

DAY 10 (Yesterday - Saturday) of the Camino Real Dump Hearing

At the hearing (it was at Desert View for just Saturday) the Judge berated a few people for getting started after 8:30 AM, skipped lunch and ran the hearing through to 10 P.M.   The Landfill attorneys provided soda and pizza at lunchtime.     There was a dinner break. 

The interpreters left at 9:30 pm (a bit hoarse), but instead of recessing, the Judge granted the opposing party's request to go to 10 PM, which meant that the retired attorney had to do Cross Examination at the end of a 14 hour day.  He was given only 30 minutes to cross-examine the Border Health guy.

One El Paso resident told the Judge, during a break, that the Judge was biased (which you don't do to a Judge) and was told to leave. 

Tomorrow the hearing moves back to the Catholic Church community center, just west of Sunland Park Drive where it dead-ends onto McNutt Rd.  It will start at 8 am, I think - although it is possible that the Judge said 9 am, since the sound-crew has to re-install all the equipment.

If you live in Texas or Mexico you should DEFINITELY attend these last few days of the hearing because the lady lobbyist from the opposing team last week pretty much said that all that matters is New Mexico and New Mexicans.   The dump sits up-river from your water supply, and within the 10 mile area-shed of most of the west side of El Paso.  They are not telling us what Asarco dumped there; also said that to let the invoices about Asarco zinc-plant demolition material being dumped there into evidence would be incriminating.

Workers-on-strike came to the meeting and now, since they lost their jobs and are not afraid to speak anymore, were telling about regularly dumping medical wastes and dead animals at the dump.

Day NINE of the Grueling Marathon Hearing

The community of Sunland Park moves into DAY NINE of the grueling
marathon hearing at the Parrish Hall (Community Center), Catholic church
off of McNutt just west of the Sunland Park Intersection.

The audience learned that the people representing the Landfill work for
the nuclear and waste industry, lobbying for dumps in poor and
disadvantaged communities. A N.M. supreme court decision had ruled that
the state must consider the cumulative impact of industries on a
community when siting a new one. The Camino Real dump does not want to
have the impact from ASARCO considered when renewing the Landfill's permit.

The Hearing Days run from 8 to 9 PM daily, including Saturdays. Sunland
Park is represented by a volunteer group and retired attorney.

The hall is unheated except for 2 space heaters and a propane picnic
heater. The chairs are metal and cold for the audience. There is no
pay for the volunteers, or monies for exhibits, copying, gasoline etc.

The opposing team for the Landfill has two law firms with a total of
over 80 attorneys. The witnesses yesterday had two attorneys, and no
medical doctors.

It is possible that the dump leaks water into the aquifer and Rio Grande
and it is not possible to determine what has been dumped there. The
Landfill wants to renew their permit for 10 more years.

Camino Real Dump Hearing: Thursday

Many of the affected parties and attorneys went on a Dump tour, and the proceedings started later at the community center. It was warmer, the Dump attorneys had bought a huge number of seat cushions at WalMart, so that many regular attendees could use those and be warmer than sitting on a metal chair ... but many still came who had no cushions. The central heating fan is off because of long-term construction.

One after another the residents of the region came forward to speak about esophageal cancers, lung cancer, eye surgeries, diabetes (which we now know is regulated by a 2nd hormone produced in bones), asthma, a feeling of being smothered, not being able to swallow, overly/unusual dry skin, and other problems that occur at high rates. They were worried about the dust, the odors, the dripping-fluids from the waste-trucks headed toward the dump (dump doesn't accept fluids), and the drinking-water.

IBWC Filed $27 Million Contamination Claim Against Asarco

"by NPT Staff

NPT presents three bankruptcy court documents related to a $27 million claim for contamination of IBWC property adjacent to Asarco. The IBWC cites a "potential threat to the Rio Grande," a source of drinking and irrigation water for El Paso.

Posted on December 5, 2007

Editor's note: The following is to be heard by bankruptcy court Dec. 7. The three court documents -- linked to below these brief excerpts -- relate to a $27 million claim by the International Boundary and Water Commission against Asarco for contamination on IBWC property.

***
http://newspapertree.com/politics/1883-ibwc-filed-27-million-contamination-claim-against-asarco

Related Documents:

IBWC Nov. 29, 2007

Asarco 1, Nov. 29, 2007

Asarco 2, Nov. 29, 2007
"

Camino Real Dump Hearing

The hearing started this morning and will run 8 AM to 9PM from today through Saturday and then next week Monday through Saturday at the Catholic church community center on McNutt just west of the Sunland Park road intersection. The community center is unheated, the chairs are hard and metal and the center was never designed for 13 hour marathons in the wintertime.

Despite objections from all of us without money and health insurance (for the antibiotics to cure us when we all get sick from this) the hearing continues as planned through this holiday season.

We unpaid and affected community members are facing two law firms - one with 40 local attorneys alone.

Governor Richardson's environmental Justice in action, folks. God help us all.

The Border in 1989, when ENCYCLE began

http://web.njit.edu/~pro3/NJIT/Options/Opt-S05Border/ANAPRA.pdf

(published 2004)

Lead particulates in air at UTEP monitor site

Lead: (quarterly mean in micrograms/cubic meter) El Paso, TX
All the data points are from the East Robinson UTEP monitor site.
This is a chart of the quarterly Pb (lead) readings for the eleven years.

The values begin to get smaller after the smelter closed, in 2/1999

United Press International publishes Forecast: U.S. dollar could plunge 90 pct

By UPI  11/24/07 -- -, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- A financial crisis will likely send the U.S. dollar into a free fall of as much as 90 percent...
The Panic of 2008 will lead to a lower U.S. standard of living, he said."....
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18776.htm

Financial Depression of 1873
Townsend builds the smelter 1887

1929: Great Depression
1929-1933 "At the height of the Great Depression, Smeltertown spanned about 25 acres and the population had grown to about 5,000 residents."

1930's : "[Asarco's] company's recovery was aided by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's silver-purchase plan and his devaluation of the dollar, which caused the prices of precious metals to rise."
http://www.answers.com/topic/asarco-incorporated

since 2001 a Russian smelter has illegally smelted radioactive scrap

"ECOMET-S has illegally melted thousands of tons of radioactive scrap metal from the LNPP as well as 150 tons of scrap metal from the Chepetsk Mechanical Plant (the city of Glazov, Udmurt Republic, Volga basin)."
http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/index.html?http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/561/5360.html

from 1989: Tin smelter at Hull in Britain discharges radioactive polonium (LEAD) from stack

"DISCHARGES of radioactivity and other forms of pollution from Europe's biggest tin smelter at Hull in Britain are not to blame for causing abnormally high numbers of childhood cancers in villages close to the site, according to Britain's pollution 'police'.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Pollution cleared the Capper Pass complex on Humberside, pictured here, of blame last week in a report that describes one of the most detailed investigations ever undertaken by the organisation's air pollution and radiochemical inspectors.

The chimney at the plant, which is 180 metres high, discharges radioactive polonium-210 [LEAD/Pb] as well as a cocktail of other toxic pollutants including antimony, arsenic, cadmium, lead, tin and zinc.

The inspectorate says that, on the basis of environmental data, predictions of dispersion patterns, radiological assessments and epidemio-logical studies, there is no evidence to link unusually high incidence of leukemia in the area with radioactive pollution from the plant. The report concludes that with the exception of cadmium, the concentrations of pollutants would not be expected to damage health.

From issue 1658 of New Scientist magazine, 01 April 1989"

Smelting radioactive material

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:38:05 GMT
" Johannesburg - South Africa's Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk on Friday gave the green light for the construction of a smelter for radioactive nuclear waste at the site of the Pelindaba nuclear facility outside Pretoria. The facility would be used to process about 140,000 tons of waste of varying levels of radioactivity, said van Schalkwyk. No "viable alternative" for treating nuclear waste in South Africa had been found, he said in his written decision. Some of the radioactive metal equipment used in South Africa's secretive apartheid-era uranium enrichment programme, under which it developed six and a half nuclear bombs, are to be melted down. The green light for the smelter came despite objections from residents and anti-nuclear and environmental activists. South Africa recently approved plans to resume uranium enrichment. The country has a nuclear-fired electricity plant at Koeberg near Cape Town."
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/100620.html

1976 Jun 01 Feasibility study of a portable smelter for scrap metals

"The use of a portable smelter to process uranium-contaminated scrap metals was studied.^Objectives were to convert scrap metal located at many diverse sites into a form which would be suitable for unlicensed sale and reduce the problems associated with storing the scrap.^The Foundry Design Company study indicated the portable smelter concept was feasible from an equipment and transportation standpoint.^Capital costs for a 5-ton/hour (steel) nominal capacity unit were estimated to be $2,349,000.^Technical evaluation indicates that all the common metals considered, i.e., iron, nickel, copper, and aluminum, are amenable to uranium decontamination by smelting except aluminum.^An economic evaluation of the processing of the 30,000 tons of steel scrap to be generated by the Cascade Improvement Program by a portable smelter was made based upon information supplied by Foundry Design Company, plus the assumption that the product metal could be sold for $120.00 per ton.^This evaluation indicated a net return of $2,424,000 to the government could be realized.^The Health and Safety study indicated no major problems of this nature would be encountered in operating a portable smelter.^The legal review indicated the proposed operation fell within the authority of existing regulations.^Consideration of possible conflicts with regard to competition with the private sector was suggested.^(DLC)"
http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=7269860

Prenatal Arsenic Exposure Detected In Newborns

Prenatal Arsenic Exposure Detected In Newborns

ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2007) — MIT researchers have found that the children of mothers whose water supplies were contaminated with arsenic during their pregnancies harbored gene expression changes that may lead to cancer and other diseases later in life. In addition to establishing the potential harmful effects of these prenatal exposures, the new study also provides a possible method for screening populations to detect signs of arsenic contamination.

This is the first time evidence of such genome-wide changes resulting from prenatal exposure has ever been documented from any environmental contaminant. It suggests that even when water supplies are cleaned up and the children never experience any direct exposure to the pollutant, they may suffer lasting damage.

The evidence comes from studies of 32 mothers and their children in a province of Thailand that experienced heavy arsenic contamination from tin mining. Similar levels of arsenic are also found in many other regions, including the US Southwest.

The research was led by Mathuros Ruchirawat, Director of the Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology of the Chulabhorn Research Institute (CRI) in Thailand, and Leona D. Samson, Director of MIT's Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS) and the American Cancer Society Professor in the Departments of Biological Engineering and Biology at MIT. The first author of the study is Rebecca C. Fry, a research scientist at CEHS. Coauthors include Panida Navasumrit of the CRI and Chandni Valiathan, graduate student at MIT's Computational and Systems Biology Initiative.

The team analyzed blood that had been collected from umbilical cords at birth. The exposure of mothers to arsenic during their pregnancy was independently determined by analyzing toenail clippings -- the most reliable way of detecting past arsenic exposure.

The team found a collection of about 450 genes whose expression had been turned on or turned off in babies who had been exposed to arsenic while in the womb. That is, these genes had either become significantly more active (in most cases) or less active than in unexposed babies.

"We were looking to see whether we could have figured out that these babies were exposed in utero" just by using the gene expression screening on the stored blood samples, Samson says. "The answer was a resounding yes."

Further, the team found that a subset of just 11 of these genes could be used as a highly reliable test for determining whether babies had been born to mothers exposed to arsenic during pregnancy. Since blood samples are already taken routinely for medical tests this may provide an easier way of screening for such exposure.

The gene expression changes the group found in the exposed children are mostly associated with inflammation, which can lead to increased cancer risk. Recognizing the damaging effects of the arsenic exposure, "the government has provided alternative water sources" to the affected villages, Fry says, which means that following these children as they grow older (they are now toddlers) has the potential to show how long-lasting the effects of the prenatal exposure may be. However, she adds, this may be complicated by the fact that many people are still using the local water for cooking.

It's not yet clear how long the changes may last. "We will be testing whether these gene expression changes have persisted in these children," Fry says.

This is the first time such a response to prenatal arsenic exposure has been found in humans. But it is not entirely unexpected, Samson explains, because "in mice, when mothers are transiently exposed to arsenic in the drinking water, their progeny, in their adult life, are much more cancer-prone."

Further research could include studies of possible ways of reversing or mitigating the damage, perhaps through dietary changes, nutritional supplements, or drug treatments to counteract the gene expression changes.

Also, the group plans to do follow-up studies in different locations and with larger groups of subjects to confirm the value of the 11 "marker" genes as a reliable indicator of arsenic exposure. The researchers also aim to determine whether the gene expression changes are specific to arsenic.

This study is an example of the CEHS's efforts to promote collaborative interdisciplinary research into global environmental health issues, specifically in the developing world.

The research will be reported in the Nov. 23 issue of PLoS Genetics.

This research was funded by the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences and the Chulabhorn Research Institute.

Adapted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:

APA

MLA

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2007, November 23). Prenatal Arsenic Exposure Detected In Newborns. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 23, 2007, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2007/11/071122225245.htm

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071122225245.htm

 

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What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.
Albert Pine

Newspaper Tree replies to El Paso Inc.

By misrepresenting the source of the assertions, the Inc misrepresents the significance and context of the report, a fundamental error. Taking the GAO report on military hazwaste and Asarco out of context, the Inc defends itself with an ...

By Newspaper Tree
Media Watch: A Dear Tom Letter to Fenton, El Paso Inc

Texas Observer article on County Attorney investigation of Asarco

No Wall Will Stop the Wave

Texas Observer - Austin,TX,USA

Litle has extremely quick response to ACORN press release - and no one is talking about the unknown TOXIC WASTE

ACORN v. Asarco
http://newspapertree.com/news/1819-acorn-v-asarco
by NPT Staff

Dueling news releases from ACORN and from Asarco.

Posted on November 16, 2007

Editor's note: NPT received these two news releases, the first from the group ACORN Thursday Nov. 15, 2007, the second from Asarco the following day

***

Nov. 15, Acorn

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, November 15, 2007 Contact:
Jose Manuel Escobedo, Head Organizer

EPA to Adopt New Lead Air Standards in 2008
Health professionals weigh in on new rules impact on
Asarco application for air quality permit

EL PASO – The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) lead expert panel has set standards more protective of public health. These new standards will directly impact Asarco’s Air Permit Application. Below is a summary of these impacts over the next ten months.

1. EPA is under a court order to adopt a new final lead air standard by September 1, 2008.

2. The new lead air standard will be no higher than 0.2 ug/m^3 and as low as 0.05 ug/m^3. The current standard is 1.5 ug/m^3.

3. ASARCO's newest air model said it would meet the highest end of the new lead standard, but it also suggests that ASARCO will have no margin of safety and the new lead air standard could be tighter than ASARCO's air modeling of 0.2 ug/m^3 meaning the smelter can not comply.

4. The new EPA lead air standard may be based on monthly averaging which would be more protective and more stringent than the current Lead NAAQS using quarterly averaging. ASARCO's air modeling is based on quarterly averaging and not monthly averaging.

5. The EPA is planning to issue the new lead proposal in March 2008, to
provide the public ample time to comment. Public comment period will
follow later in the spring.

6. EPA is required by a consent decree to issue a public proposal regarding the
lead standards by May 1, 2008.

WHO: El Paso County Medical Society, ACORN, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, representative from Senator Shapleigh’s office and available for questions via phone: Neil Carmen, Clean Air Program Director, Lone Star Chapter – Sierra Club, Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc – Chair, Department of Community and Preventative Medicine, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine

WHAT: Press Conference: Impact of new EPA rules on Asarco application for air permit
WHEN: Friday, November 16th, 1:30 PM
WHERE: 220 Lawton. Corner of Lawton and Mundy, outside of Vilas School
IN CASE OF RAIN: At the gazebo at Mundy Park at Porfirio Diaz and Yandell
WHY: To discuss impact of new EPA rules on Asarco application for air permit

###

ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low- and – moderate income families, with over 300,000 member families organized into 800 neighborhood chapters in 108 cities across the country. Since 1970 ACORN has taken action and won victories on issues of concern to our members, including better housing for first-time homebuyers and tenants, living wages for low-wage workers, more investment in our communities from banks and governments, and better public schools.

***

Nov. 16, Asarco

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 16, 2007

For additional information:

Teresa Montoya

Montoya PR

ASARCO’S RESPONSE TO

“ACORN ON NEW EPA AIR STANDARDS APPLIED TO ASARCO”

From Robert “Bob” Litle, El Paso Plant Manager

The same small group of opponents continues to use scare tactics and misinformation in their campaign against Asarco.

The facts are:

1. It is old news that the EPA is reviewing the current National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for lead for the entire country, not just El Paso. The NAAQS are air quality standards established to be protective of the most vulnerable populations – senior citizens and children.

2. El Paso’s air is already far better than the current NAAQS for lead. In fact, El Paso has been in attainment for lead since the mid-eighties.

3. Asarco’s allowable emissions are better than the current standard and better than ACORN’S numbers presented in their press release according to the most extensive air modeling ever completed which encompasses 30 miles of our plant including El Paso, Juarez, and New Mexico.

4. The scientific data shows that there will not be any negative health effects from Asarco’s allowable lead emissions.

***

Nov. 16, Acorn

EPA to Adopt New Lead Air Standards in 2008
Health professionals weigh in on new rules impact on
Asarco application for air quality permit

In a Follow up to today’s press conference outlining how new EPA rules will affect Asarco’s air permit application, we add the following comments:

As we know, the EPA is recommending a new, stricter standard that may be as low as .05 micrograms per cubic meter and as high as .20 micrograms per cubic meter. ASARCO claims that their modeling indicates that they will meet a new standard of .20 micrograms per cubic meter based on monthly averages. However, even if the EPA adopts a new standard of .20 micrograms per cubic meter, our region will risk being in non-attainment. This is because of
background lead concentrations in El Paso. According to ASARCO, those background concentrations are .07 micrograms per cubic meter. Once added to Asarco’s emissions, the total ambient lead in El Paso County would be .27 micrograms per cubic meter: we would not be in compliance and the County would once again be in non-attainment for the lead NAAQS.

For reference questions please call:

Neil Carman, Ph.D., Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, 512-288-0042

Verónica Carbajal, Attorney, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA), 915-585-5107

###

ACORN is the nation's largest community organization of low- and – moderate income families, with over 300,000 member families organized into 800 neighborhood chapters in 108 cities across the country. Since 1970 ACORN has taken action and won victories on issues of concern to our members, including better housing for first-time homebuyers and tenants, living wages for low-wage workers, more investment in our communities from banks and governments, and better public schools.

Still no mention of looking for the undisclosed TOXIC WASTE from ASARCO...

Acorn on New EPA Air Standards as Applied to Asarco
Newspaper Tree - El Paso,TX,USA
These new standards will directly impact Asarco's Air Permit Application. Below is a summary of these impacts over the next ten months. 1. ...

Press Conference - Impact of New EPA Rules on ASARCO Application ...
By Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
WHAT: Press Conference: Impact of new EPA rules on Asarco application for air permit WHEN: Friday, November 16th, 1:30 PM WHERE: 220 Lawton. Corner of Lawton and Mundy, outside of Vilas School IN CASE OF RAIN: At the gazebo at Mundy ...

Rep. Reyes summarizes GAO report showing Asarco handled and disposed of illegal toxic waste (using industrial furnace)

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_7451744

http://www.newspapertree.com/politics/1806-gao-report-sheds-light-on-asarco-misconduct-reyes-says

Conspiracies of Silence

Letters published in the Times
El Paso Times Staff
Article Launched: 11/11/2007 12:00:00 AM MST
http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_7427964

Silent on Asarco hazardous waste

Conspiracies of silence have for too long concealed Asarco's dismal health impact history. In an El Paso Times article, published Oct. 16, Asarco lawyers deny the city's accusation that Asarco smelted hazardous wastes. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) was silent during the controversy.

During Mayor Raymond Caballero's administration, his Environmental Task Force discovered a relevant internal memorandum at TCEQ's local office. The memorandum revealed that manifests of Asarco's alleged "recyclable" wastes under the TCEQ's jurisdiction had been impeached during the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) investigation.

The integrity of reports on Asarco's cargo manifests had been violated. When the EPA confronted the TCEQ employee responsible for inspecting Asarco's cargo manifests, he testified, on the advice of TCEQ's Austin attorneys, that he did not have the time or personnel to conduct a proper inspection. This striking disclosure presents unanswered questions about the quality, quantity, source etc., of Asarco's wastes.

This poses a more serious question. Was this failure over a long period of years a sign of a silent conspiracy?

Joe Piñón

TENORM and NORM Waste: Problems in the Texas oil system near Dallas/Ft.Worth

http://www.texaskaos.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4251

Faces against the Dump today at 3 PM

Please gather today at 3PM at the Sunland Park Desert View Elementary
school.

People from the Sunland Park Grassroots environmental group, Colonias
Development Council, and others will gather for a photo against the
Regional Camino Real Landfill (DUMP), which is trying to renew a
ten-year permit.

This Dump is located on our water supply (the Rio Grande) just hundreds
of feet above the aquifer that feeds the Hueco Bolson at the Paso del
Norte; and right on an international border (despite the La Paz accord
(agreement) to not turn the border into a dump.)

The Dump is starting a methane-to-energy project. Only about 50% of the
gases coming off the dump are methane, we think -- the rest, only the
almighty apparently knows. Beneath the dirt at the dump lie toxic
waste recently disclosed by Phelps Dodge; and, loads of Zinc-stack
demolition debris from ASARCO (taken down during the Toxic-waste burning
years). The Dump accepts commercial waste from USA industries in Cd.
Juarez and El Paso and at least one person has seen a truck come here as
far away as Chicago...

Please come and stand with everyone.

Gas drilling's dirty side effect: Radioactive material....

Gas drilling’s dirty side effect: Radioactive material brought up from Barnett Shale during production
10:01 AM CST on Sunday, November 11, 2007 By Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe / Staff Writer
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of four stories on radioactive material generated by natural gas production in the Barnett Shale.
http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_NORM1_11-11.1fb48b711.html

"In Denton, Tarrant and Wise counties, all kinds of equipment — from pipes and separators to frac and brine-hauling tanks — have been decontaminated in [just] the past two years.

Texas Railroad Commission rules allow the industry to self-monitor for NORM, and many operators are slow to decontaminate the radioactive residue because of its cost, industry insiders say. Furthermore, only two of nearly 200 operators registered with the commission in the Barnett Shale’s core counties — Key Energy Services and Devon Energy — have provided for such decontamination in the past two years."

"Statewide, 140 such sites were decontaminated from January 2005 to the present, according to documents obtained from the Department of State Health Services, which oversees decontamination of the state’s hottest radioactive waste."

Radioactivity found in the Copper Belt

"V. Enhanced pollution due to technological processing. Waste elements that are put into the waste heaps release toxins into the environment, in an affect called “technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials” (TENORM) by Environmental Protection Agency. In other words, when you bring toxic metals, which are buried in the ground with no potential to harm human health, to the surface, put them in waste dumps exposed to the air, and subject them to various technological processes, there is a potential for adverse affects on human health. This is particularly true in Arizona where there are abundant deposits of radioactive metals and poisonous arsenic. In 1999, Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D. C. published a report on this uranium and radioactive chemicals in the “Copper Belt” of Southern Arizona. Following is an excerpt from that report:

Nearly all rocks, soils, thorium, radium, radioisotopes,naturally occurring radioactive purposefully or inadvertently technologically enhanced naturally as any naturally occurring human exposure has been activities (NAS, 1999). . . .

Levels in excess of the federal MCLs and state guidelines were found in groundwater and surface water samples, as well as soil and sediment samples at abandoned and active copper mines. TENORM exceedences were also found in groundwater at active and inactive copper mines. Uranium byproducts were recovered from heap leach dumps and in-situ operations that feed SX-EW and ion exchange circuits at several copper mines. Radioactivity was discovered in copper mineral processing waste streams. Elevated levels of radioactivity were also found to occur in the process solutions and process wastes."

For entire report, see: www.epa.gov/radiation/docs/tenorm/402-r-99-002.pdf

http://www.savethesantacruzaquifer.info/Superior.htm

TENORM waste

"Only a crude estimate can be made of the annual total ²²⁶Ra activity transferred from oil reservoirs to the surface. A United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) study of 10 oil production wells analysed scale and sludge production rates. (11) The amount estimated was about 250m³ for a period of 20 years. The resulting amount of waste generated by one oil-producing well per year is about 2.25 tons, using a waste density of 1.8 tonnes.m^-3. In order to derive an average 226Ra activity concentration, the same study used results of a large number of external gamma readings (6,274) taken in several oil production facilities and converted these to the activity concentration. There is a significant uncertainty attached to such a procedure because of the effects of equipment wall thickness, self-absorption of the radiation in the scale and thickness of the scale, and distribution of radium within the scale. The published average radium concentration was 4.6Bqg^-1. Hence, the resulting estimate of total ²²⁶Ra activity brought to the surface is 918GBq per year. Similar studies are due to be undertaken in oil and gas-extracting facilities in other parts of the world, so an average ²²⁶Ra activity brought to the surface per year can be derived with any degree of certainty."

http://www.touchoilandgas.com/radiological-impact-extraction-a97-1.html

TENORM waste from metals used in pipelines (gas)

"TENORM [technologically enhanced/concentrated naturally occurring radioactive material] contamination levels in equipment varied widely among types of equipment and geographic region. The geographic areas with the highest equipment readings were northern Texas and the gulf coast crescent from southern Louisiana and Mississippi to the Florida panhandle. Very low levels of TENORM were found in California, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and northern Kansas.

According to an API industry-wide survey, approximately 64 percent of the gas producing equipment and 57 percent of the oil production equipment showed radioactivity at or near background levels. TENORM radioactivity levels tend to be highest in water handling equipment. Average exposure levels for this equipment were between 30 to 40 micro Roentgens per hour (μR/hr), which is about 5 times background. Gas processing equipment with the highest levels include the reflux pumps, propane pumps and tanks, other pumps, and product lines. Average radiation levels for this equipment as between 30 to 70 μR/hr. Exposures from some oil production and gas processing equipment exceeded 1 mR/hr.

Gas plant processing equipment is generally contaminated on the surface by lead-210 (Pb-210). However, TENORM may also accumulate in gas plant equipment from radon (Rn-222) gas decay. Radon gas is highly mobile. It originates in underground formations and dissolves in the organic petroleum areas of the gas plant. It concentrates mainly in the more volatile propane and ethane fractions of the gas.

Gas plant scales differ from oil production scales, typically consisting of radon decay products which accumulate on the interior surfaces of plant equipment. Radon itself decays quickly, (its half-life is 3.8 days). As a result, the only radionuclides that affect disposal are the radon decay products polonium-210 (Po-210) and lead-210. Polonium-210 is an alpha emitter with a half-life of 140 days. Pb-210 is a weak beta and gamma emitter with a half-life of 22 years.

Disposal and Reuse: Past Practices:  Recycling of Metals
Before the accumulation of TENORM in oil production equipment was recognized, contaminated materials were occasionally recycled for use in making steel products....

Disposal and Reuse:  Current Practices -Recycling of Metals:
Now that the petroleum industry is aware of the potential for contamination, they take a number of precautions before recycling:

Loads of scrap metal are surveyed for hidden radioactive sources and TENORM.
Piping and equipment are cleaned before release for recycling at smelters.
Pollution control devices, such as filters and bubblers, are installed in smelter stacks to reduce airborne radiation releases.
Although much of the NORM-contaminated equipment is presently stored in controlled areas, some companies are now cleaning the equipment and proposing to store it at designated disposal sites.
http://www.epa.gov/rpdweb00/tenorm/oilandgas.html

Asarco a Defense Contractor in 2003 ...

FY 2003 DoD Contractors [PAGE] 32

ASARCO INCORPORATED

http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/defense_ethics/resource_library/contractors03.pdf

Copper Ore containing Uranium dumped into Congo River: Officials arrested for the dumping of Toxic Waste

"At least seven people are said to be under arrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after radioactive mineral waste was poured into a river in the southeast of the country. Selah Hennessy reports from the VOA West and Central Africa bureau in Dakar that teams are currently working to rid the river of the waste.
Didace Pembe, Congo's environment minister, says the official who ordered the toxic waste to be dumped has been arrested.
According to local reporter Eddy Isango, seven people from the commission in charge of disposing the minerals are also under arrest.
On Wednesday, the government ordered an inquiry after officials in the southeast province of Katanga said tons of radioactive minerals had been dumped into Mura River, a source of drinking water for the nearby mining town Likasi. The town has a population of around 300,000.
Pembe says the waste has radiation levels 50 times more than the legal standard for safety.
He says the population is being informed through local radio and TV channels not to use the water for drinking, bathing, or for gardening.
He adds that clean up at the site has begun.
Congolese authorities had originally ordered the nearly twenty tons of copper ore containing uranium samples to be dumped in an abandoned uranium mine.
But Pembe says the majority of the toxic minerals were dumped in the river instead.  He says officials are tracing some waste that might have been dumped elsewhere.
Most of the copper ore belongs to the Chinese firm Magma-Lubumbashi.  The environment minister says the company did not request the waste to be dumped in the river."
http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-11-10-voa23.cfm

[Fwd: Letter to the Editor]

[the 11-11 to 11-17 EPinc is on the stands, and they never published my letter in reply to their incorrect release of GAO stuff (or replied), so here goes...]

Dear El Paso Inc. Editor:
In the November 4-10 Issue of your paper, Mike Mrkvicka wrote that "Feds find Asarco clean on hazmat charges". When queried, your office refused to release the 42-page GAO report that your reporter, Mike, claims to have obtained.

Since that unreleasable-report is Mike's basis for reducing my credibility (and the credibility of the EPA and Federal Dept. of Justice people who authored the 73 page 1998 Secret-Asarco-Settlement-Document that we released last October 2006) in your newspaper, I decided to phone the people at the GAO in charge of the investigation at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and read the report for myself: I talked with the Chief Operating Officer's office and also the Director in charge of all the different Departments. They haven't finished any report yet. They did send a draft to the DOD and the EPA asking for comments on whether the content was true or not. They told me that your article was not correct because of this; and that also the report will not be an investigative report but simply a process-review of the handling of these military materials. They said that they will have to release their final report earlier than they intended to, so that people can read the actual findings directly from the GAO.

Since your paper often releases very good information, I can only assume that you were given this media piece by some folks representing Asarco's interests, and that you trusted them. But, it appears that your paper and our community, including Asarco, needs to wait until the final report is actually issued to read what is actually said. Even then, we need to realize that the GAO is not investigating the smelter's burning of toxic waste, but instead is looking at the military process of handling wastes.

A Poem

The air is fragile like dried leaves
the oxygen scatters
broken by the dust
lead
arsenic
hazmat
poisons
They don't tell us the poisons
innumerable
dioxins
PCBS
actinides
Stirred
falling settling gently into place
on our mountains
for the next rain
flowing with the water
faster pouring raging down the arroyos
the roads
the rooftops
into our river
A glass poised beneath the faucet
thirst
is a great water filter
ignorance
denial
is the grasshopper singing in the wind
while ants
gather the hazmat
and carry it into our bones
the survivors
left to fight over the few hundred jobs
the money
the power
a poisoned people provide

do you live in the Paso del Norte
or
do you live
in denial?

estimates of how much NORM waste will be produced the next 20 years...

"Radionuclides are known to be associated with organic materials in nature; therefore, oil, gas, and oil field brines frequently contain radioactive materials. These materials accumulate in piping used to remove and process petroleum and natural gas. The EPA estimates that about 8 million metric tons of NORM waste will be produced by the gas and oil industry over the next 20 years.
 
NORM have been found in geothermal wells. According to EPA estimates, the geothermal industry may generate up to 1.4 million metric tons over the next 20 years. ..... The EPA estimates that over 6 million metric tons of drinking water purification materials containing NORM will be generated over the next 20 years."
http://www.hps1.org/glossary/norm.htm

NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive materials - generally concentrated in mechanical processes)  could include:  isotopes of uranium, thorium, carbon, potassium, polonium, lead, radon

Please show support- Weather Network is proposing an Environment Network

".... the parent company of The Weather
 Network has submitted an application for a new TV channel, The Environment
 Network.  This channel will broadcast environmentally related content
 exclusively, 24 hours a day.

 In order to help push this application through, letters of support need to
 be sent to the CRTC by November 15, 07.

 Details regarding the letter can be found at
 http://www.theweathernetwork.com/index.php?product=environmentnetwork&pagecontent=index#draftletter Thanks Jed Goldberg President Earth Day Canada 111 Peter Street Suite 503 Toronto  ON  M5V 2H1 v - +416.599.1991 ext 111 f -  +416.599.3100 www.earthday.ca The word mark "Earth Day" and the Earth Day logo are registered trademarks of Earth Day Canada (1991) Inc. Charitable registration # 13195 1378RR0001. Use of either of these trademarks for mercantile, promotional and communications purposes is strictly forbidden without the written approval of Earth Day Canada."

 
http://www.noccawood.ca

Sierra Club sues ASARCO through EarthJustice....

"Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Environmental Groups to Sue EPA Over Mine Cleanup
An environmental group (**) is planning to sue the federal government over billions of dollars in cleanup costs at polluted mines. Earhjustice says it is filing a notice to sue the Environmental Protection Agency. The suit is being filed on behalf of four conservation groups. The idea is to make it harder for mining companies and other industries to avoid costly cleanups by declaring bankruptcy. Earthjustice says Asarco is the most far-reaching example of irresponsible mining operations. Asarco declared bankruptcy in 2005, leaving behind 94 Superfund sites in 21 states, with a total cleanup cost estimated at more than $1 billion. That’s far more than the $100 million trust the company set aside for cleanup. Last week the US House approved the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act. Among other things, the bill requires mines to post a bond to cover future cleanup costs before receiving a permit to mine on public lands. Arizona’s House delagation split on the measure. Republicans opposed it and Democrats backed it."
http://kikonews.blogspot.com/2007/11/environmental-groups-to-sue-epa-over.html

"November 6, 2007 Washington, DC -- Conservation groups are taking action to make it harder for mining and other polluting industries to skip out on costly cleanups by declaring bankruptcy.

The public interest law firm Earthjustice announced today it is representing community groups in Illinois, New Mexico, Nevada, and Idaho in a lawsuit to prevent future problems in areas riddled with toxic mine sites."
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/007/cleanup-tab-for-mines-should-not-fall-to-public.html

http://www.earthjustice.org/library/legal_docs/notice-of-citizen-suit-financial-assurances.pdf
**
Lisa Gollin Evans
Earthjustice
Marblehead, MA 01945

Sierra Club
San Francisco, California 941 05
Contact: Ed Hopkins, Director of the Environmental Quality Program,

Ainigos Bravos
Taos, NM 87571
Contact: Brian Shields, Executive Director

Great Basin Mine Watch
Reno, NV 89503
Contact: Dan Randolph, Executive Director

Idaho Conservation League
Boise, Idaho 83701
Contact: John Robison, Public Lands Director

El Paso County Commissioners decide not to weigh in on Asarco debate

"El Paso Times - El Paso,TX,USA
By Erica Molina Johnson / El Paso Times County Commissioners decided not to weigh in as a body today on the Asarco debate. ..."
County opts to stay out of Asarco debate