CLOSURE
but not
DISCLOSURE
Scroll to end: click web view. Mrs. Mcmurray 's obtained proof Asarco smelter poisoned El Paso TX through what the EPA & US DOJ said was illegal burning of illegal hazardous/radioactive wastes 1991-98. (see 73 page 1998 conf. for settlement purposes only DOJ EPA Asarco doc,10/06 nytimes) We have never been told what actinides, forever chemicals, dioxins etc are present from illegal Asarco actions see "Asarco secret document"
Please donate (see sidebar) to help recoup costs of the work to uncover and blog the information contained here"THE ONLY THING NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING"
Where are the CEOs on AP's 2007 top-paid list? The Associated Press Richard Adkerson, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. _ 2007 pay: $65.3 million _ 2008 pay: $72.4 million _ Status: Still CEO. The mining company CEO's pay ... See all stories on this topic |
Grupo Mexico set to offer new bid for Asarco American Metal Market - New York,USA By Anne RileyPublished: Apr 30 2009 5:25PM Grupo Mexico SA de CV has so far been unsuccessful in its attempts to regain control of former subsidiary Asarco ... See all stories on this topic |
Grupo Mexico SA de CV has so far been unsuccessful in its attempts to regain control of former subsidiary Asarco LLC. That's all about to change, according to the Mexico City-based miner.
Grupo Mexico said this week it had reached an agreement with the asbestos creditors in Asarco's bankruptcy case to support subsidiary Americas Mining Corp.'s reorganization plan over Sterlite Industries Ltd.'s $1.7-billion bid.
Sterlite's reorganization plan, which has been called "fair and reasonable" by the federal bankruptcy judge presiding over the case, has yet to gain the support of the asbestos committee, Grupo Mexico said.
Grupo Mexico's long and sometimes contentious relationship with Asarco dates back 10 years. Grupo Mexico acquired Asarco for $1.2 billion in 1999, but lost control over..."
(Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon has ordered non-essential government offices and businesses to shut down for five days from Friday to stem the spread of a deadly swine flu virus.....
* Some operations at state oil company Pemex will continue. The government has yet to specify what parts of the major oil exporter will be affected by the shutdown....
* Walmart's Mexican subsidiary Wal-Mart de Mexico, one of the nation's largest employers and its top retailer, will not close its stores and will operate normally, a spokesman said.....
.....copper giant Grupo Mexico said production continued normally but the companies were examining the government shutdown order, since it takes time to stop big mining operations...."
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: LISA WHEELER
THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2009 PHONE: 512-239-5003 / PAGER: 512-606-3681
TCEQ ANNOUNCES WINNERS OF THE
2009 TEXAS ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE AWARDS
Awards are highest environmental achievement in state of Texas
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) today formally announced the winners of the 17th annual Texas Environmental Excellence Awards. The awards were given to 10 innovative projects and people across the state that demonstrate positive effects on air, water, and land resources....
"These award winners are shining examples of how everyone—from one individual, to a corporation—can improve and protect our state’s natural resources,” said TCEQ Chairman Buddy Garcia.
"The innovation shown by these winners is truly inspiring, and should encourage all Texans to follow their lead,” said TCEQ Commissioner Larry R. Soward.
2009 Texas Environmental Excellence Award winners:
PARIS
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
(Category: Large/Non-technical)
http://www.teea.org/win09_lbnontech_vid.htm
Asarco reorganization decision delayed until May 15 Reuters - USA The decision, by US Bankruptcy Judge Richard Schmidt of the Southern District of Texas, gives Asarco's parent, Grupo Mexico, time to submit its own plan to ... See all stories on this topic |
They included several Tables, where they compared the values of chemicals-test-for in 1990 (pre-Asarco Contop-furnace haz-waste burning) vs 1997-2000. The sample sites were downwind of the Asarco smelter.J Air Waste Manag Assoc. 2001 Nov;51(11):1551-60. Analysis of temporal and spatial dichotomous PM air samples in the El Paso-Cd. Juarez air quality basin. by Li WW, Orquiz R, Garcia JH, Espino TT, Pingitore NE, Gardea-Torresdey J, Chow J, Watson JG.
"Bryan W. Shaw’s confirmation as a member of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has run into trouble in the Texas Senate. At a press conference this morning, Sens. Eliot Shapleigh, Wendy Davis and Rodney Ellis called for a “top to bottom” review of the agency — in the manner of the DeLoitte Touche analysis of management at the TexasDepartment of Transportation.
Citing examples of ex parte communications, the revolving door between the commission and industry, failure to enforce federal laws and a pattern of decisions in which the commission overrules its own scientists, the three lawmakers claimed unethical — and sometimes illegal — activities at the TCEQ were undermining the agency’s core mission.....
Monday, the three lawmakers also raised the possibility that federal regulators would step in and strip the TCEQ of responsibilities delegated by the EPA. Environmental groups filed a petition requesting that action under the Bush Administration and no action was taken; that could change once the Obama Administration names a new regional EPA director...." Stimulus steps in to mop up Superfund mess Seattle Times - Seattle,WA,USA Up to $10 million will be spent to remove contaminated soils from residential backyards and park areas within a mile of the former Asarco smelter along ... |
Until then, financing for work at the nation's nearly 1,600 Superfund sites will come from taxpayers in the form of EPA appropriations or stimulus money. The nearly $600 million in stimulus money virtually doubles the amount available for Superfund work in the current fiscal year, officials said."
Mexico's largest construction firm, ICA (BMV, NYSE: ICA), does not expect the 50bn-peso (US$3.26bn) Punta Colonet port project, in Baja California state, to be tendered before 2010, the firm's VP of administration and finance, Alonso Quintana, told BNamericas.
"Punta Colonet has been delayed considerably, as it is a very, very large project involving building railroads to adequately handle containers and have them sent to the US," Quintana said. "We do not expect to see any bidding rules or documents published before next year."....
On January 27 this year, the transport and communications ministry (SCT) invited firms interested in the project to register by May 15.
The announcement followed a statement made on January 14 that the tender would be postponed indefinitely due to the global economic crisis, the second time the project had been delayed.
According to SCT's new schedule, the concession will be awarded on August 31 this year.....
Several companies from the US, Europe and Asia have expressed interest in the project.Companies include multinational port operator Hutchison Port Holdings and French container shipping company CMA-CGM. Construction will take 4-5 years.Punta Colonet Port Project Put on Hold
Frontera NorteSur
Punta Colonet could to be transformed over the next decade into a megaport that will help to handle the increasing amount of cargo coming from eastern Asia. (Charlie Neuman/Union-Tribune
Like Punta Colonet, the Manzanillo expansion to the south has also drawn fire from environmentalists.
A massive port planned for Mexico's Baja California peninsula could be among the latest casualties of the world financial crisis. Luis Tellez, Mexico's head of the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT), announced last week that authorities decided to postpone contract bidding for the construction of the Punta Colonet terminal slated for a remote section of the Baja California peninsula about 150 miles south of San Diego, California. Tellez said the global economic outlook didn't favor Punta Colonet at the moment.
"There is clearly competition for extensive resources," Tellez said, "and given the magnitude of Colonet we are seeing if there is the capacity to finance it."
The postponement was the second time in recent months that the SCT has put off issuing contracts to build and maintain a commercial trade and shipping complex that is envisioned to be larger than the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach combined. Originally slated for completion on the Pacific side of Baja California in 2020, Punta Colonet was planned as the northern Mexican shipping hub of the China trade capable of handling 6 million containers every year.
Tellez did give an exact date for the opening of bids, but he insisted the project would move forward at a later date. Mexican officials, Tellez added, were working with Citibank and a second US bank to study financing options for a construction project that could cost more than $1.5 billion.
But earlier developments like the announced expansion of the Panama Canal is leading to speculation that Punta Colonet is dead even before it hits the water. Fernando Ramos Casas, president of the Latin American Confederation of Customs Brokers judged Punta Colonet as an unviable proposition under present circumstances. "(Punta Colonet) would have been better three or four years ago, Ramos said.
An unscientific, online poll conducted by the Tijuana news daily Frontera reported January 19 that 60.5 percent of 967 respondents believed a port at Punta Colonet would happen, while 39.5 percent did not think it would see the light of day.
It's not yet clear how the Punta Colonet postponement will affect the Santa Teresa train and transportation terminal planned for the New Mexico-Chihuahua border. Last year, the SCT declared that Santa Teresa would constitute an important hub for cargo headed to consumers in the US heartland from Punta Colonet.
Not everyone is disappointed that Punta Colonet is off the map – at least for now. Green activists have long criticized a mega-project they contend would attract thousands of new residents and generate an intense demand for services in a place Mexican environmentalist and columnist Ivan Restrepo once called a "national treasure" and a "flower of the earth." Restrepo and other environmentalists fear a mammoth port at Punta Colonet would seriously disrupt migratory bird habitats, disturb grey whale migrations and damage vegetation and landscapes unique to the fragile Baja California ecosystem.
"This is very good news for those who care about conservation in Baja California," said a message posted on the website of the binational green group Wild Coast in response to Tellez's announcement.
Despite a predicted 20-30 percent drop in the volume of cargo traffic through Mexican ports this year, the SCT is moving ahead with contract bidding for improvements and expansions in other ports that could reach close to US$2 billion. Nationwide, investment in Mexico's port infrastructure increased 15.8 percent during the first two years of the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Meanwhile, with the fate of Punta Colonet up in the air, SCT Secretary Tellez's role in pushing the ongoing expansion of the large port of Manzanillo on the Pacific Coast is receiving renewed press scrutiny. The Mexican cabinet minister served as an advisor to the private SSA Mexico cargo company, one of the firms interested in expanding Manzanillo, from 2002-2006, just prior to joining the Calderon administration.
Tellez, who resigned from SSA Mexico before beginning federal service, has defended himself from conflict-of-interest charges. "The participation of SSA in the bidding does not depend on the SCT," Tellez was previously quoted as saying. "The authorization depends on the Federal Competition Commission."
Like Punta Colonet, the Manzanillo expansion to the south has drawn fire from environmentalists. Construction activities in Manzanillo have caused major damages to a 260-acre mangrove swamp, prompting some environmentalists to charge that Mexico is in violation of the 1971 International Convention on Wetlands and the Inter-American Convention on the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles, an agreement Mexico formally accepted in 2000.
Environmentalists are likewise concerned that two bills currently in the Mexican Senate and Chamber of Deputies would make the destruction witnessed at the Manzanillo mangrove swamp, which Secretary Tellez pledges to repair, the norm rather than the exception.
Sponsored by representatives of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the legislative initiatives propose weakening environmental impact study requirements meant to protect mangroves if social and economic benefits from a particular development could be demonstrated.
Besides serving as bird habitat and breeding grounds for aquatic life, mangroves are important barriers against hurricanes, which many climate change researchers warn could grow worsen in coming years.
Additional sources: Frontera, January 19, 2009. Proceso, January 18, 2009. Article by Jenaro Vilamil. Milenio, January 16, 2009. Articles by Marisela Lopez and Luis Carriles. Agencia Reforma, January 14, 2009. Articles by Lilian Cruz. La Jornada, March 4 and 31, 2008; January 19, 2009. Articles by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Ivan Restrepo and editorial staff. Wildcoast.net
Frontera NorteSur (FNS)
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes • m3 © 2009 BanderasNews ® all rights reserved • carpe aestus"
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"Five billion dollars is about to transform a sleepy seaside town on Mexico’s Baja California into one of the world’s busiest shipping centers, providing once-in-a-lifetime business opportunities for U.S. and international investors.
In just 3-5 years, Megapuerto De Punta Colonet, or the megaport of Punta Colonet, will handle six million containers (TEUs) a year – twice the total number handled in all of Mexico in 2007. Volume is expected to triple within 15 years. Most of the freight will arrive from Asia, destined for the United States......
Punta Colonet, 150 miles south of San Diego, will be the terminus of a vital new rail connection to U.S. freight transfer cities, possibly including Yuma, Arizona or El Paso, Texas. The new route will allow trains to avoid congested tracks in Southern California.
The bold project, championed by Mexico president Felipe Calderon, is urgently needed to relieve chronic freight bottlenecks at the United States’ largest ports, Long Beach and Los Angeles. ....
Facility construction costs will be borne by the private companies ......
Port construction bids are expected from, among others, Empresas ICA SAB, the country's largest construction company, billionaire Carlos Slim's Impulsora del Desarrollo y el Empleo en America Latina SAB, and the building unit of Grupo Mexico SAB. The winning bidder for a 45-year concession to operate the port and rail line is to be announced in December 2009."
http://www.affordablewebhosting.com/puntacolonet.htm
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