Scroll to end: click web view. Heather Mcmurray 's research uncovering poisoning of 1000 square miles around El Paso by Asarco smelter through what the EPA & US DOJ said was illegal burning of illegal hazardous/radioactive wastes 1991 to 1998. We have never been told what actinides, forever chemicals, dioxins etc are present from illegal Asarco actions(see 73 page 1998 conf. for settlement purposes only DOJ EPA Asarco doc,10/06 nytimes) 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"
Saturday, July 11, 2009
July 11, 2009 Labor News International Unions Escalate Mexico Solidarity
Sources: La Jornada, July 9, 10, 11, 2009. Articles by Patricia Munoz Rios
and Carolina Gomez Mena. International Federation of Chemical, Energy,
Mine and General Workers Unions, July 8 and 10, 2009. Press releases.
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University Las Cruces, New Mexico
For a free electronic subscription email
fnsnews@nmsu.edu"
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Ex-DOJ Official Lied to Senate Committee, Broke Federal Laws
A scathing report issued Tuesday by the Department of Justice's
inspector general found that a former top official in the agency's civil
rights division lied to a Senate committee and broke federal law by
using a political litmus test to hire and fire employees--a violation of
the very laws he was charged with upholding."
http://www.pubrecord.org/law/618-ex-doj-official-lied-to-senate-committee-broke-federal-laws.html
Dallas News: EPA echoes activists in challenging Texas' air pollution permits ...
EPA echoes activists in challenging Texas' air pollution permits ... By Senator Eliot Shapleigh The EPA retains approval authority over state programs and can formally object to a state-issued permit, as it threatened to do in the case of Asarco's controversial copper smelter in El Paso. That threat came Feb. ... |
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
gambling debts in Bahamas, Las Vegas, Atlantic City
http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=34626
"A Caribbean investment company has sued to collect on a $12-million loan ...the property is held in trust by Swiss company Asarco A.G., which Mr. Mikhail [Katamanin] controls, according to the complaint and public records....lawyer Irving Drobny, who represents Asarco, is out of the country until next week, according to employees at his office....The claim also is to be arbitrated in Switzerland, according to the complaint."
http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=34626
Irving Drobny is the same name as an attorney representing the imperial family of Vietnam. A Chicago Attorney by that same name also serves as legal council for a Dallas Texas firm, "Transpacific Group" or TPEG. [" TPEG, headquarter in Dallas- Texas, with auxiliary office in HCMC, Vietnam, has played a very important role of great and effective business link and supports to enterprises and entrepreneurs in both sides of the Pacific." http://www.tpeginc.com/aboutus.html
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
PLAIN AND SIMPLE WAS ILLEGAL TREATMENT AND DISPOSAL OF HAZARDOUS WASTE
Asarco still wants us to believe it didn't happen. But in 2006 the Federal Government broke eight years of silence and gave me a formerly confidential-for-settlement-purposes-only EPA-DOJ Asarco document (NYTimes 10/06). The EPA told the Federal Dept. of Justice, "THIS ACTIVITY PLAIN AND SIMPLE, WAS ILLEGAL TREATMENT and DISPOSAL OF HAZARDOUS WASTE." and that "IT APPEARS THAT ASARCO BENEFITED SUBSTANTIALLY" (google "secret asarco document" on the internet).
Asarco signed the consent decree on conditions that details of what they had done would never become public. The secret is out. God only knows what poisons rained down on Cd. Juarez and the communities of Sunland Park and El Paso from those years of illegal activity.
Asarco's "clarification" is all about closure and not about disclosure.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The East Liverpool OH Toxic Waste Incinerator was not allowed to handle the stuff that was secretly sent to Asarco El Paso for burning --
"NEWS RELEASE
For Release:November 20, 1998
Media Contact: Jim Leach (614) 644-2160
Citizen Contact: Patrick Gallaway (614) 644-2160
Ohio EPA will hold an information session and public hearing on Monday, December 14, 1998, in East Liverpool, regarding hazardous waste permit changes requested by Waste Technologies Industries (WTI) [East Liverpool OH Toxic Waste Incinerator], 1250 St. George Street, East Liverpool, Columbiana County.
The December 14 meeting will be held at East Liverpool Middle School, 810 West 8th St., East Liverpool.
Ohio EPA issued a draft modified permit to WTI on November 13, 1998. If the modified permit becomes final, it would authorize WTI to accept, store and treat lab pack wastes. A "lab pack" is a package of one or more small jars, bottles or cans containing chemicals generated by laboratories, research facilities and other commercial and industrial activities. WTI would only be authorized to accept lab packs containing wastes it is already permitted to accept. Wastes not authorized for acceptance at WTI include:
- shock-sensitive materials;
- chemical munitions controlled by the Department of Defense or residue derived from such munitions[this is the kind of stuff sent to El Paso's Asarco smelter];
- explosives in quanitities greater than two pounds per outer container or primary explosives;
- asbestos, dioxins, mustard gases, compressed gases, PCBs greater than 50 parts per million, war gases, radioactive waste or infectious waste;
- certain flammable wastes; and
- waste streams with concentrations of bromoform, Freon 11 or Freon 12 greater than 500 parts per million each.
At the information session, Ohio EPA will answer questions about WTI's proposed changes and the hazardous waste permitting process. The hearing will follow the information session and will give the public the opportunity to comment on the proposed permit modification for the record. The meeting will start at 7 p.m.
Comments may be sent through January 6, 1999, to: Ohio EPA, Attn: Thomas E. Crepeau, Division of Hazardous Waste Management, P.O. Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio, 43216-1049. All comments will be considered before a final decision is made.
The draft permit and related materials may be reviewed at Carnegie Public Library, 219 East 4th Street, East Liverpool. Materials also can be reviewed at Ohio EPA's Northeast District Office, 2110 E. Aurora Rd., Twinsburg, by first calling (330) 963-1200 to make an appointment."
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Santa Teresa/San Jeronimo International NAFTA City...
November 2008:
"What does it say about border relations when one of the first cheerleaders for Hon Hai Precision Industry/Foxconn's new 9,350-worker plant in San Jeronimo, Chihuahua, Mexico, is the governor of New Mexico? 'This is one of many mutually beneficial projects that I and my economic development people have worked with Chihuahua officials to carry out,' said Gov. Bill Richardson in July. 'This is the kind of economic development that is going to bring the New Mexico-Mexico border to the forefront of international trade and development.' "
http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2008/nov/Site-Visit/images/Hi-Res-Map.jpg
Verde Group
http://www.pasodelsur.com/news/plantimeline.html
see:
Verde Santa Teresa Intermodal Park
Swiss Asarco AG attorney
http://vcml.homestead.com/
"May 19, 2009 .... the property is held in trust by Swiss company [bank] Asarco A.G., which Mr. Mikhail [Katamanin] controls....Northbrook lawyer... who represents Asarco, is out of the country until next week, according to employees at his office....The claim also is to be arbitrated in Switzerland, according to the complaint."
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=34091
Hon Hai (Foxconn) Vietnam 5 Billion expansion plan
Taiwanese firm Hon Hai (also known by the trade name Foxconn) recently announced plans for a US$5 billion five-year expansion in Vietnam. This is considerably more than its previous Vietnam investment announcement of US$1 billion. To date, Hon Hai has already invested $200 million in Vietnam. It is reported Vietnam can provide Hon Hai with 2,000 hectares of land."
http://www.ventureoutsource.com/contract-manufacturing/industry-pulse/2007/hon-hia-foxconn-vietnam-mega-site-update
Monday, June 29, 2009
Smeltertown
Copy of a letter sent to EPA Thursday June 25th
The report you sent me from 2002 reflects that the EPA (deliberately) used a non-standard EPA-sampling grid. The EPA did not use the standard grid that the EPA usually did. Many sites - most within the direction of ASARCO's main plume -- were left out. That report also sampled City Parks with new sod and dirt. Also, that report fails to address ground water.
That 2002 report says that Sunland Park is "safe" --but, back then EPA left-out testing of Anapra/Sunland-Park N.M.; and [your letter] refers to ATSDR as an "expert" when ATSDR has recently been investigated-before-Federal-Congress for faking data.
I am directing these questions to you because you sat on the La Paz Joint Advisory committee all those years, and were responsible --as the USA Chair of that Air committee --- for our regional air health, and also are the manager for the only EPA staff local to our region.
The Superfund is not likely to have the data. The TCEQ told the EPA that the testing was outside their jurisdiction and they turned it over to the EPA who in turn hired a private contractor with high-level security clearance. Also, dirt is not likely to be the best source -- indoor attic dust, slag-from-a-known-date, and pond sediments are the best sources. Have any of these been tested? If not, then why not?
You state that the GAO report I gave you ..."is not a report that addresses risks or wastes that may have been generated at the sites and shipped offsite to facilities such as to the ENCYCLE facility and beyond". ??? It is enough that the same site(s) that the EPA caught sending illegal wastes to Asarco El Paso are listed, because: the wastes that ASARCO El Paso burned were UNMANIFESTED (and illegal/secret). The EPA said that Asarco burned these for years. Until we get honest testing in this region from our environmental agencies (and so far we haven't had testing for most anything at ALL -- including dioxins, PCBs, mercury, polonium, hexavalent chromium, chromium III and others....) we can't tell what ASARCO left here.
That is your responsibility, and not just Susan Websters; and I hope that you would do everything in your power to back us up and find out what is left here in our community from that illegal/unmanifested burning. We already know from Rep. Reye's comments that ASARCO paid millions on the condition that the details of what it had done would never be made public -- and, we know that in 1998 the EPA told the DOJ in a confidential-for-settlement-purposes-document about Asarco's illegal activities and then proceeded to keep it secret from our community for the next eight years. The details are still being kept secret. That document is now public, and we want the details made public, also."
Grupo Mexico raises bid.... again
increased the cash component to USD 1.46 billion from USD 1.3 billion
and also hiked payouts to asbestos claimants to USD 280 million from USD
250 million.... Sterlite wants to buy the assets of Asarco, Grupo Mexico
is interested in the entire company, including its liabilities.
Creditors will play a crucial role in the sale of Asarco"
http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/06/29/MTAwMzE3/Grupo_Mexico_revises_Asarco_bid_offer_again.html
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Federal Dept. of Justice asking for public comments regarding ASARCO Hayden operation ...
Notice of Proposed Administrative Settlement Agreement and Order ...
The Asarco DOJ "settlement agreement" notice (see link above) says that the notice is available on the USDOJ consent decrees site.
If the new Administration in the DOJ wants to instill confidence and credibility to the Federal Dept. of Justice then please begin by being forthright and honest with our community about what chemicals have been left in our Paso del Norte community from ASARCO's years of secret illegal waste-burning-for-profit.
We in El Paso Texas were denied access or knowledge of the "confidential-for-settlement-purposes" EPA document to the DOJ written in 1998 until an honest DOJ person admitted it was public record and released it in 2006 to me. Before that, only a "Consent decree" was shown to our community -- and the consent decree did not tell us what had happened (Rep. Reyes said that ASARCO paid millions on the condition that details of its activities would not become public).
We are wondering exactly how many of these secret consent decrees have been made about Asarco. How do we know that the notice-of-proposed-admin.-settlement-agreement-and-order (below) for Asarco Hayden does not have such a secret component? How can we know for sure that none of the unmanifested/secret toxic wastes that the EPA told the DOJ ASARCO El Paso (and E. Helena MT) had burned for years, for $$$, never went to Hayden?
Right now the Federal Department of Justice trustee is overseeing the Asarco Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi and yet NONE OF THIS SECRET/UNMANIFESTED WASTE HAS BEEN DISCUSSED. WHY NOT?? The DOJ, EPA and TCEQ held a public meeting in El Paso recently about ASARCO and instead of taking public comments directly, those agencies hired an Attorney from Bethesda MD to intercede for them with the public -- to the point that the DOJ people in attendance did not want to hand over their business cards but asked the moderator to hand out his instead.
It is becoming clear that someone in the Department of Justice did their job to protect us when made sure that the formerly-confidential EPA/DOJ Asarco document became public -- but that others in our Dept. of Justice are not ensuring that this now-public document is heard. The Asarco Corpus Christi bankruptcy court should be looking at the secret-illegal toxic wastes (that the EPA told the DOJ were unmanifested, secret, and burned for years here for money.)
What ARE these wastes? What chemicals have been left in our community from this secret illegal action?
Many groups want to know the answer to this:
- Sunland Park wants an answer (and has never gotten an answer in two years from NM Environmental Secretary Ron Curry, who now being considered -- in spite of this -- as a possible candidate for EPA Region 6 Administrator)
- The JAC wants an answer (Joint Air-Advisory Committee for the bi-national La Paz Accord) and passed an international resolution
- Members of Sierra Club -- national, regional and local want an answer
- Acorn through the former workers at Asarco El Paso, want an answer
- Get the Lead Out, wants an answer
The entire consent-decree process, in my lay opinion, has become suspect from the use of this "secret agreement" between the DOJ and Asarco, which began an eight year environmental/health sacrifice of the Paso del Norte community.
If the new Administration in the DOJ wants to instill confidence and credibility to the Federal Dept. of Justice then please begin by being forthright and honest with our community about what chemicals have been left in our community from ASARCO's years of secret illegal waste-burning-for-profit.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
What does Asarco El Paso have in common with Banking, Railroads, and Privatization of PEMEX?
"...Private Equity Seeks to Corrupt Banking System...There’s a lot of pressure on banks to raise capital and there’s a lot of pressure being exerted by the private equity guys to lean on the Fed and U.S. Treasury to bend the rules to let them play in that sandbox. Pushing hard from the private equity camp are Randall Quarles, Managing Director of Carlyle Group Ltd. and a former senior Treasury official and none other than the former Treasury Secretary himself, Chairman of Cerberus Capital Management, John Snow...."
http://seekingalpha.com/article/110306-overly-leveraged-private-equity-deals-deepen-recession
"In 1988, Snow left CSX Transportation (the railroad) to become President and Chief Operating Officer of CSX Corporation (the holding company). As of April 1989, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of CSX. From 1991, he also served as CSX's Chairman. He continued to hold all three posts until he was named Secretary of the Treasury in 2003..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Snow
2008 November: PEMEX privatization
Nov. 2008
http://seekingalpha.com/article/103568-carlos-slim-discloses-stake-in-bronco-drilling
China News service covers PEMEX bids for transport lines and platforms
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/24/content_11593108.htm
20090624 Grupo Mexico raises BID to 3.1 Billion dollars
"...Mexico’s largest mining company Grupo Mexico SAB increased its offer for bankrupt Asarco Llc. by $240 million (around Rs1,164 crore) to $3.1 billion, spokesman Juan Rebolledo said on Wednesday in a telephone interview. Grupo Mexico is raising its cash offer by $210 million for Asarco, Rebolledo said. A payment note for asbestos plaintiffs will be increased from $250 million to $280 million, he said..."
Monday, June 22, 2009
Vedanta Resources PLC (one of three companies bidding on ASARCO)...
....Also listed as shareholders are Axa Sun Life Assurance Society, Jaguar Cars Pension Plan, Land Rover Pension Trustees Ltd, Unilever Pension Fund and Coors Brewers Pension Fund."
http://www.theecologist.org/trial_investigations/272286/uk_companies_linked_to_devastating_indian_mine.html