From 2009: Verde Realty Completes Rail in Santa Teresa Intermodal Park

Verde Realty Completes Rail in Santa Teresa Intermodal Park
VerdeCorporate Realty Services announced that construction has been completed on 4,283 feet
of new railroad track and new switch in VerdeSanta Teresa Intermodal Park in Santa Teresa,
NM. The track and switch will service the master-planned park's first phase totaling 118 acres.
El Paso, TX (PRWEB) January 15, 2009 -- Verde Corporate Realty Services announced that construction has
been completed on 4,283 feet of new railroad track and new switch in Verde Santa Teresa Intermodal Park in
Santa Teresa, NM. The track and switch will service the master-planned park's first phase totaling 118 acres.
Verde Santa Teresa Intermodal Park is a 1,221 acre master-planned, rail-served industrial park that can
accommodate user requirements from 5 acres to 200 acres. When fully-built out, the park will have five rail
spurs directly connected to the Union Pacific Main Line. The park provides a further benefit to users in that it is
located within Foreign-Trade Zone No. 197.
The Verde Santa Teresa Intermodal Park is the only facility of its kind in the region capable of fulfilling
transloading, cross-border trailer staging and build-to-suit requirements. Construction of the new Foxconn
Technology Group manufacturing facility in San Jerónimo, Mexico, that is located immediately adjacent to
Santa Teresa, and Union Pacific's plans to build new facilities in Santa Teresa will generate meaningful
economic activity in the area and incremental demand for rail served facilities. This park will address the needs
that will arise from this activity.
Foxconn, the trade name for Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Ltd., began construction in
July 2008 on a 440-acre manufacturing campus which will eventually employ 20,000 workers. The project's
first phase, a 650,000-square-foot facility, is scheduled to open in March 2009 and employ 5,300 workers
making computers, laptops and other electronic equipment for a variety of companies. Foxconn is an
electronics manufacturing giant that makes products for Apple, Nokia, HP, Motorola, Dell, and Sony, among
others, and more cell phones than any other firm in the world.
Union Pacific plans to initially invest $150 million in a 934-acre fueling, switching and intermodal yard to be
completed between 2010 and 2014. Once complete, it will be the largest fueling and intermodal facility on the
U.S.-Mexico border. When fully operational, the Union Pacific facility will employ 280 people.
In addition to Union Pacific's investment, Verde Corporate Realty Services' Director of Business Development,
Jay Kleberg said, "The development of Verde's Intermodal Park is a critical step in servicing the increased
demand by local and national manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors to efficiently transport goods from
coast-to-coast and service clients in Mexico."
Kleberg went on to note that, "The Park's location, five miles from the Santa Teresa Port of Entry, the new
Foxconn campus in San Jerónimo and Union Pacific's new refueling and intermodal yard is ideal for
transportation providers and suppliers doing business in Mexico. Verde has had numerous inquiries about the
availability of rail-served land and build-to-suit capabilities, and we look forward to accommodating the
corporate real estate requirements of our customers."
Verde Corporate Realty Services is a leading owner/operator of corporate facilities throughout the United
States/Northern Mexico border region. Verde's team of experienced bi-cultural professionals provides real
estate services from the design/ build phase through subsequent years of facility operation.
For more information, visit www.verdecrs.com/intermodal.
###

Ex Asarco Workers' Attorneys ask EPA to test for PCBs at the Asarco El Paso TX Legacy site

Google Alert:
"EPA, TCEQ asked to test for toxic compounds at Asarco (4:25 am)
Las Cruces Sun-News
The letter, sent by an attorney representing a group of former Asarco employees, asks that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on ..."

see also:
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_18022789

ASARCO Legacy slated to be developed into homes, playgrounds and elementary school if El Paso City Council TX ok's the rezoning today

El Paso City Council will vote to Rezone Contaminated ASARCO Land and Allow Development

Under Guise of Smartcode, the Rezoning Would Ignore
Undisclosed Poisons from Asarco's Secret-Waste Disposal Operation

EPgtlo demands that until governmental agencies disclose the hazardous-wastes from its illegal-waste-incineration that this land not be rezoned

El Paso, TX.— El Paso City Council will vote this next Tuesday May 10 (Items 19A and 19B) on Ordinance to change zoning of Asarco from unrestricted manufacturing to "SCZ" (Smart code) and allow development.  Under the ownership of the ASARCO Texas Custodial Trust and the El Paso Trustee ASARCO Bankruptcy contract, the clean-up is not required to disclose or remediate the still undisclosed hazardous wastes from when Asarco ran the illegal and secret toxic-waste disposal operation (1992-1998 - NYTimes 10/2006).  As Representative Reyes said in a press statement (2006) "Asarco paid millions on the condition that the details of what it had done would never become public". 

• The ASARCO Texas Custodial Trustee for El Paso stated that "Asarco, as a large integrated metal producer and refiner obviously handled a wide variety materials including radioactive materials." 
  
• The International Joint Advisory Committee under the La Paz Accord/Treaty passed a Resolution recommending testing, but no testing has yet been done to determine what contamination remains in this region from Asarco's illegal hazardous-waste incineration.
• EPA has not yet released the documents detailing those wastes.
  

EPgtlo demands that until governmental agencies disclose the hazardous-wastes from its illegal-waste-incineration that this land not be rezoned. 

                                                                      +++

El Paso City Council will vote to Rezone Contaminated ASARCO Land and Allow Development

For Immediate Release, May 7, 2011

Contacts:

Heather McMurray EPgtlo, (915) 539-3388, heamc@earthlink.net

El Paso City Council will vote to Rezone Contaminated ASARCO Land and Allow Development

Under Guise of Smartcode, the Rezoning Would Ignore
Undisclosed Poisons from Asarco's Secret-Waste Disposal Operation

El Paso, TX.— El Paso City Council will vote this next Tuesday May 10 (Items 19A and 19B) on Ordinance to change zoning of Asarco from unrestricted manufacturing to "SCZ" (Smart code) and allow development.  Under the ownership of the ASARCO Texas Custodial Trust and the El Paso Trustee ASARCO Bankruptcy contract, the clean-up is not required to disclose or remediate the still undisclosed hazardous wastes from when Asarco ran the illegal and secret toxic-waste disposal operation (1992-1998 - NYTimes 10/2006).  As Representative Reyes said in a press statement (2006) "Asarco paid millions on the condition that the details of what it had done would never become public". 

• The ASARCO Texas Custodial Trustee for El Paso stated that "Asarco, as a large integrated metal producer and refiner obviously handled a wide variety materials including radioactive materials." 
  
• The International Joint Advisory Committee under the La Paz Accord/Treaty passed a Resolution recommending testing, but no testing has yet been done to determine what contamination remains in this region from Asarco's illegal hazardous-waste incineration.
• EPA has not yet released the documents detailing those wastes.
  

EPgtlo demands that until governmental agencies disclose the hazardous-wastes from its illegal-waste-incineration that this land not be rezoned. 

                                                                      + + +

Federal DOJ Trustee for Corpus Christi TX ASARCO Bankruptcy and sites failing to do their job

It is illegal in our lay-opinion for the Federal DOJ Bankruptcy Trustee to continue to make legal decisions and recommendations that act as if Asarco (Encycle and Asarco inc.) never engaged in nearly ten years of secret hazardous-waste-disposal for $$. (see news announcement, below)  Why is the Federal DOJ Trustee not acting on this knowledge, that they were legally apprised of back in 2006?

We respectfully demand that the Obama Administration's DOJ appointees and the EPA's Obama Administration appointees demand that the DOJ Bankruptcy Trustee (Region 7 Judy A. Robbins United States Trustee ) do their job and require that the trustees overseeing that liquidation, Michael Boudloche (Corpus Christi), Mr. Puga (El Paso TX) consider the ramifications from the illegal secret wastes.   It is now public-domain-knowledge (both from the released-1998-formerly-confidential for settlement purposes only 72 page document AND from the 1994 Asarco Encycle Supervisor Whistleblower report) that Asarco-Encycle and Asarco El Paso TX (and E. Helena MT) ran an un-permitted hazardous-waste disposal-operation for nearly ten years just to make money.

There should be no demolition at these sites until there is full disclosure of the secret wastes handled and burned at these sites, using comprehensive chemical analyses recommended by the International La Paz Accord JAC group several years ago.

"Google Alert:
"State can't stop demolition, bankruptcy trustee says
Corpus Christi Caller Times
A US Bankruptcy Court trustee said the contested demolition of the ASARCO/Encycle plant will continue and state officials have no authority to stop the work ..." "

ASARCO LLC v. Estate of John D. Rockefeller Sr. et al 2:11-cv-00661

"Case Title

ASARCO LLC v. Estate of John D. Rockefeller Sr. et al

Court

Washington Western

Nature of Suit

Environmental Matters

Case Number

2:11-cv-00661

Judge

Richard A Jones

Date Filed

April 18, 2011"

http://www.law360.com/energy/articles/239975/asarco-brings-cercla-suit-against-rockefeller-estate

Asarco sues the Rockerfeller Estate

The Federal DOJ Bankruptcy Trustee for the Bankruptcy District at Corpus Christi TX allowed ASARCO to complete its entire bankruptcy without ever considering the liabilities from Asarco's years of illegally disposing of Toxic Waste, despite being legally notified of this lapse winter of 2006.  In Oct.,2006 the NYTimes exposed the story of how the EPA had secretly proven to the DOJ in 1998 that ASARCO disposed of illegal toxic wastes for nearly ten years - but then hid the truth away in a "confidential for settlement purposes only document".  This document became public-domain in 2006. Rep. Reyes (Chair House Intelligence Committee) wrote that Asarco  paid millions on the condition that the details of what it had done would never become public.

So now Asarco and its owner, Grupo Mexico, have huge 1st quarter profits this year; and, they have sued the Rockefeller Estate.  The Rockefeller estate attorneys ought to study this blog's archives in Scribe for the 30 documents and evidence sent to the Gov. of New Mexico (twice) about Asarco; and, that were taken through two sets of courts with each court failing to address the evidence.  The Federal DOJ has failed to hold Asarco responsible and allowed this to snowball.  No one has explained the presence of a Swiss Financial institution named "Asarco" (associated with Asarco inc.).

"Law360, New York (April 19, 2011) -- Asarco LLC hit the estate of John D. Rockefeller Sr. and other entities with a lawsuit in Washington state Monday seeking environmental response costs at a polluted smelter site over which the plaintiff recently paid a $38 million settlement.

Asarco claims in its contribution and cost recovery complaint filed in the Western District of Washington that the estate and four other entities are liable as owners or operators under..."

Judge Richard Schmidt of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas has closed two more affiliate cases of ASARCO LLC

"Court Closes 2 More ASARCO Affiliate Cases

Posted by Rob Smith On March - 20 - 2011

FAIRLESS HILLS, Pa. — Judge Richard Schmidt of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas has closed two more affiliate cases of ASARCO LLC.  They are the cases of Encycle Inc. and Government Gulch Mining Company, Limited...."

Read the Asarco Corpus Christi Encycle Whistleblower secret document from 1994 and the document from SPGEG to the DOJ Trustee to these Bankruptcy courts in 2006-7 asking the Trustee to force the courts to face the liabilities from the years of illegal secret toxic-waste disposal by ASARCO....

Why hasn't the Bankruptcy court considered any liabilities from Asarco's years of illegal secret waste disposal in Corpus Christi TX, El Paso TX, and East Helena MT.????   Why has the Federal DOJ looked the other way?

Ex ASARCO Workers to Identify Undisclosed Illegal Waste Dumps on ASARCO-El Paso Property

March 23, 2011

by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid

EL PASO, TX – March 23, 2011 – This Saturday, former employees of the ASARCO El Paso plant, as part of the Ex-ASARCO Workers coalition, will identify five unlined dumpsites on the ASARCO property that continue to contaminate the area and pose serious risks to the public health.  Representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), and a Trustee in charge of remediating the site will be present.

The EPA has informed the Ex-ASARCO Workers that the media will not be allowed to participate in the site visit.  As a result, a press briefing will be held at the ASARCO site on Saturday, March 26 starting at 1:00 pm.

“When we first told the EPA about the hidden dumpsite in November, we thought they would be on the next plane to El Paso to investigate,” said Carlos Rodriguez, lead organizer of the Ex-ASARCO Workers. “We were wrong. Clearly, the continued contamination of this property is not a high priority.”

The unlined dumpsites sit on the El Paso property where ASARCO operated a copper smelter and handled military hazardous waste for more than 100 years. The former workers contend that they were instructed to dig pits on the property and bury contaminated materials throughout their employment.  They did not place any lining that would prevent the contaminants from leaching into groundwater sources. Current plans for the property call for covering up the areas where the sites are located, rather than sampling and remediating them.

Recently the Ex-ASARCO Workers have also raised concerns that the future of the site includes plans to sell land where known ASARCO dumpsites exist, including an area east of I-10, for use as residences.

“We cannot believe that this land is going to be sold and turned into a residential area and a hiking trail. We know this area has been contaminated and there is no proof that the site is clean enough for families to live there and for children to play there,” said Mario Navarez, a member of the Ex-ASARCO Workers.

The Ex-ASARCO Workers are asking other former ASARCO employees and their spouses to contact them if they have information that would help protect the community from continued environmental pollution. Individuals can contact Veronica Carbajal, attorney with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, at (915) 585-5107.

Established in 1970, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) is a nonprofit organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income and disadvantaged clients in a 68-county service area. TRLA’s mission is to promote the dignity, self-sufficiency, safety and stability of low-income Texas residents by providing high-quality civil legal assistance and related educational services.  For more information on Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. and this story visit www.trla.org.

###
http://trla.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/ex-asarco-workers-to-identify-undisclosed-illegal-waste-dumps-on-asarco-el-paso-property/

Asarco sues EPA for "destroying evidence" regarding Omaha smelter superfund site while DOJ and EPA protect ASARCO....

What kind of poker-hand is being played, here and why??

"Asarco Inc. said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency destroyed evidence that the company's smelter didn't cause lead pollution in an Omaha neighborhood ..."

http://www.omaha.com/article/20101217/NEWS97/712179877

El Paso Times covers Ex-Asarco-workers and others site visit 2-25-11 after massive fire gutted the IONICS distillation unit

Google Alert
EPA joins in walk-through at Asarco: Past employees want further site tests ...
El Paso Times

"by Chris Roberts \ El Paso Times Patrick Garza, left, who worked for ASARCO as a contractor and employee, left, talks to Michael J. Casbon of Environmental Resources Management, who is overseeing the demolition of the site about a recent fire in the ..."

Fire site visit at Asarco El Paso TX 2-25-2011

Asarco site visit friday Feb-25-2011

Another example of Asarco handling Radioactive Isotopes provided by El Paso Asarco Cleanup Trustee

Asarco El Paso Trustee provides online link to TENORM copper leaching radioactive wastes data

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/tenorm/copper.html

ASARCO Whistleblower Report news item -- JUST HOW BAD IT WAS

ASARCO Whistleblower Report news item

ASARCO El Paso Redevelopment TVNews Story: Costs of secret liabilities from illegal hazardous waste disposal for years? (PRICELESS!)

Apparently a "redevelopment plan" for ASARCO site was released to the public today (http://www.kvia.com/video/26523619/index.html)  and it is extremely scary to those of us who realize how contaminated that site must actually be ---  Please watch this film clip - it is very short.  Remember that a UTEP geology professor recently was willing to go public stating that simply paving over the Asarco site as planned will not make it "safe".

"google alert:
Plan El Paso 2010 Includes Asarco Redevelopment Video KVIA El Paso
Plan El Paso 2010 Includes Asarco Redevelopment. ....
www.kvia.com/video/26523619/index.html
"

Asarco asset sales to date: $539,313.70:: Undisclosed liabilities from Secret Hazmat wastes? PRICELESS

Asarco asset sales to date: $539,313.70:: Undisclosed liabilities from Secret Hazmat wastes?  PRICELESS

"Recasting the Smelter
ASARCO Asset Sales (updated 12/08/10)
Sale No.     Item     Date     Amount
1     Rails/Rail ties     7/12/10     $215,000.00
2     2 horizontal cryogenic liquid oxygen above-ground tanks     3/5/10     $130,500.00
3     Slag Pots     6/10/10     $60,000.00
....[etc etc]
TOTAL TO DATE     $539,313.70"
http://www.recastingthesmelter.com/?page_id=395

Asarco El Paso TX Clean-up Trustee and contractors proceeding with demolition while not disclosing what Asarco did

Why do our EPA investigators, our TCEQ Commissioners, our Federal DOJ Attorneys continue to look the other way and allow the Trustee to tear down these structures and sell/dispose of these, without telling any of us what illegal and secret hazardous wastes remain?  

What happened here, in El Paso Texas from the years of Asarco burning illegal hazardous wastes for YEARS and YEARS SECRETLY for (in the EPA's words to the DOJ) to make money --- what happened here that was so so very bad that even today over 12 years later, the powers that be are afraid to tell the public the details of what Asarco had done?

Rep. Reyes, chair of the House Intelligence committee, said that Asarco paid millions on the condition that details of what it had done would never become public.

Despite legal notification, the Federal DOJ Asarco Bankruptcy Trustee allowed the Asarco Bankruptcy court to continue to hide those details.

Despite a NYTimes front page article and a DOJ Attorney releasing the Secret DOJ-EPA Confidential for Settlement purposes only 72 page document detailing what ASARCO had done, over five years later the Paso del Norte community has not been given the details of what contamination remains here from what ASARCO did.

The Asarco El Paso site Trustee writes on their website:  "Dear Stakeholders, The Trust has been extremely busy working at the Former ASARCO Smelter Site to ensure a safe demolition and thorough investigation/remediation process. Current major activities include:  Removing the Contop/Reverb structure to ascertain the presence of valuable matte and concentrate materials,"

Why hasn't the Trustee allowed sampling of this structure by independent community groups - or even (free!)  RADON sampling inside the buildings?  What on earth is the Trustee afraid of?

The International JAC (La Paz Accord) committee passed a resolution recommending that background contamination data be gathered --- and THIS RESOLUTION WAS THEN IGNORED.





 

ASARCO "The Department of Justice owes the public an explanation"

"However, a powerful Senator did not hesitate to comment on the matter. “The Department of Justice owes the public an explanation for why there have been no criminal prosecutions despite the SEC openly making accusations of a witness being bought off,” Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa told POGO. Grassley is slated to be the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which oversees the DOJ." [12-10 quote regarding " major case involving Pequot Capital Management, once the world’s largest hedge fund, and alleged insider trading in shares of Microsoft"]
http://www.truth-out.org/sec-describes-possible-criminal-activity-unprosecuted-hedge-fund-case66233

And, why has the DOJ not held the DOJ BANKRUPTCY Trustee for the ASARCO case accountable for failing to make the Asarco Bankruptcy court(s) consider the secret-illegal hazardous wastes that the DOJ and EPA discovered were incinerated for nearly ten years by Asarco in at least two smelters?!

How many "Confidential for settlement purposes only" documents are out there between the EPA and DOJ like the 1998 "confidential for settlement purposes only [72 pp] DOJ-EPA Asarco document" ?  How much information is being kept "secret" from affected-communities via these "confidential settlements" ?   Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Reyes said that Asarco paid MILLIONS on the condition that the details of what it had done would NEVER BECOME PUBLIC.

Now the ASARCO Bankruptcy is over, copper prices increase ...

"Google Alert - asarco
Copper mining sees new AZ momentum
Arizona Daily Star
As rising copper prices increase mining-company profits, Arizona-based mining giants Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold and Asarco have boosted the work force ..."

To this day, the liabilities from nearly ten years of ASARCO disposing/burning secret hazardous wastes for profit have never been discussed in the Bankruptcy Courts.   Rep. Reyes, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee said that Asarco paid millions of dollars on the condition that details of what it had done would never become public.    El Paso TX got only about $52 million to clean up whatever undisclosed undeclared unmanifested hazardous wastes remain at the El Paso Asarco site and over 100 years of custom and secondary smelting activity.  The Asarco toxic groundwater plume reaches the Rio Grand the width of the entire property - below that point the City still draws irrigation water for over 70 miles of irrigation district (managed by Rep. Reyes' brother)  ----  and,  draws water for drinking (for central and westside El Paso according to the EPWU Vice President of Operations.) 

Asarco El Paso TX ... "such are the places where every man woman and child seeks EQUAL JUSTICE"...

       “Where after all, do universal human rights begin?  In small places, close to home—so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world.  Yet they are the world of the individual person: the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works.  Such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, and equal dignity, without discrimination.  Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere.” 

Eleanor Roosevelt