Last Stand Against ASARCO

Final Stand Against Asarco
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) in Austin, Texas
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The Asarco smelter in El Paso has sat dormant for the last seven years, but lately, there has been a cacophony of voices debating the pros and cons of its return.

The plant has argued that 300 new jobs for the community and a report (which they funded) that declares Asarco will "neither cause nor contribute to a condition of air pollution to existing air quality in Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico upon resuming operation of their El Paso Plant" make the argument for the renewal of their permit an easy decision.

On the other side of the fence, El Paso's mayor John Cook and state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, in addition to pointing out the obvious conflict of interest between Asarco and their "research team" at Zephyr Environmental Corporation, have argued against the permit renewal, citing a TCEQ report which claims that Asarco's re-opened smelter would emit 7.69 tons of lead annually, in addition to the other material that will come from the smokestacks.

In February, the Take Down Asarco group will bus El Paso residents to Austin's TCEQ to protest the permit renewal and make their voice heard. Sen. Shapleigh will be in attendance, and concerned citizens are encouraged to make arrangements with school and work to be there. If you live in El Paso, you can get information on pricing for the bus trip at the group's MySpace. If you live in Austin and would like more information, visit Take Down Asarco's online fact sheet.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Paige Maguire in News on January 17, 2008 10:50 AM 0 Comments

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elpasoan

How can a person tell when they are lied to or not?

It's simple.

You have to use your common sense.

In his letter on 1/13/08, did Mr. Aldrich (VP Envir. affairs for Asarco) mention the illegal burning of toxic waste by the smelter? Is the Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi considering any of the formerly secret-toxic-waste when finalizing the environmental liabilities for ASARCO?

No. Why not?

Our Federal Government Accounting Office did an investigation and confirmed the illegal activity. In his 11/13/07 press release regarding this GAO report, Representative Reyes stated "Asarco paid out millions of dollars on the condition that details of its activities would not be released to the public", and he also said, "Asarco failed to manage the military materials as hazardous waste. As outlined in the report, the hazardous waste was shipped to El Paso without a required RCRA hazardous waste manifest, Asarco stored the hazardous waste without a permit, and Asarco disposed of the hazardous waste in its industrial furnace without a permit."

The details were not released to the public. Some of the details still are secret - our own environmental regulatory agencies are failing to reveal the whole story.

My common sense relies on the old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you -- Fool me twice, shame on me".

ASK WHAT THE TCEQ and EPA and ASARCO are HIDING FROM US --- what toxic waste are they hiding still in the Paso del Norte region that entered the Rio Grande and the binational aquifer(s)??