Faces Against. Asarco - Map and BackgroundBy: El Paso Now!
September 23 is an event you may want to consider a can't miss. We need your help. On Sunday, September 23 at 6 P.M., we are gathering for the biggest ever photo of people who oppose ASARCO re-opening. We need you to be there and we need to bring your friends, your family and your neighbors. We need as much energy as you can give us in these next three weeks to get people out to register their opposition in this historic photo. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) will make a final decision this fall about whether to re-permit Asarco and allow them to re-open. The TCEQ comment period on the Asarco permit application attracted an astounding 10,500 written responses—with more than 9,600 comments opposing Asarco and only 880 supporting the reopening. We want to remind the Governor that 9,600 people is a whole lot of people. We are going to take a big group photo to send to Governor Perry so that he knows just where El Paso stands on this issue. So here is what we need you to do. Show up on September 23 at 6 P.M. on I-10 and Executive Center West. Enter on Paisano. Come early. Wear a white t shirt. Bring your friends, your family, your neighbors. Help us let others know about this event. Forward this email around to your address book and your listserves. Post it on websites and calendars. Pass out invitations to everyone you know and see in the next few weeks. Put up posters at your favorite businesses. Invitations and posters are available at Senator Shapleigh's office (800 Wyoming, Suite A). Call into radio shows, write letters to the editor inviting everyone to show up. If we all give our time and energy in these next few weeks to pulling out as many people as possible, we could make this an event that El Paso and Texas will never forget. Here's what we will do. We'll take the big giant photo to Austin to present to the TCEQ Commissioners and the Governor. We'll use the photo to continually remind El Paso, the State and ASARCO that the residents of this region don't want ASARCO to re-open. Summer Luciano ( summerluciano@hotmail.com) with any questions. Below are some of the reasons why ASARCO shouldn't have a place in our future. El Paso is indeed proud of its industrial economic base and supports the honest businesses that are such a vital part of our community and our future prosperity—however, it must be industry that plays by the rules and makes a positive contribution. Asarco is not one of those businesses. Here is Asarco's record: Asarco Has a Lengthy Record of Non-Compliance The clear record shows that Asarco is not a good corporate citizen and does not comply with environmental standards. Asarco continually violated its state-issued air permit during the entire eight years it operated in the 1990s (1992-1999). Consider this dubious record it has achieved: Sulfur dioxide double authorized levels. Toxic arsenic and lead levels exponentially higher than permitted. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) levels two and one-half times allowable levels. Carbon monoxide levels 11 times higher than authorized. The EPA has found that Asarco illegally burned hazardous waste from 1992 through 1997. The EPA has identified Asarco as being responsible for contaminating residential property soils due to decades of emissions of arsenic and lead from its El Paso smelter. There is no way to know whether the smelter is in compliance with its permitted emissions levels, and the TCEQ will have no way of knowing whether Asarco's air emission levels meet the permit terms. Asarco does not measure the level of contaminants in the incoming raw materials. Asarco measures contaminants from only three of its 103 emission points. Asarco does not measure lead, arsenic, cadmium or any other metals from the plant. Despite Asarco's claim of economic prosperity, Asarco owes hundreds of thousands in delinquent property taxes on the El Paso smelter to the City and other local taxing authorities. Despite its advertising claims, Asarco's recent record in El Paso has not been a good one. Its failure to comply with the terms of previous permit requirements negates its rights to have an air permit reissued. Asarco is a Health Hazard It was determined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that approximately 1,100 residences were contaminated with lead and arsenic contamination by Asarco. Neither Asarco nor the TCEQ can quantify how much lead, arsenic or other metals would be emitted if the plant resumes operations. Some children and adults already carry a "body burden" of lead due to past exposure and this health hazard will continue to grow as new emissions of lead and arsenic from Asarco again settles onto the ground and into dust in homes – exposing and re-exposing our citizens to a preventable health hazard. The threat to human health from the exposure of these contaminants from both the air and soil has never been evaluated. Data from Asarco shows that, if the smelter is restarted, its air emissions, combined with existing emissions, will exceed federal health standards. Asarco's Application Faces Widespread Public Opposition 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 and civic leaders, and medical and public 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. The TCEQ comment period attracted an astounding 10,500 written responses—with more than 9,600 comments opposing Asarco and only 880 supporting the reopening. Letters continue to be submitted. |
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