8/14/2019 20070508 Sham Recycling Creates Sham Decision Press Release Hidden Contamination in International Waters, S

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Sham Recycling Creates Sham Decision?

The TCEQ Executive Directors Asarco Air Permit Renewal

decision ignores hidden contamination in international waters,

soils and air from secret burning of toxic waste

What are elected officials, TCEQ and EPA concealing?

EL PASO, Texas, May 8, 2007 Representative Reyes and the GAO fail to investigate the specificincident that involved Asarco - instead, "will focus on the overall procedures and processes that

DOD follows for disposing of hazardous waste that is created by military facilities and how the

transport and disposal of this type of waste by the contractors is monitored and tracked."

At the base of the Asarco smelter, the International Boundary and Water Commissions (IBWC)American Dam diverts Rio Grande River water to over 70 miles of public drinking supply and

irrigation canals. American Dam employees are sick, and the State Department Office of the

Inspector General (OIG) recommended bringing in expert independent medical review.

The first canal travels along the Asarco ore handling staging area and chemical ponds.Representative Reyes office calls the 9-04-06 Asarco levee collapse, spilling hundreds of thousands

of gallons of poisons into this drinking water, a "minor incident." El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU)

reports showed elevated poisons at the Canal Street station after the event. The EPWU Canal St.plant pumps water up the Franklin Mt. and distributes it throughout El Paso.

IBWC data shows leakage of 24 million dollars worth of Asarco groundwater contamination into the

canal, near where Asarco Hydrometrics consultants found groundwater arsenic levels at 35,000 times

the legal limit. Alluvial sediment beneath the Rio Grande is filled with faultlines above theinternational Hueco Bolson aquifer.

EPA Water officials cannot find any data for Rio Grande water tests at the smelter meant to confirm

EPA data taken five years earlier, even though EPA mentioned the testing on public radio.

Asarco is sending poisons from the bottom of its ponds to TX US Ecology, the company that also

manages Hanford Reservation Nuclear Waste in Washington State. A complete chemical analysis ofthese poisons has not been made available despite requests.

The El Paso GTLO, SPEG (Sunland Park Environmental Group), El Paso Sierra Club members and

concerned groups want the Asarco Contamination exposed, the responsible officials to "step down,"

and correct clean-up to begin.

Contact Information:

Heather McMurray

El Paso Get the Lead Out

Sunland Park Grassroots Environmental GroupMembers of the El Paso Regional Group of the Sierra Club

heamc@earthlink.net

(915) 539-3388

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