20070700 MTO Heather McMurray Motion to Overturn Re Issuance of Storm Water MSGP Number TXR05U939

8/14/2019 20070700 MTO Heather McMurray Motion to Overturn Re Issuance of Storm Water MSGP Number TXR05U939

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PERMIT NO. TXR05U939RN: 100219021; CN 602815524

IN THE MATTER OFTPDES MULTI-SECTORGENERAL PERMIT(TXR050000)(MSGP) RE-ISSUANCE OF NOTICEOF INTENTAUTHORIZATIONASSIGNED PERMIT NO.TXR05U939

BEFORE THE

TEXAS COMMISSION

ON

ENVIRONMENTAL

QUALITY

HEATHER MCMURRAY EL PASO TEXAS MOTION TOOVERTURN EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS FINAL APPROVAL

TO THE HONORABLE COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY:

COMES NOW, Heather McMurray, citizen, El Paso Texas (HM ) , and files this,

its Motion to Overturn (Motion) the Executive Director of the Texas Commission on

Environmental Qualitys (ED) action in signing the TPDES Storm Water Multi-Sector

General Permit No. TXR05U939 attached hereto as Exhibit 1.

In support of its Motion, HM would show the following:

HMS MOTION TO OVERTURNPage of [x]


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I. SUMMARY

In 1992 AEP El Paso installed the two largest ConTop furnaces in the world for energy

recovery; TCEQ had not permitted AEP for the incineration of Toxic Wastes. But we

know from the July 1998 EPA Response to Encyle/AEP Settlement statement that AEP

had illegally burned manifested and unmanifested toxic waste during the 1990s and

made a large profit (Exhibit 2). We know AEP has contaminated the Rio Grande which

recharges the alluvial basin aquifer of the Hueco Bolson (Exhibit 3). The plant shut

down operation in Feb-1999. HM asks the Texas Commission on Environmental

Quality (TCEQ) to overturn the EDs action in signing a renewal TPDES Storm Water

Multi-Sector General Permit No. TXR05U939 from AEP Notice of Intent (NOI) filed 09-

14-2006 and remand the matter to an Authority without a conflict of interest. The

reason HM seeks this action from the TCEQ is because of evidence that AEP has

compromised employees of both the EPA and TCEQ (Attached hereto as Exhibit 4 and

incorporated herein by reference). HM respectfully requests that the TCEQ overturn

the EDs action in executing Permit No. TXR05U939 and remand the matter to someone

who has not known, or should know that AEPs contamination is being concealed.

I. STANDING

HM has standing in that she lives three miles from the AEP El Paso (AEP) Smelter,

drinks/uses water received as stormwater run-off from AEP; and, is a member of the

following groups who want AEP to stay closed and the contamination disclosed:



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Sunland Park Environmental Group (2 miles from AEP), El Paso Get the Lead Out,

members of Citizens against AEP, and members of El Paso Sierra Club Group.

II. DISCUSSION

People in this region drink water originating from the old open-conduit American-canal

which begins at American Dam next to the historic evacuated smeltertown by AEP,

passes alongside AEP between the smelter and the Rio Grande, and traveling to the

Canal Street Water Treatment Plant (WTP). From there the old American Canal

joins the Franklin Canal (new American Canal) and feeds over 70 miles of irrigation

ditches and canals. From mid-March through mid-October every year El Paso uses the

water passing through the old-American-canal next to AEP for our El Paso City

drinking water and for agricultural irrigation. Dry deposition of dusts into water

supplies has long been known as a hydrological-pollutant-source. The canal is old,cracked and AEP ground-water-contamination travels through the cracks (Exhibit 5).

The El Paso Water Utilities Canal Street Station is 1.9 miles down-river from AEP after

the old American Canal, and in its new design stages plans to deliver more and more

municipal water to Cd. Juarez. (Exhibit 6). The Canal St. WTP takes water from the old

American Canal, pumps it up the Franklin Mountains to store it in various reservoirs, to

mix it with other waters and gravity-feed it throughout the City.

Just a few hundred feet or less from this canal, AEP periodically releases storm water

debris and chemicals into our drinking supply from both ends of the site. (Exhibits 7, 8,



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9) and onto the State Road (Paisano). Discharge to a State Road was never declared on

the NOI. AEP signed off on the NOI aware of the penalties for misrepresenting the

truth. The prevailing winds at AEP travel toward the canal, American Dam, and the

Rio Grande the greatest percentage of time. Up until 1999, AEP would bring illegal

hazardous wastes from AEP-ENCYCLE to the El Paso facility, unload these and process

these along with the ores, above this canal

The renewal of this AEP permit will exacerbate storm water waste treatment for the

new El Paso Municipal Storm water utility by disportionately transferring an

expensive yet-undisclosed and heavy toxic burden to taxpayers for storm water

remediation and sludge-treatment/disposal of toxic waste which AEP has not

disclosed or declared. IBWC has thoroughly documented many AEP problems

impinging upon the canal. It is not possible for our Citys water system to test and

remove many of these contaminants, especially unknown toxic chemicals from Toxic

Waste migration. Potentially, these contaminants can disproportionately affect the

young, the ill, the elderly, and the unborn. IBWC told TCEQ that the remediation of

the AEP-contaminants already beneath our leaking-canal will cost over 24 Million

dollars, indicating the extent of known contamination. A 1995 study by TNRCC

showed that the sediment in the AMERICAN CANAL registered 13000 ppb of arsenic

(legal limit is now 10 ppb in drinking water) -- the water leaking into the canal was

measured at 37,000 ppb (Exhibit 5, page 215).



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Besides being among the City water users relying upon water originating from the old

American canal, I live three miles from the AEP smelter. We use swamp cooling

(evaporative city water). When the cooler runs, evaporating water cannot stop the

movement of particulates from the evaporative-pads to us in our home from any

ENCYCLE toxic-waste contaminates not removed from the water. Most folks in this

arid region use this cooling method.

The renewal of Permit TXR05U939 will violate the Treaty of La Paz by using our

drinking water, the International Hueco Bolson Aquifer, the El Paso Municipal Storm

Water Utility and El Paso Water Treatment and Solid Waste plants to handle and

dispose of AEP undeclared and unlicensed toxic-waste on both sides of the Border

within the agreed 100 km zone. The 2002 Summary and Recommendations: Regional

Plan Feasibility study presented to Far West Texas Water Planning Group (Exhibit 6,

page 10) states that the Phase one will distribute18,500,000 m3/yr to Cd. Juarez from

the Canal Station 1.9 miles from the Smelter.

Residents in this region have been (and continue to be) denied due process of law

guaranteed them by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States

Constitution because individuals who participated in the decision-making process with

respect to this permit application have potential conflicts of interest. The internal EPA



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memorandum dated June 28, 2001, contains the following handwritten sentence: The

TNRCC is concerned that the El Paso sampling plan doesnt undermine the AEP

Corpus sampling delima (sic). An inescapable inference from this sentence is the fact

that AEP has compromised employees of both the EPA and TCEQ. Both AEP and the

regulators are concealing certain AEP contaminants from the residents of Corpus

Christi and the Paso del Norte Region. Every individual who either knows, or should

know that AEPs contamination is being concealed is exposed to both criminal and civil

liability. AEP is not in compliance with federal, state and local environmental laws but

no legitimate enforcement actions have been taken against the company because AEP

has compromised employees of both the EPA and the TCEQ.

NOTICE: THIS WILL DIRECT YOUR ATTENTION TO UNITED STATES V.

PANARELLA, 277 F.3 RD 678 AND UNITED STATES V. GRAY, NO. 95-50533,

SEPTEMBER 18, 1996. IT IS REQUESTED THAT NO PERSON WHO EITHER

KNOWS, OR SHOULD KNOW, THAT ANY AEP CONTAMINATION OF CORPUS

CHRISTI OR PASO DEL NORTE REGION IS BEING CONCEALED PARTICIPATE

IN ANY FURTHER ACTION IN THIS MATTER. THIS REQUEST INCLUDES, BUT

IS NOT LIMITED TO THE ATTORNEYS AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVES OF

AEP, LLC.



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III. PRAYER

WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, HM prays that TCEQ will overturn the EDs

action in executing TPDES Re-issuance of Notice of Intent Authorization assigned storm

water MSGP Permit No. TXR05U939.



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Respectfully submitted,

Heather McMurray, M.S. Biological Sciences635 Bluff Canyon Circle

El Paso, Texas 79912(915) 539-3388

By: ____________________________ Heather McMurray



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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify, by my signature below, that a true andcorrect copy of the above and foregoing document was forwardedto the persons on the attached mailing list as identified on that list,on this, the 23 day of July, 2007.

____________________________ Heather McMurray

Office of the Public Interest Council VIA FAX/MAILTexas Commission on Environmental QualityP.O. Box 13087 Austin, TX 78711-3087

Stephanie Bergeron VIA FAX/MAILEnvironmental Law Division Director (MC 173 )Texas Commission on Environmental QualityP.O. Box 13087 Austin, TX 78711-3087

Chief Clerk VIA FAX/MAILOffice of the Chief Clerk (h1C 105)Texas Commission on Environmental QualityP.O. Box 13087 Austin, TX 78711-3087

(11 additional copies sent to Chief Clerk)



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List of Exhibits:

1. 20070625 TPDES MSGP TXR050000 Reissuance of NOI authorizationCertificate

2. 20060721 EPA Response to Encyle/AEP Settlement statement (EPA Legalmemo to the Department of Justice documenting AEP Sham Recycling of metals, including wastes from Rocky Mt. Arsenal)

3. 20040329 Review and Interpretation of the Hueco Bolson Groundwater Model (with handwritten notes)

4. 20010628 EPA AEP Meeting memo with handwritten notes i.e. SmokingGun Memo

5. 19970000 Damage Cases and Environmental Releases from Mines andMineral Processing Sites (Texas Section)

6. 20022032 Regional Planning in the El Paso/Ciudad Juarez/Dona AnaCounty Region

7. 20060904 AEP EPWU TCEQ Spill report for failure of storm ponds8. 20060904 Photographs HMcMurray flooding at AEP9. 20050821 Report from GTLO Coalition to Terry McMillian, TCEQ, regarding

Stormwater drainage from AEP onto Paisano10.11.20050300 Unclassified US DOS and Broadcasting Board of Governors

Office of Inspector General Report of Inspection for U.S. Section of theInternational Boundary and Water Commission, Report No. ISP-I-05-26

12.20051117 Storm Water Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) No. TXR05P461and file

List of Attachments:

1. 0000000AEP El Paso Plant Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan (SW3)2. 19960800 AEP Water Permit No. 023213. 20061006 PIA file containing NOI filed with TCEQ Storm water team signed

20060914 Lairy Johnson and Certificate for Storm Water Permit No.TXR05U939 form no. 10382

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20070700 MTO Heather McMurray Motion to Overturn Re Issuance of Storm Water MSGP Number TXR05U939

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