ustxtxb_obs_2008_02_08_50_00032-00000_000.pdf

ADVERTISEMENT sarco’s El Paso smelter has contaminated the air and land or far too long and should not reopen. Over 90% of the more than 10,000 public comments received by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality during the latest comment period were against Asarco reopening. Governor Rick Perry appoints individuals to the TCEQ \(MC 100, P.O. Box three Commissioners will make the decision on Asarco’s permit application #20345. Please contact Governor Rick Perry \(P.O. Box 12428, Austin, TX 78711, TCEQ appointments to deny Asarco’s permit application #20345. The science is done. Marco’s permit application #20345 if approved by the TCEQ will allow the annual emission of 7,560 tons of pollutants each year in the form of Sulfur Dioxide, Particulates, Lead, and Arsenic. Administrative Judges from the State Office of Administrative Hearings have already heard the arguments and concluded that Asarco should not be allowed to reopen because of its pollution potential and their dismal environmental compliance record. Their report states, “A staff member experienced heaviness in the chest, periodic increases in heart rate, sulfur odor and tastes, and general feelings of discomfort… consistent with the… respiratory illnesses that sulfur dioxide exposure can produce’ \(p. 91, http:// shapleigh.org/system/reporting_document/file/191/582-05-0593-pfd.pdf or for illegally burning hazardous waste from 1992 to 1997 \(New York Times, 10/11/06, “Copper Plant Illegally Burned Hazardous Waste, E.P.A. Says.” \(http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/usilltoxic.html?ex=1318219200&e n=3ee634faa2197f28&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss or Google New Asarco only measured contaminants from three of the 103 emission points. Even so, Sulfur Dioxide emissions were double what they had been allowed. Nitrogen Oxide emissions were at 2 1/2 times the allowable levels. The smelter emitted 11 times the authorized levels of Carbon Monoxide and its toxic Arsenic and Lead emissions were exponentially higher than permitted \(http://www.ci.el-paso.tx.us/asarco.asp, or http://shapleigh. org/system/reporting_document/file/191/582-05-0593-pfd.pdf or Google If Asarco reopens, “El Paso would potentially have the distinction of being home to the facility with the HIGHEST LEVEL OF LEAD EMISSIONS IN TIMES the sulfur dioxide and DOUBLE the particulates of the next highest El Paso emitter. \(http://www.ci.el-pasoix.us/_documents/artide%20 Other industry in El Paso is relatively clean. Asarco, in a dubious class all by itself, should not reopen. El Paso is out of compliance with the EPA on particulate emissions. Asarco’s contamination of tons of particulates into the air per year will put El Paso even further in violation. Good employers will locate elsewhere rather than subject their employees to all that Asarco air contamination. Significantly more jobs will be lost than the few provided by Marco. Many prominent people are against Asarco reopening, including City of El Paso Mayor John Cook and the City Council, the El Paso Independent School District Board of Trustees, builder and former member of the University of Texas System Board of Regents Woody Hunt, CEO of Helen of Troy Gerald Rubin, State Senator Eliot Shapleigh, and US Congressman and Chair of the House Intelligence Committee Sylvestre Reyes \(“Reyes: Don’t permit Asarco to reopen:’ July 28, 2007; http://elpasotimes.typepad. com/capito1/2007/06/reyes-to-tceq-t.html Numerous officials in New Mexico and Mexico have come out against Asarco, to protect the health and economic well being of their residents \(http://newspapertree.com/politics/1450-2-countries-3-cities-take-standagainst-asarco-asarco-fights-back or Google 2 Countries 3 Cities Against We deserve no less from Governor Perry Please contact Governor Rick Perry today at the address and phone/fax numbers above, and ask him to help stop Asarco’s permit application #20345. Thank you! If you can, please also come to the final hearing at the Tens Commission on Environmental Quality \(12100 Park 35 Circle, Building E, Room 201 S, Austin, www.EPGTLO.BLOGSPOT.com I 1-866-75-ACORN I www.GetThe.LeadOut.net 7116 rui no! paid lor with to.ptlicr moricy.