On February 13, 2008 the three-member Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is scheduled to decide whether or not to approve renewal of a state air pollution permit for the ASARCO metal smelter in El Paso, thus allowing the smelter to reopen. The Sierra Club and many others feel that ASARCO has done enough damage to the health and livelihood of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez and does not deserve another chance to pollute.
For the 112 years that it operated the ASARCO smelter emitted hundreds of tons of lead, arsenic, and cadmium into the sky and onto the homes of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez residents. Children living in the area, ranging from 2-6 years of age, showed blood lead levels high enough to warrant immediate medical intervention.
If the permit renewal for ASARCO is approved, it will result in 7,560 tons of pollutants emitted into the air each year – including sulfur dioxide, particulate matter (soot), lead, and arsenic. One source estimates that if ASARCO reopens, “El Paso would potentially have the distinction of being home to the facility with the highest level of lead emissions in the United States…ASARCO would emit 12 times the sulfur dioxide and double the particulates of the next highest El Paso emitter.”
The reopening of ASARCO is opposed by the City of El Paso, the El Paso Independent School district, Texas State Senator Eliot Shapleigh, U. S. Congressman Silvestre Reyes, and officials in Mexico and New Mexico. Thus far, the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, has not taken a public stance on the issue of granting the ASARCO permit.
The Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) from the State Office of Administrative Hearings, however, have made their recommendation about the permit, however: deny it. The ALJs presided over a contested case proceeding on the permit renewal application. They heard the arguments and concluded that ASARCO should not be allowed to reopen because of its pollution potential and its bad environmental compliance record. But the ALJs’ recommendation is just that – a recommendation to the three TCEQ Commissioners, and they are set to vote on the permit at the Commission meeting on February 13 in Austin.
Each of the current TCEQ Commissioners was appointed by Governor Rick Perry. Thus, the Governor’s opinion is likely to carry a great deal of weight with the Commissioners. The opponents of ASARCO believe that it’s time for Governor Perry to take a stand and oppose the permit. It’s important for public health, for air quality, for promoting compliance with environmental law, and for Texas-Mexico border relations for the Governor to announce his opposition to the ASARCO permit and publicly call upon his appointed TCEQ Commissioners to deny the permit.
PLEASE NOTE: The City of El Paso has filed a motion with the TCEQ requesting a delay in the consideration of the permit until after the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency issues new standards for lead anticipated later this year. The TCEQ will consider that motion on February 8. However, because there is no clear sign as to whether or not the TCEQ Commissioners will grant that request, the assumption is still that the TCEQ will consider the permit on February 13. Thus, communications (phone calls, faxes, and emails) to the Governor are needed NOW, and indeed they might help result in a delay in considering the permit, which would be a victory for ASARCO opponents.
