County Seeks Criminal Enforcement Review of ASARCO
By: Louie Gilot / El Paso Times October 30, 2007 -- El Paso County Attorney José Rodríguez said Monday that civil penalties against Asarco have not worked and that now is the time for criminal enforcement. Rodríguez sent a criminal enforcement review request by mail to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in which he formally asks that the state agency investigate possible criminal violations of federal and state environmental and health laws by Asarco. The TCEQ is currently reviewing whether to renew Asarco's air-quality permit. The agency now has 45 days to decide whether to investigate Asarco as Rodríguez requested, which could lead to civil penalties or a criminal prosecution. The allegations made by Rodríguez stem from a 1999 civil settlement between the TCEQ and the Environmental Protection Agency that, Rodriguez said, Asarco still has not honored. Asarco still owes more than $30 million in penalties, Rodríguez calculated. Asarco officials said that the balance that remains to be paid is now subject to the bankruptcy process. "The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, and Asarco's past behavior is cause for alarm on behalf of the people of El Paso, for both their pocketbooks and their health," Rodríguez wrote in the letter to TCEQ. "If Asarco cannot afford to comply with environmental regulations, as they have shown by their failures to comply, failure to pay the assessed fines, failure to complete the court-ordered actions, and bankruptcy, then they are not qualified to do business in Texas ... It is time for criminal enforcement." Asarco denied any wrongdoing. "The matter questioned was not only resolved civilly based on the merits but no wrongdoing was found at the El Paso plant. This is clearly another example of a peace officer using his position for baseless political purposes to disparage Asarco's long-standing reputation in the community," Asarco general counsel Doug McAllister stated in a written statement. Asarco officials attacked Rodríguez Monday, saying they had a video of Rodríguez at a 2005 anti-Asarco rally held by state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, a long-time opponent of the reopening of Asarco. Asarco officials claimed Rodríguez's participation represented a conflict of interest. They also pointed out that Shapleigh's wife is Rodriguez's assistant county attorney. Asked to answer the attack, Rodríguez said that he did not agree there was a conflict of interest and that the TCEQ, not he, would be handling the possible criminal review. The request to TCEQ was prompted by Get the Lead Out Coalition, an anti-Asarco group that disclosed the existence of the 1999, $22.5 million settlement against Asarco for alleged violations of laws on hazardous waste and clean water. "Asarco knew what they had done was illegal. They have never been prosecuted for that and the settlement left it open for prosecution," said Heather McMurray, an El Paso high-school teacher and representative of El Paso Get the Lead Out. The allegation was that Asarco had burned hazardous waste in El Paso, but a TCEQ investigation found that the material burned was not hazardous to humans. If the TCEQ doesn't make a determination within the 45-day period, a prosecuting attorney, either the district attorney, the attorney general of Texas or the U.S. attorney, may bring forward a criminal prosecution, Rodríguez said. Related Links |
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