High cost might keep Asarco shut

Reopening the Asarco smelter in El Paso with new pollution controls could be more costly than expected and could take up to two years, plant officials said Tuesday.

[LyndaLBD]

GO SEN. SHAPLIEGH GO!!! Keep the plant closed!!!

[ASARCO Failed]

How convinient, now it's too expensive to open the plant. I guess these costs came out of thin air. Fisrt is was ASARCO delaying opening because the hostile environment and emotionally charged opponents. Now it seems that the costs for retrofit are to expensive. How is it that plans in the permit specify these retrofits but now they are too expensive, I guess there was either not enough reaserch or they never planned to open.

They just bought themselves two years with this claim. I am sure the bankrupcy procedings will be over by then, and the permit will offer them cleanup protection leaving El Paso with a hefty cleanup-bill.

[BashyMcBash]

ASARCO is false hope for all you people waiting...How can you give loyalty to a company that jerks you around. Move on and learn a new trade.

[vatoman]

"I want to work for ASARCO." That statement and the advertising firm that promoted it was just a stunt to get an air permit from the TCEQ. The permit is merely a delaying tactic so that the company can keep from cleaning up this Superfund Site. ASARCO is hoping to delay long enough to force the US Taxpayer to pay for this cleanup. Neither the federal government, the state of Texas or the City of El Paso have the kind of funds to cleanup what some experts at EPA estimate to be a 3/4 of a billion dollar environmental remediation of the site.
This disreputable corporation used its power to divide this community on the basis of class and generations. Those poor folks who thought they would get a job by joining the side that made promises are left looking like idiots. We need to get people at UTEP games to start cheering "I want to work at ASARCO" as a response to this charade on our community and the bi-national, tri-state region that has been used like an old rag. Maybe we will all learn from this experience and not make 'Faustian Bargains' with 19th Century Industries that have little value for the quality of life in El Paso del Norte.

[boo hoo]

Jimmy Dominguez, a former Asarco employee from Socorro who has been anxiously awaiting the plant's reopening, said the news added to his frustration.

He said he is beginning to wonder whether the smelter will ever hire the hundreds of workers it has promised.

"I'm not kind of giving up, but the delay is just overwhelming somewhat," he said. "It is hard to wait and find out what's going on. It feels like we're left in the dark. i hope this man hasn't been sitting around for the last 9 years waiting for asarco to re-open, eventually you have move on and find another job.