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Today about 70 UTEP students will travel to Austin to witness a historic moment for the city: a final hearing by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, to consider renewing Asarco's air-quality permit, allowing or denying the reopening of its El Paso smelter.
"If the permit is denied, it will be the first time in the history of our state that the government has denied an air-permit renewal application," said Dave Cortez, environmental justice organizer for El Paso Associations of Community Organizations for Reform Now. "If they approve the permit, it will mark a day in history that our city immediately became home to the seventh-largest emitter of lead in the United States and second in Texas behind Asarco's Amarillo plant."
TCEQ denied a request by the city to postpone the hearing last Friday.
The city of El Paso requested a delay to the hearing pending the announcement of new measures by the Environmental Protection Agency set to be released in September of this year.
"Asarco is asking for a permit to put 7,000 tons of contaminants in our air, while in Washington D.C., EPA is restricting air pollution," said state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso. "We ought to wait for these new rules to come to Texas."
TCEQ also denied a request to change the venue to accommodate about 300 community members who wanted to be present during the public hearing. Community groups remain hopeful they will be able to voice their concerns about the smelter.
Students from different organizations, such as the Student Government Association, Students for Reform and Environmental Advocates, rallied yesterday morning at UTEP's Memorial Triangle to let people know they were planning to attend tomorrow's hearing at 1 p.m.
Daniel Arellano, a former Asarco employee of 24 years who now suffers from blood disorders, claims his illness came from the company's emission of hazardous chemicals. He also said the TCEQ commissioners don't seem to care about the smelter's potential health impacts.
"We were offered jobs, but we are not for sale," Arellano said. "I'm sick and there are too many of us sick."
Shapleigh said he expects to see many UTEP students in Austin.
"With one strong voice, we can make the case for clean air in all El Paso," he said.
Shapleigh said that if the copper smelter reopens, the most effected people will be the ones working and studying at UTEP.
He said students have been the heart of the movement against Asarco in El Paso, Cd. Juárez and southern New Mexico because they have organized, advocated and motivated people from the region to speak out against the smelter.
"UTEP students will be in shock when they come to school and feel pollutants in their mouths," said Stephanie Reyna, junior psychology major, who serves as vice president for the Environmental Advocates organization.
Reyna will be attending the public hearing in Austin tomorrow and said she was going to do her best to represent UTEP students' concerns on the Asarco debate.
"There are mixed feelings about Asarco, but it's definitely a negative symbol for our community," Reyna said.
Electrical engineering major Kathleen Zurlinden also helped organize the trip as a member of Students for Reform. She said she has been fighting against Asarco for about two-and-a-half years.
"We need to start focusing on a better El Paso," Zurlinden said. "As college students, we need to be thinking about our careers and where we are going to work."
Zurlinden said the reopening would affect El Paso by scaring away companies that would consider investing in the region.
"It would seem like such a disgusting and polluted option to any huge company," Zurlinden said. "The only way we are going to get these companies is by having good air-quality standards."
Asarco promises to hire about 300 people for well-paying hourly jobs if reopened. UTEP's Institute of Policy and Economic Development released a study last month that considered alternative investments El Paso could receive if Asarco does not reopen. More information technology-based operations as well as medical and pharmaceutical suppliers could be used on the Asarco land, the study said. The study also suggests such companieswould encourage the growth of similar businesses.
Another IPED study, dated August 2007, evaluated Asarco's positive economic impact if reopened. IPED Executive Director Dennis Soden said he did not want to comment on what some consider a contradiction between these two studies.
Vanessa Crumpler, an International Business College student in El Paso, is in favor of Asarco's reopening. She feels it would have a good economic impact on the city.
"The reopening would be something positive for El Paso," she said. "It would bring more jobs to the city, jobs with actual benefits."
Asarco has been accused of emitting hazardous toxic chemicals like lead, arsenic and cadmium that people believe have poisoned the children that live close to the smelter. Exposure to arsenic and sulfur dioxide can result in skin and lung cancer or respiratory diseases.
According to a Sierra Club study by Northern Arizona University chemist Michael E. Ketterer, there is a probable link between the smelting activities of Asarco and soil contamination in El Paso and nearby communities. However, the study stated that the presence of hazardous substances near the smelter can't be directly connected to Asarco because they could also come from other sources like gasoline and lead paint.
The New York Times reported that the Environmental Protection Agency filed a $20-million cleanup and penalty settlement with Asarco, Inc. in 1999 for having illegally burned hazardous waste. Asarco Inc. faces thousands of environmental lawsuits according to the Times, and entered bankruptcy in 2005 to avoid cleanup costs of over $20 billion.
"Asarco has a record of one hundred years of lying," Shapleigh said. "Lead in the soil has a dramatic effect on the lives of young children. Asarco has denied that for a hundred years and continues to say they are not responsible."
Adriana Gómez Licón may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.
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