Copper miner Asarco to provide $52 million for environmental cleanup at El Paso smelter
By APThursday, December 10, 2009
Asarco pays $52 million for cleanup at EP smelter
EL PASO, Texas — Copper miner Asarco LLC has provided $52 million to help pay for environmental cleanup at its closed El Paso smelter.
The state Attorney General’s Office says the funds were transfered into a trust fund Thursday as part of an agreement it negotiated with the company.
The 422-acre site near downtown El Paso and has been dormant since 1999. It produced and refined heavy metals such as lead, copper, cadmium, and zinc for more than 100 years.
Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office also secured $29 million from Asarco to pay for low-level radioactive waste cleanup at the company’s Superfund site near Houston.
Under a court-approved bankruptcy reorganization, Asarco’s El Paso smelter is permanently closed.
