ASARCO Smelter (El Paso, Texas)

Mexico / Chihuahua / Juarez / El Paso, Texas
 copper mine, metallurgy, mining, smelter
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ASARCO = American Smelting And Refining Company, a Grupo México subsidiary. Asarco's El Paso Plant is a modern, state-of-the-art copper smelter. The copper smelter is currently (2008) in the process of renewing its operating permits by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in order to start operating once again. The plant has been on temporary shutdown status since 1999.

The El Paso smelter first opened in 1887 as a lead smelter. Later, it was modified to produce copper (1911) and zinc (1948). Increased pollution regulations forced the construction of an acid plant in 1972 to recover SO2 gases. In the 1980s the lead and zinc plants were shut down, leaving copper (and some precious metals) as the main metal produced.

www.asarco.com/elpaso/index.htm

In the 1970s, the Centers for Disease Control found that the Asarco smelter in El Paso, Texas was responsible for abnormally high lead levels in children who lived nearby. The city won a lawsuit against the company and, although denying guilt, Asarco agreed to strict monitoring for lead, zinc, cadmium, and arsenic releases as well as to provide medical exams and blood therapy to children with lead poisoning. Asarco had more than 100 civil environmental cases pending against it when it filed for bankruptcy on August 17, 2005.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   31°46'42"N   106°31'13"W

Comments

  • What an eyesore!!! Move this facility out somewhere in the vast West Texas desert!
This article was last modified 16 years ago