asarco largess and our governor's gift

$27.8M Asarco settlements include Hayden's $4.8M
By Gabriela Rico …Arizona Daily Star …Tucson, Arizona Published: 01.25.2008
More than 270 people who filed claims for damages caused by the Hayden smelter will receive a $4.8 million unsecured claim under a settlement with Tucson-based copper producer Asarco LLC. It was one of three settlements, worth $27.8 million, the company reached with people in three states who originally demanded more than $1 billion from the copper-mining company for personal-injury and property damages, according to court documents filed Wednesday. Asarco has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi, Texas, to approve the settlements. They would then become part of an eventual exit plan from the bankruptcy, though they are not guaranteed to be paid in full, said Doug McAllister, Asarco's executive vice president and general counsel. The town of Hayden — about 70 miles north of Tucson — is still being proposed as a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency because of potentially toxic levels of arsenic and lead in the soil and air. Asarco has offered to conduct the cleanup instead of having the process overseen by the EPA, which would then bill the company. Gov. Janet Napolitano has given the EPA, Asarco and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality until March 31 to find a cleanup solution among themselves.

28 million dollar large$$ and Asarco gets to write their own ticket on how to clean up the toxic levels of arsenic and lead in the soil and air they gifted to the Town of Hayden…?

If I’m Asarco, I take this deal in a New York minute and laugh all the way to the bank.

This is a compelling tribute to the impunity “we” – that’s you and me – choose to grant to corporate-for-profit companies, pollute in any manner whatsoever our collective ecosystem, but “we” won’t hold you accountable or responsible…?

Oops, I forgot, our Governor will grant Asarco the opportunity to clean up the environmental mess it created.

WOW … the fox gets to guard his own hen house … now that’s a demonstration of wise leadership….?

Want to know who is ultimately accountable and responsible … take a good look in the mirror … !