International Mining Co. to Payout Biggest Toxic Waste Clean Up Settlement in U.S. History

Cartoon by Khalil Bendib.

For a long time in industry, it has been profitable to do business, save costs by ignoring clean up regulations, and then if caught, pay some small fines. Well, not anymore!

Grupo Mexico, the largest mining corporation in Mexico and the third largest copper producer in the world, has agreed to provide a total of $1.79 billion to resolve the environmental liabilities incurred by its subsidiary, American Smelting and Refining Co. LLC, a mining, smelting, and refining company, based in Tucson, Ariz.

Under a bankruptcy reorganization, ASARCO has been found liable for violations ranging from operations that contaminated land, water, and wildlife resources on federal, state, tribal, and private lands.

“The effort to recover this money was a collaborative and coordinated response by the states and federal government. Our combined efforts have resulted in the largest recovery of funds to pay for past and future clean up of hazardous materials in the nation’s history,” said Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli, in a statement.

By the time it filed for bankruptcy, ASARCO’s core operating assets were limited to operations in the states of Arizona and Texas. However, it continued to own numerous non-operating properties in other states that were highly contaminated and subject to environmental claims.

The money from the environmental settlements in the bankruptcy will be used to pay the costs incurred by the federal and state agencies at more than 80 sites contaminated by the mining operations in 19 states. Those states are: Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Washington.

Each site covered in the settlement is at a different point in the restoration planning process, which will determine when restoration work will take place on the grounds.

So far, the sites that have already received restoration funding, according to federal agencies, have been founded to have contaminations harming ecosystems, including: terrestrial habitats, floodplains, surface water, groundwater, fish, freshwater mussel species, and migratory birds. They are:

• The California Gulch Site in the upper Arkansas River Basin in central Colorado near Leadville encompasses more than 15 square miles.
• Bunker Hill Superfund Facility in the Coeur d’Alene Basin of northern Idaho.
• The Ray Mine/Hayden Smelter Site is located in east-central Arizona near the towns of Kelvin and Hayden. Affected areas include Mineral Creek within the Ray Mine to its confluence with the Gila River, and approximately 40 miles of the Gila River from the Hayden Smelter downstream to the Ashurst-Hayden Dam.
• Southeast Missouri Lead Mining District spans multiple counties from 40 to 90 miles south/southwest of St. Louis, and is located in the Big River/Meramec River, Black River, and St Francois River watersheds.
• Tri-State Mining District spans 2,500 square miles, including parts of southeast Kansas, southwest Missouri, and northeast Oklahoma. The district is located in the Spring River and Neosho River watersheds, both of which flow generally south, terminating in the headwaters of Grand Lake O’ the Cherokee.
• Montana Custodial Trust: East Helena, Black Pine, and Iron Mountain Sites, Montana.

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