City Will Spend $100,000 More To Fight Asarco

EL PASO, TX – The city will spend another $100,000 to fight Asarco’s potential re-opening.

Half of that money will be used to hire a public relations firm to put together a campaign that Mayor John Cook says will counter lies in Asarco’s ads. The other half is for a UTEP study that will focus on the negative effects of Asarco’s possible re-opening.

In a recent commercial, Asarco asks El Pasoans what they would do with $10 million. According to the commercial, that is the amount the city of El Paso has spent in its fight against the re-opening of the copper smelter.

“That is a lie…it is not true, whatsoever,” said Cook, stating that the city has spent less than $1,000,000 trying to keep the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality from renewing Asarco’s air quality permit. “I think the money we are spending is very wisely spent.”

City Representative Steve Ortega agrees with the mayor. “To me, it’s an extremely important issue here in the community … When we’re sworn into office, we’re sworn to uphold the safety, welfare and health of the community. That to me is the number one issue.”

Asarco officials tell ABC-7 their $10 million figure is largely based on $2 million per year the city is losing in property tax revenue while Asarco is not operating.

In regards to the company’s ad campaign, Larry Johnson, Environmental Manager at the plant, stated, “It’s a deflection to take the focus away from their keen interest in our land … we hope every time a taxpayer sees or hears a commercial paid for with their taxpayer money they’ll call their city rep and speak out against using taxpayer money against Asarco.”

Cook projected the total cost of the city’s advertising campaign will stand at $400,000.