ASARCO Battle Quiets Before The Legal Storm
By Darren Hunt
EL PASO — Could the city’s fight against ASARCO be quieting down? The first sign ofa more reserved toneamong the ranks showed itself Tuesday as Rep. Rachel Quintana became the first member of City Council to take a stepback from the city’s anti-ASARCO battle.
Quintana abstained from Tuesday’s council vote on whether to appeal the TCEQ’s decision to renew the smelter’s air quality permit. She said her decision to not vote was influenced by calls, letters and e-mails received from her constituents regarding taxpayer money the city has already spent in opposing ASARCO’s reopening.
“In no way in my vote by abstaining am I saying that I am for ASARCO reopening. I’m notFOR norAGAINST. [I’m] just not comfortable making decisions for spending taxpayer money,” Quintana said.
Tension ran high last week, when members of both sides of the debate found themselves doing battle in Austin at the hearing before the TCEQ to renew the smelter’s permit. After the commissioners granted ASARCO’s permit renewal, opponents began to strategize what other efforts they might use to keep the plant from reopening.
Mayor John Cook had said the city would appeal the TCEQ’s decision, but when probed about the basis for the city’s appeal after Tuesday’s council meeting, he wouldn’t discuss details.
“Well, that’s part of legal strategies, so I’m not going to answer. Thank you for trying,” Cook said.
ASARCO officials were also approached about their next steps, plans to reopen and reaction to the city’s plan to appeal the decision, but they too, only offered a muted statement.
“Asarco will not be commenting on our permit until we receive the final order from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). Recent media reports have indicated that the City of El Paso plans to continue to use taxpayer money to fight Asarco. Asarco’s policy is not to comment on matters pending litigation,” the statement said.
With the official line of both parties involved being not to comment during legal proceedings, ABC-7 approached individual council members who had expressed their own opinions on the debate.
ASARCO opponent Steve Ortega felt the TCEQ’s decision was improperly motivated, saying after Tuesday’s meeting, “I think theTCEQ had already decided what they were going to do before the meeting even began. The decision from my perspective is a political decision.”
When sought out for further comment on Wednesday however, Ortega then withheld his opinions, saying, “Our attorneys have asked us to stay quiet on the matter.”
