Asarco remediation to be completed this year

already been three years since the asarco smokestacks came crashing down? some of you watched the demolition in person… others watched our live coverage here on abc-seven. the one- time copper smelter remains a part of el paso’s hostory… and tonight, a new chapter. … reporter darren hunt has a story you’ll see only on abc-seven… bob and estela, cleanup of the asarco site, which began nearly six years ago, is now within just months of coming to a close. the next step in the remediation process is to finalize a buyer for the property … the asarco trustee told me today negotiations with the university of texas system and utep are quote, “well along” a this point. “we’re getting close to being able to fulfill that vision that a lot of el pasoans had way back when we started in 2010.” asarc site trustee roberto puga told me via skype from california that the asarco cleanup is coming to a close. “the demolition was kind of ste one, step two was to do the remediation which we are completing at the end of the summer and then step three is do a long term care of the site.” “puga told me remediation of th asarco site is expected to be completed by the end of the summer … one of the final phases of that is adding five feet of dirt on the entire property … that will eventually clear the way for the sale of the asarco site.” “a potential buyer that has expressed interest in the site has been the university of texas … we’ve been discussing with them for quite some time now, they still are interested, and you know we are trying to see if we can work out a deal for their purchase of the property.” puga said u- t’s interest, on behalf of utep, was initially only to purchasing the 240 acres across i-10 from the old plant and adjacent to utep … but he said discussions now center on u-t buying the entire property, on both sides of the freeway, totalling nearly 400 acres. “i think we can characterize it as we have been negotiating back and forth for quite some time, i don’t think we’re at a point where we can really conclude anything yet, but i have optimism that a deal can be reached, hopefully this year.” i requested an interview today with utep officials about the possible purchase of this property. but i was told no one was available to speak with us about it. puga told me they wouldn’t be selling this property for redevelopment if they didn’t think it was safe. bob/estela. ‘ abc-seven confirmed the man who crashed his motorcycle