[ADEQ Media] Court Gives Formal Approval to ADEQ, EPA Agreement with Asarco to Clean Up Contamination in Hayden, Winkelman

[media@lists.azdeq.gov]

Court Gives Formal Approval to ADEQ, EPA Agreement with Asarco to Clean
Up Contamination in Hayden, Winkelman

PHOENIX (June 19, 2008) - Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Director Steve Owens announced today that  the agreement between the
state of Arizona  and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with Asarco
LLC to clean up contamination from the company's mining activities in
Hayden and Winkelman has received formal approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court in Texas overseeing Asarco's bankruptcy proceedings.

Under terms of the agreement, which was signed by ADEQ, EPA and Asarco
in mid-April, Asarco will spend $13.5 million to clean up contaminated
soils from residential areas in the towns with high levels of arsenic,
copper or lead.  Asarco also will reimburse ADEQ and EPA for oversight
activities related to the cleanup.

Although Asarco already has begun some of the cleanup work, the
agreement had to receive formal approval from the Bankruptcy Court and
was subject to a public notice process by the U.S. Department of Justice
before it could become final.   On May 27, the court issued an order
giving its approval to the agreement, subject to the conclusion of the
DOJ public notice period.  Last week, the Department of Justice
announced that the comment period had ended and that the agreement was
now officially binding on all parties. 

"This is another piece of good news for Hayden and Winkelman," Director
Owens said.   "Although it took some time to jump through all the legal
hoops, there was never any doubt that this agreement would be approved.
This is a strong agreement that will help ensure that the contamination
in Hayden and Winkelman is cleaned up at long last." 

Asarco also will complete a full remedial investigation of residential
and public areas in Hayden and Winkelman and of Asarco operations to
identify releases of hazardous substances and remove them. The company
also must prepare a community relations plan under direction of ADEQ and
EPA and use a qualified community group to hire independent technical
advisors to analyze Asarco's work.

In June 2007, EPA announced that it wanted to place the Asarco Hayden
plant site on the National Priorities List, the federal Superfund list.
Gov. Janet Napolitano asked EPA to defer the listing pending outcome of
the discussion among ADEQ, EPA and Asarco to have Asarco clean up the
site itself rather than have it listed on the NPL.  The clean-up
agreement between ADEQ, EPA and Asarco is the result of the negotiations
instituted by Governor Napolitano.   

-30-

News media interested in additional information on this or any other
topic concerning the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality should
contact the Office of Communications at (602) 771-2215 or via email at
communications@azdeq.gov.

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