El Paso, TX, ACORN members in the Sunset Heights neighborhood are fighting the attempted reopening of a toxic plant – the American Smelting and Refining Company or ASARCO – in their community.

Until 1999, for over 100 years ASARCO emitted hundreds of tons of lead, arsenic, cadmium and other toxic materials into the air, soil and homes of local residents.

Now, ASARCO is applying to renew its air quality permit in order to resume operations.

In response, on January 13 ACORN members coordinated a day of action in the ACORN communities where ASARCO operates.

In El Paso, ACORN members marched into the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and won an on-the-spot meeting with the head of the local TCEQ office where they demanded that TCEQ meet with ACORN regularly to discuss ASARCO’s permit application, and that TCEQ reduce the allowable level of lead contamination in the community down from the proposed 640 parts per million (ppm) to 400 ppm. El Paso ACORN members then marched to the El Paso EPA office and won a meeting with the local manager.

At the same time, in Dallas ACORN members protested at the EPA Region 6 Headquarters.

Simultaneously Arizona ACORN members called into the Region 6 Headquarters staff to alert them to the fact that ASARCO, which is based in Phoenix, was recently fined in Arizona for failing to accurately report their pollution levels and that the company now deserves special scrutiny in its application to resume operations in El Paso. As a result of ACORN’s day of action, an administrative judge on ASARCO’s permit application case announced that ACORN would be recognized as an “affected party” in the case, and allowed to participate in the legal proceedings to determine whether or not ASARCO is allowed to renew its air quality permit.

ACORN members are now meeting regularly with the EPA, and building a coalition of neighbors and ex-ASARCO employees to ensure adequate cleanup of the area and fight the plant’s reopening.