Superfund toxic sites and Resorts

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US: Asarco closure plan cheers Globeville

The metals processor with a long history of polluting nearby areas will be cleaned up for other uses.

by Steve Raabe, The Denver Post
July 13th, 2006


Asarco LLC said Wednesday it will close its controversial metals-processing plant in Globeville by the end of August, eliciting cries of joy from neighborhood residents.

"We're saying 'hallelujah,"' said Lorraine Granado, a community leader in the north Denver neighborhood. "We're just delighted that they're closing the plant."

Asarco's 89-acre plant - called "Globe," it gave Globeville its name - has a long history of polluting nearby areas with toxic waste. It was declared an Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site in 1993 after regulators determined that the plant had spread lead and arsenic pollution through parts of a 4.5-square-mile area.

Tucson-based Asarco, a subsidiary of industrial conglomerate Grupo Mexico in Mexico City, said in a statement it will transfer portions of the Globe operations to its copper refinery in Amarillo, Texas.