Questions on Asarco Demolition

The following is a question-and-answer exchange in emails sent from Andrea Tirres to Elizabeth Schell:

  1. What are the days when structures will actually be demolished? What dates are expected to be the heaviest construction dates in terms of demolishing structures?

    • Demolition activities will take place over the next 12 months. Active structural demolition will vary from week to week, but some of the largest structural demolition on site (i.e. the bedding building and two large concrete stacks) will take place towards the end of the demolition schedule. Additional public communications will be made prior to demolition of the two concrete stacks, which are slated for demolition in the first quarter 2012.
  2. Are there any tips for residents to minimize the contaminants that will undoubtedly be carried through the air and that will settle in yards, roofs, and windows?

    • We appreciate your concern; however, we do not anticipate additional constituent transport due to demolition activities. There is a fence line dust monitoring program in place at the site to verify that site activities are not resulting in additional impacts to area residents. Data collected as part of this monitoring program can be viewed on the project website (www.recastingthesmelter.com).
  3. Who would I contact at the EPA local office (or elsewhere) to find out about more tips for residents in minimizing exposure? The EPA and TCEQ agency contact information is listed below:

    • Charles A. Barnes, Enforcement Officer, Environmental Engineer
      US EPA Region VI
      1445 Ross Ave, Suite 1200
      Dallas, TX 75202
      Barnes.Chuck@epamail.epa.gov
      T: (214) 665-6535
    • James Sher, TCEQ
      P.O. Box 13087
      Austin, TX 78711-3087
      JSHER@tceq.state.tx.us
      T: (512) 239-2444
  4. Will schools be alerted to these heavy construction days so that they keep children indoors?

    • As previously described, demolition activities are not anticipated to result in additional constituent transport off-site. Therefore schools will not be notified. Additional public communications will be made prior to demolition of the two concrete stacks.
  5. I do still have a question regarding the chart that shows the measured pollutants by month. As I mentioned earlier today, it looked like there were 22 data points for the month of March. What do these 22 data points represent? Is each data point representative of a day in the month? If so, do the data points represent the same day for each month?

    • Each data point on the graph represents the average dust concentration for that work day, at that location. Since we did not work on weekends in March, the graph includes data points for Monday through Friday. On occasion, a monitor may malfunction and not report data. The graph does not include data points for days when equipment malfunctioned.
    • We provide the graphs for public reference on the website as a summary of our dust monitoring results. However, our field team reviews the data real time during the work day and evaluates our dust suppression efforts continually based on visible observations, fence line monitor data, wind speed and direction, and potential off-site sources of dust.

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