News West 9

EL PASO, Texas (AP) – Not only are the days numbered for two towering smokestacks at the long closed Asarco copper smelter in El Paso, now the hours are numbered as well.

Officials have announced crews will bring the 825-foot and 612-foot smokestacks down with explosives between 6:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. Mountain time on Saturday, April 13. Interstate 10 and other streets adjoining the stacks will be closed during the demolition, and some homes will be evacuated in a neighborhood directly across the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

The smelter closed in 1999, and efforts to preserve the iconic stacks failed.

Preservation efforts failed. The demolition is part of a $52 million remediation toward site redevelopment.

Source: http://www.newswest9.com/story/21862196/time-for-april-13-smelter-smokestack-razing-se