By Veronica Macias

Asarco smokestacks coming crashing down

The trustee in charge of cleanup and selling of the Asarco site, Roberto Puga, said the demolition of the Asarco smokestakes was carried out successfully.

“The stacks fell as exactly as had been predicted within the fall zones that had been laid out at the site,” said Roberto Puga.

According to Puga, no damage was caused to buildings near Saturday’s toppling smokestacks and no problems were reported in Juarez from Mexican liaisons. While a thick cloud of dust rolled onto I-10, no rocks or gravel spilled onto the freeway.

“As for the dust, we expected that level of dust. We were very happy with the mitigation measures. I think they did their job,” said Puga.

Those mitigation measures included mist cannons, where 500,000 gallons of water were used. Earthen berms were placed around the site and cushioning layer was made for the falling zone.

“The reports we’ve gotten from all of our contractors and our technical staff have been that the project went very well,” said Puga.

But not everybody was satisfied with the demolition. There was concern from resident in Sunset Heights, an area that lies directly across from the falling zone.

For anyone worried about hazardous elements being disbursed into the air, Recasting the Smelter is posting dust molecule data on its website: www.recastingthesmelter.com.

Source: http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/news/trustee-asarco-demo-went-planned/nXLtC/