FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	ENR

FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 1998	(202) 514-2008

	TDD (202) 514-1888







ASARCO AGREES TO ESTIMATED $56.3 MILLION SETTLEMENT

TO RESOLVE ALLEGED ENVIRONMENTAL VIOLATIONS

AT FACILITIES IN ARIZONA AND MONTANA




Company Must Implement Court-Enforced Nationwide Environmental


Management System at its Facilities in Seven States





 

	WASHINGTON, D.C. -- New York-based mining company ASARCO
today agreed to spend more than $50 million to clean up
contamination and correct alleged violations of federal
environmental laws at two of its facilities in Montana and
Arizona, and pay $6.38 million in penalties.  The agreements will
reduce the disposal of toxic heavy metals such as mercury, lead,
and arsenic, a known human carcinogen.

	Under two settlements making up today's agreement, ASARCO
will establish a court-enforced environmental management system
that applies to all of its facilities nationwide.  ASARCO
currently operates 38 facilities located in Arizona, Colorado,
Missouri, Montana, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

	The two settlements were lodged today by the Justice
Department in U.S. District Courts in Arizona and Montana on
behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency.  

	"These settlements will clean up contamination and help
protect the environment at these two facilities in Arizona and
Montana and will contribute to a cleaner and safer environment at
all of ASARCO's facilities across our nation," said Lois
Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice
Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.  "I am
pleased that ASARCO stepped up to the plate to assume
responsibility for its actions and will be implementing the
nation's largest court-enforced environmental management system." 
	"This is an innovative and comprehensive settlement that is
designed to produce a fundamentally new way for ASARCO to carry
out its environmental responsibilities in the future," said Steve
Herman, EPA's Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance.

 	"The Arizona Attorney General's Office and the Arizona
Department of Environmental Quality will continue to hold Arizona
businesses accountable for violations of State environmental laws
and will vigilantly protect Arizona's surface and groundwater
resources," said Grant Woods, Arizona's Attorney General.  "That
said, ASARCO has come forward to significantly remedy surface and
groundwater pollution at this important mining site."  

	The settlements require ASARCO to improve its environmental
compliance record by implementing an internal environmental
management system to identify and correct violations of
environmental laws.  The system will be applied at all of
ASARCO's operating facilities nationwide.  Under the system,
ASARCO must provide EPA with annual reports about hazardous waste
spills, permit exceedences, pollution discharges, recycling
programs, and water and energy use.  ASARCO also will train more
than 6,000 employees in environmental compliance.  

	In the Montana case, the United States alleged that ASARCO's
East Helena facility illegally discharged industrial wastewater
into a process pond where it leached into a nearby creek, and
illegally stored, treated and disposed of toxic heavy metals,
possibly contaminating soil and groundwater.

	To resolve the allegations in that case, ASARCO will pay
$3.38 million in penalties and conduct an investigation to
determine if soil or groundwater has been contaminated at the
East Helena facility and perform any required cleanup.  The
company also will be required to limit the types of materials it
can use in its smelting processes nationwide, control mine
wastewater discharges, and restore a wetlands near the smelter. 
The wetlands project will restore diverse, native riparian and
upland vegetation along the shoreline of what was once a
contaminated wastewater process pond.

	In the Arizona case, the United States and the State of
Arizona alleged that ASARCO illegally discharged toxic metals at
its Ray Mine Complex near Kelvin, failed to properly contain
wastewater run off, and violated state surface water quality
standards.

	To resolve those allegations, ASARCO will pay a $3 million
penalty with half going to the State, and will build a system to
control wastewater discharges from its 6,100 acre open pit copper
mine and ore processing facility that will protect the water
quality of nearby Mineral Creek and the Gila River.

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