No Borders: Communities Living and Working with Asarco
No Borders is an environmental justice project that is using documentary video, writing and community networking to document and support the work of communities and organizations struggling with the impacts of their long relationship with the multinational mining and smelting company, Asarco. Asarco declared bankruptcy in 2005, leaving over 75 U.S. sites needing environmental remediation. The bankruptcy will enable the company to shed many clean-up responsibilities it negotiated with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and resume operations, posing ongoing challenges for public agencies and for labor, environment and health advocates.
Asarco smelter, Tacoma, WashingtonNo Borders chronicles the stories and struggles of several communities, their regions, their 100-year relationship with Asarco and their struggles for public health, workers' rights and environmental justice. Using video, writing and community networking we are documenting experiences and organizing efforts in Ruston/Tacoma, Washington; Hayden, Arizona; and a coalition of groups from El Paso, Texas; Anapra, New Mexico; and Juarez, Mexico as they work to safeguard jobs and a viable economic future, while protecting public health and community well-being. We are seeking connections with other Asarco-impacted communities: Omaha, Nebraska; East Helena, Montana; and Silver Valley, Idaho. We are also talking with the United Steelworkers, Asarco's main union, and with the Sierra Club, two national organizations who founded the Blue-Green Alliance to support healthy jobs and communities.
Interviewing Chuck O'Donahue, former Steelworkers Business Agent, Stack Hill, Ruston, Washington
The project tackles three basic and connected problems: 1) threats to public health and environment faced by working class communities and communities of color from exposure to Asarco’s emissions; 2) lack of corporate accountability to community needs for environmental health and worker safety; and 3) weaknesses of public policies and agencies in regulating corporate behavior and protecting communities and workers. We have been working on this project for over 2 years, developing relationships with communities, unions, and public agencies, and compiling video and documents. We are seeking funding to continue our work.
Asarco Stack, El Paso, Texas
The goals of this project are to:
1) promote environmental justice: document and support the work of working-class communities and communities of color who struggle with problems of industrial pollution and health with little access to agency support or medical or legal expertise;
2) Support the efforts of workers and environmentalists to forge coalitions for healthy communities and jobs;
3) encourage civic participation; educate the public about the limitations of public policies dealing with environmental health, about discriminatory corporate practices that site environmentally destructive projects in working class communities and communities of color, and the need for policies that encourage healthy, sustainable development for all;
4) strengthen community leadership and capacity by connecting communities and groups working on these issues so they can learn from and support each other's work.
American Canal, Rio Grande River, El Paso, Texas
Background: Asarco mined and smelted copper for 100 years. Company towns grew up around the smelters, creating close-knit communities, and generations of families looked to Asarco for jobs. But the by-products of copper smelting are toxic metals, mainly arsenic and lead. In the 1980's the Environmental Protection Agency began negotiating with Asarco to remediate contaminated sites; many were designated Superfunds. As the list of clean-up responsibilities grew, Asarco began to close operations. The Ruston plant closed in 1986. The El Paso plant shut down in 1999, but is negotiating to re-open. Hayden still has a functioning smelter.
Stack Hill, Ruston, Washington, site of former arsenic plant and smokestack.
In 1999 Asarco was purchased by its Mexican subsidiary, Grupo Mexico, which became the third largest copper producer in the world. In 2002 Asarco sold its most lucrative assets to Grupo Mexico; in 2005 it declared bankruptcy. As copper prices and demand continue to rise, Asarco is already presenting a highly profitable profile. Asarco’s precedent-setting bankruptcy—the largest in U.S. history—brings issues of corporate responsibility, health, workers' rights and public policy urgently to the forefront of public concern.
Outcomes: We are using video, writing and community networking to design materials that will contribute to public debates about environmental justice, corporate accountability and public policy. The No Borders project will also support our partner communities by providing them with strategic materials they can use in their organizing and outreach. These include:
• Documentary media: independent media can respond to community needs, amplify people's voices, and tell stories others can be inspired by and learn from. We will create: a) a documentary for television; b) an organizing video for community use; and c) a project website for information-sharing and networking.
• Community Network Gathering: We will convene a community network gathering where Asarco-impacted communities can learn from each other and consult with a health and legal resource team. The gathering will be videotaped and transcribed. Video excerpts will be incorporated into the film and available on the project website.
• Collaborative Writing: we will produce a 60-80 page anthology of writings and photographs, entitled "Community Voices," consisting primarily of submissions by community researchers.
• Analytical Writing: We will produce a book-length study situating local experience in the contexts of public policy, struggles for corporate accountability and globalization. This work, building on the Community Voices anthology, will move from local struggles against hazardous exposure to the building of a labor-enviroment, cross-border coalition for public health.
The problems of industrial contamination, in the context of corporate mobility and weak regulatory mechanisms, can seem insoluble. Our work is shaped by the belief that people, working together, have the capacity to solve the problems they face. But this struggle often takes place within contexts and conditions they did not choose and may not fully understand at first. Corporate behavior, scientific debates, public policy—these are the broad canvases on which community stories are painted. The stories of communities struggling with Asarco's 100-year legacy are local and specific, but they have implications for those in the U.S. and elsewhere who deal with industrial contamination and corporate malfeasance, and who must create their own strategies and visions for a just and sustainable future. By showing the capacity of citizens to work effectively on what appear to be large and insoluble problems, we can encourage greater participation in issues critical to the quality of American life.
