| ASARCO Water
Quality Violations Results in $20,000 Fine The American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) will pay $20,000 in civil penalties for water quality violations and dumping mining residue into the Gila River without a Permit. ASARCO is a mining company that produces copper and other metals and has been in business since 1899. The company has mines mostly in Arizona and one in Texas. They produce 375 million pounds of copper every year. In the company's mission statement, it emphasizes the importance of environmental safety that they hold. "ASARCO's operations interact with the environment daily, and consideration of these concerns must be a way of life within the Company," the statement read. "ASARCO is committed to a responsible management of our natural resources." The mining company had a pipeline that went from ASARCO's Hayden mine over the river into a tailings pond where they dumped their mining residue. The pipe broke and dumped approximately 1,500 gallons of mining residue and tailings in to the Gila River and on the banks and surrounding areas. The incident, which occurred in 2007 but is now being legally handled through court, caused damages to the water and violated the water quality standards for Arizona. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality issued the violations to the mining company for discharging without a permit. According to their April 12 news release, ASARCO has already spent over $1 million in repairs to their piping system and extra precautions to assure such an incident does not happen again. "Any company handling mine tailings needs to rigorously comply with state regulations to protect the health of our citizens and our environment," Attorney General Terry Goddard said in the news release. Benjamin Grumbles, director for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, assured the ASARCO has taken all responsibilities and measures to assure the problem is resolved. The spill, however, was significant and damaging.
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