Asarco and the Environment

Asarco originated as a lead and silver smelting and refining company in 1899. Many of the original plants that joined to form what was the American Smelting and Refining Company, today’s Asarco, were built and operated as early as the 1870s. Other operations came into existence and were subsequently closed since the original incorporation. The Company has responsibly addressed its legacy of past operations which when operating, conformed to the laws and values of the times, albeit laws and values which differ from those of today.

Only one current Asarco operation, its East Helena, Montana smelter, which opened in 1888, appears on the Superfund list and the Company is addressing the environmental issues there. Eight sites for which Asarco is named as a potentially responsible party (PRP) are closed plant or mine sites which when operated abided by the regulations and laws then in existence. The remaining sites for which the Company is named are those to which Asarco sold or from which it bought products, or are landfills to which the Company legally sent materials. Superfund, which was originally enacted to deal with chemical sites, is poorly structured to deal with the many different issues that arise in the mining industry. Mining booms of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries often involved thousands of individuals and hundreds of companies. In some mining districts where multiple parties were often involved in the ownership chain of industrial sites, Asarco is one of the few participants left; and the burden of responsibility under the flawed Superfund falls disproportionately on the few successful survivors. We are well advanced in remediation programs at these sites and we believe that the identification of new sites has peaked. We are proud that we have voluntarily taken the lead in remediating many sites in which our activities were minimal.

As early as 1910, Asarco played a role in the development of air pollution control devices to protect humans and animals from particulates emitted from its smelters. In 1912, the Company established a Department of Agricultural Research which included agronomists, entomologists, chemists and plant physiologists.

Asarco instituted its current well-defined environmental policy in 1991. Asarco voluntarily designed and developed an Environment Management System (EMS) cooperatively with the EPA in order to improve compliance with Company policies, and federal, state and local environmental requirements. A committee of senior Asarco executives oversees environmental matters. All Asarco domestic operating units are reviewed for environmental compliance every 12-24 months. EMS includes detailed environmental protection procedures, environmental training for all employees and monitoring of operations to assure conformity to environmental standards.

The Company policy states “ASARCO LLC recognizes and believes that all operations and activities of the Company should be conducted responsibly and in a manner designed to protect the health and safety of its employees, its customers, the public and the environment. Asarco’s operations interact with the environment daily, and consideration of these concerns must be a way of life within the Company. Asarco is committed to responsible management of our natural resources.”