Frontera NorteSur, December 1998

Now that victory cries celebrating the end of construction plans for a nuclear waste site at Sierra Blanca have settled, Juárez residents have looked in their own front yard.  There are no celebrations over what they have found.

In early November the Binational Coalition Against Toxic Waste denounced the Federal Electricity Commission (CEF) for storing approximately 400 barrels of toxic substance at an electric substation in Porvenir, a small community outside Cd. Juárez.  Community members were paid 200 pesos ($20 U.S.) to help seal the barrels with cement and store them.

The 200 liter barrels contain asceral, a double chain chemical compound in the form of a viscous liquid, similar to burned oil, and highly carcinogenic.  Persistant exposure to this substance is believed to cause immunity problems, neurological, reproductive and hormonal alterations and cancer.  Residents have complained of a strong acid smell.

"How is it possible that after successfully fighting against the construction of a nuclear waste site in Sierra Blanca, the Federal Electricity Commission dumps highly toxic waste right here?" asked Diego Cedillo Aquirre, mayor of  Praxedis G. Guerrero, a nearby city. The barrels have been stored in Porvenir for approximtely ten years, but according to investigators, cement seals on some barrels were still wet as of November 6.

Doctor Gilberto Meléndez Fiogueroa, Director of Public Health (SS), says that  "As a preventative measure, people should stay as far away as possible from this storage site."

However, Austreberto Guerrero, superintendent of the Northern Zone of CEF said "The storage unit located in the sub-station at El Porvenir does not represent any danger for the community.  The containers contain 1/4 of the toxic substance, which is inside a metal capacitator, which is immersed and sealed in cement."

"We seal them with cement in order to obtain greater impenetrability.  We are using safety measures beyond what is required."

According to El Diario, the norm for storing this substance is that it should only occupy 1/5 of the container that it is immersed into and then sealed in concrete.

Source: El Diario