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El Paso Leaders Reject Money to Save Smokestack 11/28/12
Associated Press
November 28, 2012
EL PASO - Leaders of a West Texas city have declined to buy an
iconic 826-foot smokestack to help preserve a former smelter site.
The El Paso City Council on Tuesday rejected a resolution by the group Save
the Stacks to purchase the smokestack, another chimney and nearby land.
Council members did approve a resolution to support saving the property but
not committing any money.
Preservationists want to save the former Asarco LLC smokestack and a
610-foot concrete chimney at the plant, which closed in 1999.
Asarco trustee Roberto Puga has said the two stacks could be demolished by
March as the company seeks to sell the property. He's estimated a cost of about
$14 million to insure and maintain the stacks for 50 years.