Borders of Resistance

SESSION 5 – Local’s Focus (October 10th, 9-12:30)

 

 

 

 

USA, 2008, 57 min.

Director:  Anne Fischel

Producer:  Lin Nelson

For over 100 years Asarco operated a metals smelter in El Paso. The plant stands at the juncture of Texas, New Mexico, and Juarez, Mexico, just above the Rio Grande River.

Asarco was an important contributor to El Paso’s economy, employing almost a thousand workers at its peak. But the company also contaminated both sides of the border with lead, arsenic, cadmium and sulfur dioxide. This film documents the efforts of citizen activists to educate their community about the dangers to public health and the environment posed by Asarco.