Asarco seeks end to claims over smelter
Asarco LLC is fighting to wipe out $145 million in claims for contamination tied to the mining company’s former smelter in Ruston, Wash., arguing two other companies are responsible for cleanup costs.
Asarco is urging the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi, Texas, which is overseeing its bankruptcy case, to reject the claims from Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. and chemical company Arkema.
In court papers filed Wednesday, Asarco, a copper mining company, said it has already paid $2.6 million, more than double its allotted share for investigation and remediation at the Hylebos Waterway in Western Washington.
Asarco operated a copper and lead smelter in Ruston, a small town surrounded by Tacoma on the shore of Puget Sound, from 1880 to 1985. The company dumped waste product into Hylebos Waterway, a 285-acre site that was polluted by several industries, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. It is part of a much larger Superfund site.
A widespread shortage of information technology graduates across North America is forcing Microsoft Corp. and other software companies to look to developing countries such as China to meet their needs, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Thursday.
“When we want to hire lots of software engineers there is a shortage in North America – a pretty significant shortage,” Gates said.
“We have this tough problem: If you can’t get the engineers, then you have to have those other jobs be where the engineers are.”
Gates was at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, which has historically been a favorite hiring ground for Microsoft, to speak to students about the state of developing technology.
Gates also told the students that IT jobs are in high demand.
“It’s partly that the enrollment in the field is going down,” he said afterward.
Shares of Lithia Motors Inc. hit their lowest point since 2003 on Thursday after a preliminary fourth-quarter loss and a first-quarter and 2008 outlook well below Wall Street expectations.
Lithia, based in Medford, Ore., said tough economic conditions hurt customer traffic during the recent quarter. New vehicle sales fell 1.8 percent to $404.8 million, while used vehicle sales slipped 0.9 percent to $180.6 million.
The company on Wednesday posted a loss of $5.1 million, or 26 cents per share, compared with a profit of $5.5 million, or 27 cents per share, for the same quarter in 2006.
The company added that it expects economic woes to continue into 2008 and predicted the bulk of its earnings for the year will come during its second half.