ASARCO Plant Closes its Historic Doors
Dublin Core
Title
ASARCO Plant Closes its Historic Doors
Subject
ASARCO
Omaha
Lead
Omaha
Lead
Description
This artifact is a news article from the Omaha World Herald archives. Dated April 15th, 1996, this details the closing of the American Smelting and Refining Company plant located on 555 Douglas St. in Omaha. Included at the end of the article is a timeline of ASARCO’s history in Omaha, highlighting major milestones during its time. This artifact is significant in that it is the first official announcement of ASARCO fully closing its doors at the Omaha plant. Prior to 1996, there were many attempts between ASARCO and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality to find a compromise which would allow ASRACO to continue business while also adhering to environmental standards. However, this was not able to happen, and so the smelting giant made a pact with the City of Omaha to turn over the land by the end of 1998, giving the company enough time to transfer workers and begin demolition on the factory. The City of Omaha released plans to turn the land into a city park, which we see today as a recreational area and riverfront property.
This is monumental for Omaha history, as ASARCO and other lead-based industries were the backbone for Omaha industry for decades. ASARCO, at its height, was the largest lead refinery in the entire world, with exports of over 165,000 tons in 1924. This created a lot of jobs and economic boom in the growing Omaha metro. However, its success did not come without controversy. There were growing labor movements all over the country, spanning many industries, that demanded safer working conditions and fairer compensation. After the Department of Labor created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1971, companies and businesses all over the country had to adhere to federal regulations that were more easily enforceable than other regulatory laws in the past. Around the same time, academic research revealed what people were already living: lead kills. This caused leaded gasoline to slowly phase out, as well as the removal of leaded paint. ASARCO, as well as other lead giants in OMaha, had to balance their monumental export profit while also adhering to the new OSHA standard. This began a decline in revenue, employee size, and overall prominence in the Omaha community that culminated in the closing of its doors in 1996.
This is monumental for Omaha history, as ASARCO and other lead-based industries were the backbone for Omaha industry for decades. ASARCO, at its height, was the largest lead refinery in the entire world, with exports of over 165,000 tons in 1924. This created a lot of jobs and economic boom in the growing Omaha metro. However, its success did not come without controversy. There were growing labor movements all over the country, spanning many industries, that demanded safer working conditions and fairer compensation. After the Department of Labor created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1971, companies and businesses all over the country had to adhere to federal regulations that were more easily enforceable than other regulatory laws in the past. Around the same time, academic research revealed what people were already living: lead kills. This caused leaded gasoline to slowly phase out, as well as the removal of leaded paint. ASARCO, as well as other lead giants in OMaha, had to balance their monumental export profit while also adhering to the new OSHA standard. This began a decline in revenue, employee size, and overall prominence in the Omaha community that culminated in the closing of its doors in 1996.
Source
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AMNEWS&t=&sort=YMD_date%3AD&page=1&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=American%20smelting%20and%20Refining%20Company%20&fld-nav-1=YMD_date&val-nav-1=1996%20-%201997&docref=news/12DE5D67302C13B8
Publisher
Omaha World Herald
Date
April 20th, 1996
Contributor
Rohit Akella
Betty Straub
Betty Straub
Rights
From the Omaha World Herald, retrieved from the Omaha Public Library Archives
Language
English
Hyperlink Item Type Metadata
URL
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AMNEWS&t=&sort=YMD_date%3AD&page=1&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=American%20smelting%20and%20Refining%20Company%20&fld-nav-1=YMD_date&val-nav-1=1996%20-%201997&docref=news/12DE5D67302C13B8
Collection
Citation
“ASARCO Plant Closes its Historic Doors,” History of Environmental Inequalities, accessed April 30, 2024, https://steppingintothemap.com/inequalities/items/show/64.
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