Possible buyers show interest in former Asarco site

Updated: Sunday, April 13 2014, 08:55 PM MDT

By: Stacey Welsh

EL PASO, Texas -- About 400 acres of land where Asarco used to stand are up for grabs a year after demolition. The Texas Custodial Trust owns the land and is looking for a buyer.

As KFOX14 previously reported, crews are clearing out any contamination from the land that could have traces of arsenic and lead. There are also plans to collect the waste in a giant waste cell and close it off from the public.

"[The University of Texas at El Paso] does have an environmental engineering department and they could use those components as kind of a living laboratory for the students," site trustee Roberto Puga said.

Puga said UTEP could be an ideal buyer for the land, and the university confirmed it is interested in buying the land closest to campus.

Students told KFOX14 studying the former Asarco site could help UTEP become one of the best research universities in the country.

"They would gain more accessibility to maybe research or grants," UTEP senior Taylor Harmon said.

Harmon studies biochemistry and said new labs could motivate more students to study science.

"The more recruitment of students to these labs is going to guarantee more innovation in the future as far as research science and innovation along the border," Harmon said.

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Possible buyers show interest in former Asarco site