Background

The Low Side of High Tech (press here). y Chris Gaither, Wired News BERKELEY, California, October 11, 1999 (ENS) "Industry giants IBM and National Semiconductor are facing three class action lawsuits from more than 150 current and former employees. Workers allege that  years of exposure to toxic chemicals, including solvents, caused cancer and birth defects."

Good News - "Intel Santa Clara won the California Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award for Environmental Management" (press here). Also "Intel Corporation was awarded an Environmental Champions Award by the U.S. EPA, the National Performance Review, Chemical Engineeringand Environmental Engineering World.The award recognized Intel for our  voluntary work with the government and communities in  implementingflexible environmental management systems and reducing  regulatory burden."

And Intel New Mexico was presented with a Clean Air Award from the New Mexico Chapter of the American Lung Association in recognition of Intel's efforts to reduce air emissions.

Chip manufacturing requires water. To lessen our impact on local water supplies, Intel continually strives to reduce water use. Updating the progress in New Mexico, we have completed installation of  the High Recovery Reverse Osmosis Process to reduce overall water consumption at the site. This process will improve the site's water conservation rate by improving the efficiency rate for making ultra-pure water. We have spent more than $4.5 million on this technology in New Mexico and look forward to its full operation in 1999. More examples of water conservation projects are included in the site summaries (press here for Intel document).

Rio Rancho, New Mexico - (press here). Approxiamately 5,400 employees.

The New Mexico Recycle Coalition met to discuss ways to increase the statewide recycle rate from 16% to 26%. In support of that effort, Intel hosted the 17th annual National Recycle Coalition Congress & Exposition in New  Mexico.

Intel has been encountering resistance in New Mexico

In New Mexico there is a small community based organiztion called the SouthWest Organizing Project. The have drawn up a Community Environmental Bill of Rights (press here). It includes

Right to Clean Industry

Right to Be Safe from Harmful Exposure

Right to Prvention

Right to Know

Right to Participate

Right to Protection and Enforcement

Right to Compensation

Right to Cleanup.Corporate Watch has an analysis of the impact of Computer Chips on the environment (press here). For every six-inch chip manufactured, there are 25 pounds of socium hydorxide, 2,840 gallons of waste water, and 7 pounds of haxardous wastes to dispose.

Our case begins with Intel's Rio Rancho, a New Mexico facility that make 5,000 eight-inch silicon wafers a week resulting in staggering enviornmental levels of air pollutants and waste stream pollutants.  Wast Stream Pollutants include solvents, electron shield degresers, metals, photoresists, deionized water, acids, oxidizers, carbon slurry, etc.

Press here for an overview of the impact of chip manufacturing on the silicon Valley.There are 1400 semiconductor plants each costing $1 to $3 billion.  There are also 29 Superfund contamination sites in that valley.  Workers are said to bear the brunt of long term exposure to multiple toxic chemicals.    New Mexico was the "winner" in a nation-wide competition to subsidize the corporate welfare of Intel. New Mexico offered an $8 billion industrial revenue bond to subsidize Intel and to ignore or reinvent environmental regulations.

Jeanne Gaunna of the WouthWest Organizing Project (SWOP) decided to organize to protest the Intel expansion in New Mexico (press here). Intel in the 1990s becam the largest private employer in New Mexico.  They recieved the biggest tax break in history with the $8 billion bond.  SWOP argues that while the Intel products are clean, the industry is deadly for workers adn the environment.  Jeanne Gauna argues "We have abdicated our responsiblities to these corporations and now they have more rights than private citizens."
 
 

In an article by Lora Engdaul "Holding Intel Accountable" it is asserted that SWOP was able to get Intel to respond to community concerns (press here).

• In May 1994, Steve Viederman rose form his seat during Intel's annual shareholders meeting and holding aloft a copy of a report entitled Intel Inside New Mexico, asked the comapny's executives, "When are you going to repsond to these people?"

• "It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out we got firpped off," Guana syas. "Intel took advantage of a very poor state, and elected officials took advantage of the need for jobs"

Intel was able to reduce air emissions from 327 tons in 1992 to less than 60 tons in 1994. SWOP wants more hard data.

See The Silicon Principles (press here).
to be continued.