Boiling Frogs-Intel vs. the Village

"Boiling Frogs - Intel vs. the Village" recounts the story of Intel Rio Rancho's impact on the air and water in the Village of Corrales from the mid-1980s to the present day. Updates to this ongoing saga will be posted here.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Intel Donates to Corrales Recreation Center

This is the headline on an article that appeared in local papers to announce that Intel had donated $30,000 to the Corrales Recreation Center for tennis and basketball courts. The article ended with this bit of black humor: "Intel has recommended that part of its donation be used to fund recycle bins at the center and on the playing fields to enhance awareness of our responsibility to the environment."
Here's some insight into Intel's "generous donations:"
"In February 2000, Jeff Radford visited Belen (Costa Rica) and was given a tour of the town's air monitoring site, which would be paid for my municipal funds and with equipment paid for by the Japanese government. Not surprisingly, Intel had been given federal tax exemptions to locate there, but took the town to court when Belen imposed its own municipal tax. The mayor's position was upheld in court. Intel responded by stopping all donations to local charitable causes. Alvarado told the Comment: "I have concluded that the principle reason Intel is so opposed to paying taxes is that they want to donate to specific projects that earn them good will. They want the appearance of being very generous, but without the obligations." Boiling Frogs - Intel vs. The Village, pg. 159
Mayor Alvarado could have added that Intel wants the appearance of being environmentally responsible without the actual obligation - while they're out to "enhance awareness of environmental responsibility" with recycle bins, they're spewing deadly chemicals into the air these recyclers are breathing at the Rec Center.