Once Again PR Trumps Public Health

Intel has rejected the recommendation of its own citizens' technical advisory group to raise Intel's stacks to 40 meters from the current 23 meters. It will raise the stacks to 30 meters, not high enough to prevent the building down-wash effect. This has been a bone of contention since the mid-90s when a consulting firm hired by Intel noted that the short stacks allowed toxic emissions to blow into nearby residential neighborhoods. Corrales Residents for Clean Air and Water (CRCAW) had made the same recommendation a few years earlier but to no avail.

The reason for Intel's refusal to raise the stacks? PR ! Yes folks, once again, Intel's PR machine has won out over public health. - Intel feels that the higher stacks will lead the public to perceive that this may indeed not be the 'clean industry' it pretends to be.

And here's a dispatch received today from one of Intel's suffering neighbors:

"After I called Intel the worst was yet to come...I had heart palpitations and thought I was having a heart attack.. The skin on my face is red, itching and burning. .Needless to say I tossed and turned the rest of the night never slept. The house reaks of residual chemicals. Outside the air is stagnant with the same.

I just found out that Patricia experienced a severe reaction to the chemicals and was not able to get into her car to leave. She called Frank Gallegos and Mary Uhl. She reported this to Jeff this morning before she knew I was sick too. Jeanne Armenta who lives on Coronado Road called saying she woke up in the middle of the night the night before with the same symptoms.

This has been the most debilitating since the early nineties. In the meantime, Intel is playing games with the stacks.and CEWG. This is a deadly assault on human beings. Where do we go from here?"