Newsweek Awards Intel Environmental Kudos

In a recent Newsweek article, Intel was listed #4 among US companies for green contributions. Here's two letters sent to Newsweek in response:

Dear Editor:

Intel Corporation's behavior in the communities where it makes its chips is far from green. In New Mexico, Arizona and Oregon, community protest groups have formed in response to the toxic emissions the people in Intel neighborhoods are forced to breathe. In Corrales, New Mexico there have been three deaths from pulmonary fibrosis among individuals living close to the plant.

While it's commendable that Intel is producing a chip that uses less energy and thus contributes less to greenhouse warming, any "green" award should certainly take into account the toxicity of the emissions being vented into the environment and doing real harm to real people.

Barbara Rockwell
Author of "Boiling Frogs - Intel vs. the Village," IUniverse 2005

Dear Editor,

Living downwind from Intel's Rio Rancho, New Mexico plant, I find Newsweek's naming Intel a "green" corporation ludicrous. Compliant state and federal regulators allow Intel to "calculate" rather than measure its tons of hazardous and toxic air emissions. Intel's own consultant, TRC, reports that Intel releases carbon tetrachloride, nitric acid, fluor-phosgene and other carcinogens in quantities many times above safe levels.

Sincerely,

Martha J. Egan
Village of Corrales Representative
EPA Toxic Air Pollutants Task Force 2002-2004