CORRALES, NM-Surveying Connection Between Illness and Intel Manufacturing Plant Emissions

The expansion of an Intel manufacturing plant led residents in a suburb of Albuquerque (Corrales) to begin complaining of noxious odors. There was a long list of serious health complaints in the areas around the Intel plant and great fear about the quality of drinking water. River Network worked with the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) to assist the local community group, the Corrales Residents for Clean Air and Water, investigate the problem. We helped the group conduct a large-scale health survey. The results of the survey demonstrated a statistically significant relationship between various exposure factors (e.g., living close to Intel and smelling chemical odors) and adverse health outcomes. The newspapers carried our results.

A recent communiqué from the Southwest Organizing Project to River Network confirmed that the study helped the community in a number of ways:
1) It confirmed for residents what they were feeling was real and not imagined;
2) It linked Intel’s emissions directly to residents’ illnesses;
3) The results provided SWOP with “hooks” to persuade the local media to cover the story;
4) The data was used during the Air Quality Task Force process as evidence of the possible correlation causation of Intel’s emissions and residents’ illnesses;
5) The results, in part, led to a number of concessions Intel made to mitigate their impact on community health, such as raising stack heights.