Kudos to Glen Falls Post Star columnist Will Doolittle for his tart September 22 column exposing that “Water stinks… as expected” coming from a pipeline built for a microchip fabrication plant in Saratoga County, upstate New York.
This is the notorious GlobalFoundries plant that received $1.2 billion in subsidies for about 1,200 jobs – a cool $1 million per job, with no Job Quality Standards attached! (See our 2010 study on high-tech deals that includes a case study on it.)
The costly water line was built for the factory but three cities tapped into it, as “a token public face on the line’s real corporate purpose,” writes Doolittle. But they need so little that “the chlorine in the water breaks down in the pipe, making it smell like a swamp,” he explains.
Meanwhile: “The establishment of a huge plant and influx of more than 1,000 workers to staff it carries costs as well as benefits, which is why businesses and individuals pay taxes – to cover the public services they receive. But by granting GlobalFoundries enormous tax breaks, we’ve tilted the balance. Everyone else must pay more so the company can benefit,” concludes Doolittle. “Since the GlobalFoundries deal reeks it makes sense the water in the line built to supply it stinks.”
clawback.org 
October 25, 2011 at 2:38 am |
It would seem the person who wrote the original ariticle has never been inside a working foundry. They all stink. You can smell hot molton steel for miles. But it shouldn’t be in drinking water which should come frm a seperate source.
it makdes me wonder what pipeline these cities are tapping? On the otherhand the answer might be as simple as sulpher. it skinks and water tastas as bad as it smells. But it won’t hurt you to drink it. or cook with it, and it can be cleaned up, but clorine in the water is a waste of money except as a city water system purifier,
A simple home water conditioner filled with gtocery store salt crystals will take care of the taste at home in a few short months. It sure is annoying in the mean time.
November 17, 2011 at 11:32 am |
In reference to PJ Little’s comment.
The foundry in question is not for metals but for semiconductor chip manufacture.
I don’t think the central issue is the pipeline, but the cost in terms of tax incentives to the region.
Actually, chip manufacture is extremely water intensive, even with advances in improving the efficiency of water consumption in the process. Upgrading the water supply of the area is probably a good idea, if the state wishes to accomodate the foundry.
The real questions lie in what substantial gains will the people of NY state see once the plant is up and running. A lot of “incentive” has been granter to GlobalFoundries.
Will they deliver on jobs, economic growth for the region and will they do so with a responsible approach to the environment?