Spring Break
Toxics Coalition honors environmental champions
Group presents awards at 22nd annual picnic
Sara Spivey
Daily Staff Writer
- Page 1 of 1
Lieber and LeZotte accepted the Community Partner Award, one of the many awards given to champions and pioneers in the movement to build accountability from the electronics industry, at the coalition's 22nd annual benefit picnic, according to a press release.
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition was formed in 1982 in response to a discovery of groundwater pollution in San Jose, said Ted Smith, the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition founder and executive director.
"It turned out there was a leaking underground storage tank from Fairchild Semiconductor Company," Smith said.
"That groundwater pollution was drinking water for people in that neighborhood," he said.
"People who lived there began to experience birth defects, miscarriages and other pretty serious health problems, and they began to realize that the health problems were related to the drinking of the contaminated ground water," Smith said.
The Fairchild site in south San Jose was added to the list of the Environmental Protection Agency's National Priorities List, otherwise known as the Superfund list, in 1984, according to their Web site. It is one of 28 sites in the South Bay area.
Smith said he, along with members of the neighborhood, formed the coalition to figure out how to solve the contamination problems -- to make sure that there was cleanup and that it never happened again.
He said the coalition began a partnership with the city and state government, which continues today, to develop laws.
Assemblywoman Lieber is "one of the real leaders in the state legislature regarding environmental and occupational health," Smith said.
Lieber said that this year in the legislature she will be focused on the idea that the safe level of toxics for the workplace ought to be the same as the safe level in a library or a school.
"There's no logical reason that a worker should be overexposed to toxic chemicals just by virtue of the fact that they want to have a job," she said. "It is a radical act of self-esteem to stand up for ourselves and our environment."
Lieber said the best companies are taking the toxic chemicals out of the workplace so that the chemicals aren't in the consumer products and there isn't a problem with recycling them.
The award was also given to Linda LeZotte, who Smith said was the "green member of the (San Jose City) Council."
LeZotte said she was focusing on an "(electronic) waste policy," to make manufacturers responsible for recycling their products that contain toxic chemicals.
Rene St. Denis, America's Product Take Back manager for Hewlett- Packard, and community activist Maria Lopez also received the award.
Denis is responsible for Hewlett- Packard's electronic waste recycling program, Smith said.
"It's the first time a member of a technology company has ever received an award from (the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition)," Smith said.
The coalition gave out several other awards, including the Helen Clark Award to Alida Hernandez, Jim Moore and Amanda Hawes, and the Debbie Cole Award to Richard Alexander.
Hernandez, who was diagnosed with liver damage and breast cancer, and Moore, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, are former employees of IBM who brought a concealment of injury lawsuit against IBM in 2003 for which Hawes and Alexander were trial attorneys.
A jury found in favor of IBM in
February.
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