A “Resource Legacy” – of Pollution

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A “Resource Legacy” – of Pollution

Posted on April 30, 2011 by David Gurney

The San Francisco Bay has been left last on the list of “Regional Study Regions,” as the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) "Initiative" boondoggle is railroaded through the state and legislative bodies, under the radar of well over 95% of the general population.

So far the MLPA “Initiative” appears to be stalled on tackling the S.F. Bay region, while at the same time other vast offshore areas are slated to be rubber stamped in the highly controversial process, funded by the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation.

The opening of S.F. Bay will bring up some very uncomfortable issues that haunt the private funders of the so-called “Initiative.”

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation – the major funder in this bid for private interests to buy and control huge areas of Northern California waters – made its money from the computer and semiconductor industries, in the once rich, fertile farmlands of Santa Clara Valley.

Through the sixties, seventies and eighties, the semi-conductor industry illegally dumped thousands upon thousands of gallons of highly toxic solvents into the ground water. These toxic chemicals have inevitably found their way into San Francisco Bay.

These corrosive chemicals, similar to acetone, were used to the etch printed circuit boards that went into all computers and electronics.

The Santa Clara Valley was once home to the Ohlone Indians. Before the European conquest, the skies were reportedly thick with migratory birds of every kind. The estuaries were full of clams, the rivers with salmon, and the land with deer and elk. The abundant oak trees provided a staple of acorn mash. The Ohlone had no word in their language for starvation.

By the 1980′s, after the Santa Clara Valley had been re-named “Silicon Valley,” the area had more EPA toxic “Superfund” sites per square mile than anywhere else in the United States – from the severely polluted wells and groundwater.

The money that made the private contributors to the MLPAI rich, has left a very unpleasant “Resource Legacy” in their own backyard.

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