Guide to the Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) Records
SJSU Library Special Collections & Archives
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
Phone: (408) 808-2062
Fax: (408) 808-2063
Email: special.collections@sjsu.edu
URL: http://library.sjsu.edu/sjsu-special-collections/sjsu-special-collections-and-archives
© 2010
Trustees of the California State University. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) Records
Collection number: MSS-2007-04-06
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
Phone: (408) 808-2062
Fax: (408) 808-2063
Email: special.collections@sjsu.edu
URL: http://library.sjsu.edu/sjsu-special-collections/sjsu-special-collections-and-archives
- Date Completed:
- 2010
- Encoded by:
- Robert Donahue
© 2010 Trustees of the California State University. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) Records
Dates: 1978-2002
Bulk Dates: 1982-1995
Collection number: MSS-2007-04-06
Collector:
San José State University
Collection Size:
27 boxes,
33.25 linear feet
Repository:
San José State University. Library.
San José, California 95192-0028
Abstract: The Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) Records, 1978-2002 (bulk
1982-1995), document the history of SCCOSH and SVTC. SCCOSH grew from the efforts of three women's health and labor rights
organizers, Robin Baker, Amanda Hawes, and Pat Lamborn, who had come to focus on the Valley's largely unrepresented working-class
minorities in the late 1970s. SCCOSH organized various campaigns in the fields of workers' rights advocacy and occupational
safety and health training, particularly within the Silicon Valley electronics industries. At the outset, SCCOSH envisioned
itself as representing three constituencies: local labor unions and labor councils, ill and injured workers, and community
residents affected by wildfire industrial development of the Santa Clara Valley since the mid-1970s. The Silicon Valley Toxic
Coalition (SVTC) developed from a SCCOSH project into a wide-ranging, independent nonprofit organization founded by Ted Smith
(1945-), attorney and activist in 1982 in response to the suspicion that leaks at manufacturing sites for IBM and Fairchild
Electronics were causing health issues in nearby Silicon Valley homes. The SVTC is a San José, California-based research and
advocacy group that promotes safe environmental practices in the high tech industry.
The collection of SCCOSH and SVTC consist of administrative files, correspondence, research, publications, official reports,
newspaper clippings, photographs, notes, congressional testimony, and legislative material concerning these organizations
and their mission to reduce toxins and hazardous waste in the Silicon Valley.
This collection is arranged into 15 series: Series I: SCCOSH, Activism, 1976-2002; Series II: SCCOSH, Workplace Hazard Files,
1978-1999; Series III: SCCOSH, Administrative Files, 1978-2001; Series IV: SCCOSH, Legal Case Files, 1980-1998; Series V:
SVTC, Model Hazardous Materials Storage, 1981-1986; Series VI: SVTC, Groundwater Cleanup, 1981-1997; Series VII: SVTC Toxic
Gas Model Ordinance, 1982-1997; Series VIII: SVTC, Administrative Files, 1982-1999; Series IX: SVTC, Founder Ted Smith, 1983-1995;
Series X: SVTC, United Technologies Corporation, 1984-1995; Series XI: SVTC, Toxics Coordinating Project, 1985-1990; Series
XII: SVTC, Tanner Bill, 1986-1991; Series XIII: SVTC, Stanford University/Biotechnology Activism, 1987-1991; Series XIV: SVTC,
Earth Day, 1987-1993; and Series XV: Newspaper Articles, 1987-1997.
Physical location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright is assigned to the San José State University Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of the Special Collections & Archives. Copyright restrictions may apply to digital reproductions of the
original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.
Preferred Citation
Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) Records, MSS-2007-04-06, San
José State University Library Special Collections & Archives.
Processing Information
The bulk of the arrangement and description work was completed by Josh Palmer, and edited and reviewed by Danelle Moon. The
rearrangement was completed by Alberta A. Jiminez and Robert Donahue, The EAD encoding was completed by Robert Donahue.
Organizational History
The Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) grew from the efforts of three women's health and labor rights organizers
- Robin Baker, Amanda Hawes, and Pat Lamborn - who had come to focus on the Silicon Valley's largely unrepresented working-class
minorities in the late 1970s. The three met sometime in 1977 at the Pacific Studies Center in Mountain View, where a small
group had been meeting intermittently to discuss occupational health. Not long after, Baker, Hawes, and Lamborn together applied
for and received a workers training grant from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which they used
to fund the Project on Health and Safety in Electronics (PHASE, 1978-1980).
During the three years covered by the initial federal grant, PHASE produced a series of occupational hazards factsheets for
electronics workers (See Series III). First introduced in 1979, the program also included a multilingual telephone consultation
service for electronics workers. While not a program to organize workers, PHASE efforts to raise awareness of occupational
hazards resulted in open conflict with many Silicon Valley electronics companies. In 1979 the three women established a sister
group to PHASE, the Electronics Committee on Safety and Health (ECOSH), to undertake more direct worker organizing while PHASE
remained focused on voluntary educational programming. SCCOSH became the overarching agency for these two groups, PHASE and
ECOSH, formally established on July 19, 1979, with a five-member Governing Board of Robyn Baker, Amanda Hawes, Pat Lamborn,
Mark Fee, and Andy Rowland. SCCOSH expanded its governing board to seven members in 1980, and again to nine members in 1981.
In April of 1979, PHASE employees began staffing an "Electronics Hazard" telephone hotline for workers concerned about chemicals
encountered in the workplace. In addition to chemicals encountered in industrial occupations, SCCOSH outreach addressed potential
health hazards for office laborers, including the combined psychological and physiological effects of working for long periods
at video display terminals (VDTs, or computer monitors).
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) developed from a SCCOSH project into a wide-ranging, independent nonprofit organization.
Ted Smith (1945-), attorney and activist founded the SVTC in 1982 in response to the suspicion that leaks at manufacturing
sites for IBM and Fairchild Electronics were causing health issues in nearby Silicon Valley homes. The SVTC is a San José,
California-based research and advocacy group that promotes safe environmental practices in the high tech industry. SVTC is
composed of high tech workers, community members, law enforcement, emergency workers and environmentalists. They aim to educate
the masses on best practices for computer recycling and promote corporate social responsibility on subjects ranging from nanotechnology,
solar, and consumer e-waste.
Smith is currently the Senior Strategist of SVTC, and is co-founder and coordinator of the International Campaign for Responsible
Technology (ICRT), and international network committed to the development of sustainable and non-polluting technologies. He
also serves as the steering committee chair of the Computer TakeBack Campaign, an organization focused on promoting life-cycle
producer responsibility in high-tech electronics. He co-edited the book
Challenging The Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry (2006). Smith has been recognized by the Dalai Lama for his environmental leadership. (See Series IX)
Bibliography
About us. (n.d.). Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. Retrieved from http://www.svtc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=svtc_about_us
Interview with Ted Smith. (n.d.). Temple University Press. Retrieved from http://www.temple.edu/tempress/authors/1788_qa.html
Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) Records, 1978-2002 (bulk 1982-1995), MSS-2007-04-06, San José State University Special Collections & Archives.
Smith, Ted, David A. Sonnenfeld, and David Naguib Pellow, editors.
Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronic Industry. Temple University Press, 2006.
Glenna Matthews Oral History Collection, MSS 2010-05-11, San José State University Special Collections and Archives, http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8k40382g/
Scope and Content of Collection
The Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) and Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) Recordss, 1978-2002 (bulk
1982-1995), document the history of SCCOSH and SVTC. The Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) grew from the
efforts of three women's health and labor rights organizers - Robin Baker, Amanda Hawes, and Pat Lamborn. SCCOSH organized
various campaigns in the fields of worker's rights advocacy and occupational safety and health training, particularly within
the region's electronics industries. At the group's outset, SCCOSH envisioned itself as representing three constituencies:
local labor unions and labor councils, ill and injured workers, and community residents affected by wildfire industrial development
of the Santa Clara Valley since the mid-1970s. The Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition (SVTC) developed from a SCCOSH project into
a wide-ranging, independent nonprofit organization. Founded by Ted Smith (1945-), attorney and activist, in 1982 in response
to the suspicion that leaks at manufacturing sites for IBM and Fairchild Electronics were causing health issues in nearby
Silicon Valley homes. The SVTC is a San José, California-based research and advocacy group that promotes safe environmental
practices in the high tech industry.
The records consist of administrative files, correspondence, research, publications, official reports, newspaper clippings,
photographs, notes, congressional testimony, and legislative material concerning these organizations and their mission to
reduce toxins and hazardous waste in the Silicon Valley.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into 15 series: Series I: SCCOSH, Activism, 1976-2002; Series II: SCCOSH, Workplace Hazard Files,
1978-1999; Series III: SCCOSH, Administrative Files, 1978-2001; Series IV: SCCOSH, Legal Cases, 1980-1998; Series V: SVTC,
Model Hazardous Materials Storage, 1981-1986; Series VI: SVTC, Groundwater Cleanup, 1981-1997; Series VII: SVTC, Toxic Gas
Model Ordinance, 1982-1997; Series VIII: SVTC, Administrative Files, 1982-1999; Series IX: SVTC, Founder Ted Smith, 1983-1995;
Series X: SVTC, United Technologies Corporation, 1984-1995; Series XI: SVTC, Toxics Coordinating Project, 1985-1990; Series
XII: SVTC, Tanner Bill, 1986-1991; Series XIII: SVTC, Stanford University/Biotechnology Activism, 1987-1991; Series XIV: SVTC,
Earth Day, 1987-1993; and Series XV: Newspaper Articles, 1987-1997.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
California--Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition--History
California--Tanner Bill
California--Stanford University--History
Electronics--industries
Employee rights
Environmental justice
Globalization
Hawes, Amanda
Hernandez, Alida
Santa Clara--Occupational Health
Santa Clara--Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health--History
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition--Ted Smith (1945- )
Smith, Ted (1945-)
Collection Contents
Series I:
SCCOSH, Activism
1976-2002
Physical Description: 4 boxes
Series Scope and Content Summary
The contents in this series document the activism of the Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) through various
campaigns in the fields of worker's rights advocacy and occupational safety and health training, particularly within the region's
electronics industries. At the group's outset, SCCOSH envisioned itself as representing three constituencies: local labor
unions and labor councils, ill and injured workers, and community residents affected by wildfire industrial development of
the Santa Clara Valley since the mid-1970s. One of the group's earliest organizing efforts was a breast cancer screening program
for workers using the industrial solvent trichloroethylene (TCE), which led to the successful "Campaign to Ban TCE" in 1981
and 1982. The TCE campaign manifested two conscious organizing strategies, pressuring employers directly and litigating through
state and federal regulatory agencies, both of which became common elements in later SCCOSH programs. Other formative SCCOSH
projects include a telephone worker's consultation service, the Hazard Hotline, managed under the project banner of Electronics
Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (ECOSH), and a legal consultation and political activism network, Injured Workers
United (IWU), formed in 1983 for electronics workers disabled by chemical exposure.
The Campaign to End the Miscarriage of Justice (CEMJ) was designed to pressure electronics manufacturers into eliminating
certain widely used chemical solvents, ethylene-based glycol ethers, which had been linked by occupational health studies
to increased miscarriages and other reproductive problems among workers.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by box date range.
Box 1
Administrative, Project, and Campaign Files
1976-2002
Folder 1
Project on Health and Safety in Electronics
1978-1981
Folder 2
Electronics Committee on Safety and Health
1976-2002
Folder 3
Campaign to End the Miscarriage of Justice
1981-1995
Folder 4
CEMJ Meeting Minutes, Agenda, and Notes
1994-1995
Folder 5
Working Women's Leadership Program
1981-2000
Box 4
Multimedia, News Segments, Educational Material
1978-1999
Series II:
SCCOSH, Workplace Hazard Files
1978-1999
Physical Description: 2 boxes
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series contains all the files on individual workplace hazards amassed by the Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health
(SCCOSH). The primary focus of this series relates to chemical hazards, especially those chemicals used intensively by Silicon
Valley computer and electronics plants. In the early years of the organization, SCCOSH leaders Robin Baker, Amanda Hawes,
Pat Lamborn, and other staff members found themselves charged with gathering, as well as disseminating, information on many
of the chemicals used in high-tech manufacturing, despite the limited existing toxicological or epidemiological research.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by box date range.
Boxes 5-6
Workplace Hazard Research and Educational Material
1978-1999
Series III:
SCCOSH, Administrative Files
1978-2001
Physical Description: 2 boxes
Series Scope and Content Summary
The contents in this series describe the Santa Clara Center for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) organizational growth from its
inception in 1978 to 2003 (bulk 1980-1990s). The middle years of the organization's history (1980s-1990s) are particularly
well-documented. SCCOSH came into being as the unifying agency for two prior established women's health and labor rights
campaigns, the Project on Health and Safety in Electronics (PHASE) and the Electronics Committee on Occupational Safety and
Health (ECOSH), both of which continued in some form as programs under SCCOSH. The administrative files contained here document
this growth through board meeting minutes, financial statements, and correspondence with other regional "COSH" groups around
the country. Researchers interested in U.S. labor movements of the late twentieth century, particularly those involving issues
of worker's health and labor justice will find this series useful.
Arrangement
This series has been arranged chronologically by box date range
Box 7
Financial Files
1978-1999
Box 8
Meeting Minutes, Incorporation Papers, Correspondence
1978-2001
Folder 1
Incorporation Papers/By Laws
1978-2000
Folder 2
Board Meeting Minutes
1986-2001
Series IV:
SCCOSH, Legal Case Files
1980-1998
Physical Description: 1 box
Series Scope and Content Summary
The contents in this series document the Campaign to End the Miscarriage of Justice (CEMJ) organized by the Santa Clara Center
for Occupational Health (SCCOSH) and the Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition (SVTC). The CEMJ pressured electronics manufacturers
into eliminating certain widely used chemical solvents such as ethylene-based glycol ethers, which occupational health studies
linked to increased miscarriages and other reproductive problems among workers. The collection consists of legal case files
and VHS tapes recording depositions and legal hearings. The lawsuits represented include Cruz v. Wilson Safety Products (199?),
Perez v. Varian Association & Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (1997), Carreon v. Skywest Technology (1989), Carreon v. Shugart
Company (1989), and Romic v. OSHA (1998). Much of the CEMJ campaign focused on obtaining justice for Rodrigo Cruz, a former
employee of Romic Environmental Technologies. Silicon Valley technology firms hired Romic to collect and haul toxic waste.
The company had a long-term record as a violator of health and safety laws, and their employees were forced to use faulty
equipment or faced being fired. Cruz was critically injured on the job as result of a defective protective mask that slowly
suffocated him while working on a job site. The CEMJ and SCCOSH protested on his behalf through public demonstrations and
together they formed the "Justice for Rodrigo Cruz Campaign." The collection of research files and the VHS tapes document
the role of grassroots coalitions to support worker's rights and to force tech companies to comply with state and local environmental
regulations, and specifically to end their contracts with Romic. The big firms associated with Romic included: Intel, Hewlitt
Packard, Linear Tech, National Semiconductor, Seagate, NEC Electronics, and Boeing.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by box date range.
Box 9
Legal Case Files
1980-1998
Series V:
SVTC, Model Hazardous Materials Storage
1981-1986
Physical Description: 1 box
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series document the Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition's (SVTC) role in the drafting and implementation of the Model Toxics
Storage Ordinance for Santa Clara County. This ordinance was approved by the county Intergovernmental Council in May of 1983,
and had been implemented in some form by fifteen municipalities in the region by 1984. This Santa Clara County Ordinances
served as the blueprint for a statewide groundwater contamination legislation under State Assembly Bill AB 1362, which the
state legislature adopted in the fall 1983. Ted Smith and other SVTC members led the drafting of the model ordinance and frequently
participated in or spoke out at city hearings about its implementation. One controversial facet was a "right-to-know" provision
requiring companies to disclose the location and contents of all potentially hazardous chemicals stored on their premises.
An interrelated debate, well represented in this series, focused on the number of chemicals that should fall under the scope
of the ordinance. The debate concerned whether the ordinance would apply to the full spectrum of chemicals listed as hazardous
by the California Occupational Health and Safety Administration (CAL/OSHA). Between the years 1982-1983, the SVTC lobbied
for similar chemical storage regulations at the state level in the form of California Assembly Bill 1362 (1985).
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by box date range.
Box 10
Hazardous Materials Storage
1981-1986
Folder 1
Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
1983
Folder 2
List of Hazardous Substances
1985
Folder 3
City Task Force Meetings
1982-1983
Folder 3
City Task Force Meetings
1982-1983
Folder 4
Storage Ordinance Implementation Surveys
1984-1986
Folder 5
Press Clippings
1981-1986
Series VI:
SVTC, Groundwater Cleanup
1981-1997
Physical Description: 3 boxes
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series documents the role of Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition (SVTC) and other South Bay area community activists in documenting,
publicizing, and then attaining state and federal intervention for the contamination of local groundwater supplies by Silicon
Valley area electronics manufacturers. Eventually nineteen sites polluted by faulty chemical storage had been declared Superfund
cleanup sites under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). More leaking chemical tanks were discovered in 1983-1984,
and SVTC continued to push for greater intervention by the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) and U.S. EPA, especially
through the local forum provided by the South Bay Groundwater Contamination Task Force (SBGTCF). In 1985 Ted Smith testified
before a California congressional investigation of groundwater contamination in the Valley. The full transcript of this investigation
is located in box 11, folder 4 of this series.
Also included in this series are Smith's notes from the SBGTCF meetings from 1984 to 1990. In January of 1985, the California
Department of Health Services (DOHS) released an epidemiological study of South San José near the contaminated public wells.
This series includes draft copies of the DOHS report and correspondence between SVTC and various parties regarding its implications.
Also included are records of SVTC and other Bay area environmental groups protesting the appointment of Gary Burke, then president
of the Santa Clara County Manufacturing Group, to the RWQCB in 1993. This series illustrates how grassroots organizations
came together to force industrial responsibility through city and state environmental regulations.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by box date range.
Box 11
Groundwater Cleanup
1981-1994
Folder 1
Great Oaks Water Company
1982-1988
Folder 2
Early Newspaper Coverage
1981-1982
Folder 4
Smith Congressional Testimony
1985
Folder 5
DOHS Epidemiological Study
1984-1985
Folder 6
Gary Burke Appointment
1993-1994
Box 12
Groundwater Cleanup
1983-1997
Folder 8
Research Materials, Santa Clara Groundwater
1983-1996
Folder 9
Owens-Corning Report
1989-1991
Folder 12
National Semiconductor
1991-1994
Folder 13
City of San José Environmental Committee
1991
Folder 14
Testing Analysis
1985-1997
Box 13
Groundwater Cleanup
1984-1997
Folder 1
Individual Company Files
1991
Folder 3
National Semiconductor/AMD
1991-1994
Folder 5
Philips Semiconductor (Signetics)
1984-1993
Folder 6
Precision Monolithics, Inc.
1984-1987
Folder 8
Rhone-Poulenc, Inc./Zoecon
1984
Folder 9
Romic Environmental Technologies Corp.
1995-1996
Series VII:
SVTC, Toxic Gas Model Ordinance
1982-1997
Physical Description: 3 boxes
Series Scope and Content Summary
The contents in this series describe the Silicon Valley Toxic Collation's (SVTC) part in developing a toxic gas model ordinance
for Santa Clara County, which like the county's Model Hazardous Material Storage Ordinance (see Series IV) became a model
for similar laws statewide and nationally. Beginning in 1985, SVTC activism came to focus increasingly on the dangers of gases
used in Silicon Valley semiconductor (microelectronics) manufacturing, in part reflecting global anxieties raised by the disastrous
Union Carbide plant explosion in Bhopal, India, in December of 1984. With the 1986 passage of California Assembly Bill 3777,
requiring each county in the state to develop a toxic gas emergency plan, Ted Smith was appointed as a task force member for
Santa Clara County alongside elected officials, city fire chiefs, and representatives of the area's electronics industry.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by box date range.
Box 14
Newspaper Clippings, Correspondence, SB14, Jeff Lake
1982-1992
Folder 2
Newspaper Clippings
1982-1990
Folder 3
Correspondence, Legislative Files on SB14: Hazardouse Waste Source Retention and Mgmt. Act
1987-1992
Folders 2-3
Notes and Correspondence
1986-1988
Folders 3-4
Notes and Correspondence
1986-1988
Folder 5
Toxic Gas Ordinance Milpitas
1990-1997
Series VIII:
SVTC, Administrative Files
1982-1999
Physical Description: 1 box
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series includes administrative files providing insight into the internal proceedings, external correspondence, fundraising,
and organizing of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) as it developed from a SCCOSH project into a wide-ranging, independent
nonprofit organization.
Included is a group of materials pertaining to a 1985 "High-Tech Organizer's Retreat" held in Redwood City, California, organized
by Ted Smith, Amanda Hawes, and some twenty other labor, occupational health, and environmental organizers. The Integrated
Circuit, a national coalition formed out of the retreat and resulted in the publication of the newsletter
Around the Circuit. In early 1986, SVTC separated from SCCOSH and established itself as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation with its own Board
of Directors. SVTC's funding in its early years came from The Public Welfare Foundation. Other grassroots groups, including
San Francisco-based Citizens for a Better Environment (CBE) and the Citizen's Clearing House for Toxic Waste in New York,
were influential and provided the SVTC with important fundraising advice.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by box date range.
Box 17
Administrative Files
1982-1999
Folder 1
Great Oaks Water Company Correspondence
1982-1986
Folder 2
High-Tech Organizers Retreat
1985
Folder 3
Bylaws/Application for 501(c)(3) Status
1986
Folder 5
Related Organizations, Inc. Correspondence
1985-1999
Series IX:
SVTC, Founder Ted Smith
1983-1995
Physical Description: 2 boxes
Series Scope and Content Summary
Ted Smith is the founder and former Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition. He currently serves as the Senior
Strategist for SVTC. Smith is also the co-founder and Coordinator of the International Campaign for Responsible Technology
(ICRT), an international network committed to working for the development of sustainable, non-polluting technologies. In addition,
he is also the steering committee chair of the "Computer TakeBack Campaign", which is working to promote life-cycle producer
responsibility within the high-tech electronics industry. He is co-editor of the book
Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry (2006). In 2001, Ted was recognized by the Dalai Lama for his environmental leadership.
Ted Smith maintained a strong awareness of other political arenas in which workers and communities were disputing industrial
pollution, whether locally throughout California, in other states, or at the level of federal regulatory agencies. From 1984
onward, acting as Executive Director of SVTC, Smith spoke to hundreds of environmental and community activist groups in the
Bay Area, around the state, and increasingly internationally. Included in this collection are news clippings from computer,
electronics, and semiconductor industry trade periodicals. Also well-documented is Smith's preparation for a 1985 public
debate moderated by California Senator Allen Cranston, in which Smith was pitted against electronics industry representative
Leo Kline, then director of the Industry Clean Water Task Force.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by box date range.
Folder 1
Ted Smith's Board Book
1985-1991
Folder 2
SVTC-Related Correspondence
1985-1987
Folder 3
Publications/Transcribed Talks
1983-1995
Folder 4
Record of Scheduled Talks
1984-1994
Folder 6
Other Activist Materials
1990-1991
Folder 1
Allen Cranston Toxics Debate
1985
Folder 2
Evergreen College Labor Conference
1990
Series X:
SVTC, United Technologies Corporation
1984-1995
Physical Description: 1 box
Series Scope and Content Summary
The contents in this series describe the successful campaign by the Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition (SVTC) and other local
organizers to end the burning of waste rocket fuel in the Coyote Foothills southeast of San José. The company incinerating
the fuel, United Technologies Corporation (UTC), manufactured rockets for commercial and military applications, with one of
its largest contracts in the mid-1980s coming from the United States Air Force for production of the Minuteman missile. UTC
first established a research & development division in the Coyote region in the late 1950s, and it began using open pits to
burn excess rocket fuel in the late 1970s. Alongside SVTC, those local groups active in protesting UTC's open-bit burning
in the late 1980s included the Coyote Creek Neighborhood Association, the South Bay Greens, the San José State University
Environmental Resource Center, and The UTC Conversion Project, which was housed in the San José Peace Center. The UTC Conversion
Project, an umbrella group of sorts, was focused not only on eliminating the open-pit burning, but on the larger objective
of pressuring the UTC Coyote facility to transition to "non-military, non-toxic" products. In 1989, the Conversion Project
authored and circulated a petition to the U.S. E.P.A, requested the pit areas be declared a Superfund federal cleanup site.
For specific details on the role that SVTC played in the UTC Conversion Project, see box 20, folder 1, which includes a long
script of arguments presented by Ted Smith to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) on October 11, 1990. Researchers
will also find letters from residents of the Coyote Creek Neighborhood to BAAQMD Chairperson Paul Cooper after the UTC pits
were closed in 1992 (see box 20, folder 4). See Series XI, box 22 for a more detailed account of the UTC case, including
notes from what appear to be UTC Conversion Project meetings as well as a full transcript of an October, 1990, BAAQMD hearing
at which Ted Smith served as a witness for the public.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by date range.
Box 20
United Technologies Corporation
1984-1995
Folder 2
Environmental Impact Reports
1984-1995
Folder 3
Background/News Clippings
1986-1992
Series XI:
SVTC, Toxics Coordinating Project
1985-1990
Physical Description: 1 box
Series Scope and Content Summary
The contents in this series describe the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition's (SVTC) organizational ties to the Toxics Coordinating
Project (TCP), a network of California-based environmental, occupational health, and community activist groups established
in Sacramento in 1985. SVTC was an early participant in the TCP, joining representatives of the Bay Area Committee on Occupational
Safety and Health (a larger group including SCCOSH as a member), Citizens for a Better Environment, Environmental Defense
Fund, California League of Conservation Voters, California Labor Federation, and the AFL-CIO.
Both Ted Smith (SVTC) and Amanda Hawes (SCCOSH) attended the TCP's First Annual Toxics Organizing Conference, held in November
of 1986 in Sacramento. Starting in the spring of 1986, the TCP produced a newsletter
Toxics Watchdog. While the TCP primarily served as a clearinghouse for information between activists, it also undertook its own campaigns.
For example, a statewide "Toxic Use Reduction" program in the late 1980s set out to reduce potentially harmful synthetic chemicals
at the point of their production and consumption, rather than simply through a safe, or safer disposal.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by box date range.
Box 21
Toxics Coordinating Project
1985-1990
Folder 2
Toxics Watchdog Newsletter
1986-1990
Folder 3
TCP: Ted Smith Notebook
1985-1990
Series XII:
SVTC, AB 2948--Tanner Bill
1986-1991
Physical Description: 1 box
Series Scope and Content Summary
The contents in this series describe Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition's (SVTC) role in developing a hazardous waste management
plan for Santa Clara County under the provisions of California Assembly Bill 2948, which passed in 1986. AB 2948 is also known
as the "Tanner Bill", named after the chief sponsor Assemblywoman Sally Tanner. The Tanner Bill implemented countywide planning
as the overarching strategy for managing hazardous waste throughout California. Included in this series is Smith's notebook
from the Advisory Committee meetings, which also contains miscellaneous letters and reports exchanged between committee members.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by box date range.
Series XIII:
SVTC, Stanford University/Biotechnology Activism
1987-1991
Physical Description: 2 boxes
Series Scope and Content Summary
The contents in this series describe the Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition's (SVTC) dispute with Stanford University over issues
related to the university's research agenda and its handling of hazardous materials, most notably a waste incinerator located
in the University Medical Center. In August of 1987, SVTC appealed the permit given by the Santa Clara County Planning Commission
to a new biomedical research facility on the Stanford campus, located on Serra Street off West Campus Drive. Among SVTC's
motivations, the group listed Stanford's past negligence with hazardous materials, the implications for community health of
new biomedical practices like genetic engineering, and the lack of a medical monitoring program for researchers and other
building staff. Stanford President Donald Kennedy publicly denounced these concerns, yet agreed to delay the construction
project until a full environmental review was completed. In December of 1987, an additional source of controversy opened up
when a senior engineer in Stanford's Department of Health and Safety resigned, alleging longstanding health issues created
by the treatment of hazardous waste at the University Medical Center. Facing negative publicity from SVTC and other community
groups, combined with these internal allegations from its DOHS, Stanford conceded to a University-wide special health and
safety review, which they eventually completed in the fall of 1988. The review led Stanford to create two new administrative
positions: Director of Environmental Health and Safety and a Laboratory Safety Officer.
Over the three years in which Stanford and SVTC disputed these issues, Ted Smith collected detailed notes on the emerging
biotechnologies like genetic engineering and their potential consequence for public health and the environment. Researching
this subject and making it a part of SVTC activism brought Smith into contact with a variety of groups around the country
voicing similar concerns. In January of 1989, SVTC was one of several Bay Area organizations sponsoring a two-day conference
on "Creating a Public Interest in Biotechnology in California," at which the renowned environmentalist and critic of genetic
engineering, Jeremy Rifkin appeared as the keynote speaker. In the early 1990s, Smith served on the steering committee of
the California Biotechnology Action Council (CALBAC), based in Sacramento. Along with a record of Smith's participation in
the Action Council, this series includes many newspaper clippings describing tensions between Stanford officials, Palo Alto
community associations, and environmentalist groups headquartered within the Bay Area.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by box date range.
Box 23
Building Assessments/Environmental Reports
1987-1989
Box 24
Biotechnology Activism
1987-1991
Folder 1
SVTC Appeal to SCC Board of Supervisors
1987
Folder 2
Misc. Correspondence
1987-1990
Folder 3
Loose Notes on Stanford/Biotechnology
1987-1990
Folder 5
Background Information
1972-1987
Folder 6
California Biotechnology Action Council
1990-1991
Series XIV:
SVTC, Earth Day
1987-1993
Physical Description: 2 boxes
Series Scope and Content Summary
The contents in this series describe efforts made in the late 1980s and early 1990s by the Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition
(SVTC) and other Bay area environmental groups to eliminate chlorofluorocarbons, or "CFCs," from household products and manufacturing
processes in use in the region. The International Earth Day celebrations of 1989 and 1990 served as a focal point for these
efforts.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by date range.
Boxes 25-26
Earth Day Task Force
1987-1993
Series XV:
Newspaper Articles
1987-1997
Physical Description: 1 box
Series Scope and Content Summary
This series consists of newspaper articles concerning the Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition (SVTC) and the Santa Clara Center
for Occupational Health (SCCOSH), and environmental issues involving Silicon Valley companies. Many of the articles cover
fines, civil complaints, and federal prosecution of companies based on findings by hazardous waste inspectors. News coverage
of the legal case against Silicon Valley, chip board manufacturer Ztron is fetured. Ztron was found guilty of pumping hazardous
waste directly into the sewer system. Other stories highlight the controversial storage practices of Lorentz Barrel and Drum
Company. This company storing over 300 barrels of hazardous waste within a few blocks of the San José State University Athletics
Facility.
Arrangement
This series is arranged chronologically by box date range.
Boxes 27
Newspaper Articles
1985-1997
