"I think clean drinking water and for farmers to be able to irrigate their fields is far more important than a microchip," said Stacy Brenner, a Maine state senator who backed the state's bipartisan legislation.
You can tell she's bought off. Originally a milionaire from from NJ. The old Fairchild site, now Texas Instruments and OnSemi, the groundwater was already polluted from the early 1960s Fairchild days. They are the only fabs in the state of Maine, located on the same site. Materials handling and safety have improved 100 fold since then. Ironically, the area was farmland in 1960, now all shopping malls and high density housing. This is just throwing obstacles in the way of one of Maine's biggest exporters. Does Minnesota have any fabs?
For many existing fabs, we're also talking national security. Many parts are designed into military and aerospace applications. This is a bullshit bill that only someone who wants to hobble America would pass. Oh, wait ...
PFAS are forever chemicals that affect everyone in the world.
They use it because it's cheap and is a slow poison like fluoride. Instead of pumping jew chemical companies (Dupont, Dow, 3M) with more money to create poisons, maybe research alternatives...
https://www.rti.org/impact/replacing-polyfluoroalkyl-substances-with-safer-chemicals
I'd rather go without the microchips, than poison generations of humans...
PFAS in your canned foods is a far bigger issue to me. The Semiconductor industry has cleaned up its act since the 1960s. I would be very curious to see recent studies based on modern day fabs operating under modern procedures and their impact on groundwater instead of painting the industry with the broad brush of 60 year old incidents that have long ago been eliminated. I don't believe the modern semiconductor industry is a major contributor of PFAS into the environment. I would not be surprised if these 60 year ago issues are being used in an attempt to hobble America's technical advantage in the semiconductor industry.
Fun fact - in Maine, TI is the largest consumer of the public water supply in the State.
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