In Isère, the electronics industry will pump the equivalent of 16 mega-basins per day

In Isère, at the foot of the Alpine massif, the electronics industry consumes and pollutes millions of cubic meters of drinking water for the production of electronic chips. Since these components are strategic for the digital sector, the army, aeronautics or even the automotive industry, manufacturers benefit as usual from protection from the state mafia.

According to the collective Stop Micro 38, after the expansion of the STMicroelectronics and Soitec factories, the two firms “should consume more than 29,000 m³ per day, the equivalent of 700,000 showers, 12 Olympic pools or 16 mega-basins in Sainte Soline^[1] ”. Faced with this organized robbery, the inhabitants are mobilizing on 5, 6 and 7 April in defense of blue gold, with a slogan: “Water, not fleas! ”. ATR teams will be on site alongside the locals to oppose the water looters!

Photo: demonstration in Crolles in April 2023 in front of the STMicroelectronics factory.

Plunder of a vital resource

At least 16,000 m³ of water per day, or 185 liters per second, this is the phenomenal quantity of water taken by the electronics industry, and in particular the STMicroelectronics factory, in the Grenoble region. With its extension, STMicroelectronics plans to engulf between 19,000 m³ and 33,500 m³ of water per day in the near future.

As if that were not enough, electronics manufacturers siphon off drinking water, the same water that is distributed by the public network. Consequently, this overconsumption therefore weakens the infrastructures normally dedicated to the distribution of water for inhabitants, increasing the “risks of water shortages with significant impacts for the territory and even beyond”, according to the report by Eaux de Grenoble Alpes.^[2].

STMicroelectronics has also obtained authorization to drill three holes to draw directly from the groundwater table, increasingly appropriating water at the expense of vital uses such as agriculture.

Green light from the prefecture for contamination

The water in this region is particularly pure and inexpensive, which partly explains the establishment of the electronics industry near Grenoble. This water is used for polishing, washing and rinsing “wafers”, very fine plates of semiconductor material used to manufacture electronic chips.

After use, industry rejects 85% of the water into Isère and the rest disappears by evaporation. But this process turns consumable water into non-drinkable water. If it remains below the tolerated pollution thresholds, it is thanks to a trick: STMicroelectronics, an industrial giant listed on the stock exchange and integrating the CAC 40, benefits from a prefectural decree that authorizes its factory to exceed the metal concentration thresholds set by regulations. As historians François Jarrige, Thomas Le Roux, and Jean-Baptiste Fressoz have taught us, the State has always promotes industry interests front Those of the people and of the wild^[3]. This is why the technocrats who claim to be able to green the industry with more regulation are crooks, even criminals.

In reality, in the water rejected by the factory, we can see levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and copper that are much higher than the limit values set by European regulations.^[4]. The nitrogen-phosphorus cocktail can lead to the proliferation of the infamous “green algae” that suffocate aquatic ecosystems. Copper, on the other hand, is toxic, especially for fish.^[5].

The electronics industry collaborates actively in ecocide and wars

These factories benefit from the great benevolence of the authorities, up to President Macron, who welcomed the expansion of the STMicroelectronics factory as “a big step for our industrial sovereignty.”.

According to the industrialist ideology espoused by the government (and tutti Political parties), the reindustrialization of France must move forward without obstacles, regardless of the environmental and human costs. The plates produced by the Grenoble electronics industry are used all over the world for aeronautics, car manufacturing or even computer technology, by companies that actively participate in global ecocide such as Apple, Huawei, Samsung, Samsung, Samsung, SpaceX, Samsung, Samsung, SpaceX, Tesla, etc.^[6].

What STMicro is careful not to say is that their products also serve the military industry and in particular the Russian army, despite the embargoes and the invasion of Ukraine. Some of their components are found in Russian equipment used in this war, for example in kamikaze drones.^[7] !

A very active local resistance

Once again, a simulacrum of public consultation took place, which nevertheless made it possible to highlight the nebulous aspect, in terms of the consequences on the environment, of the expansion of the STMicroelectronics plant. Indeed, according to the regional mission of environmental authority:

“The file has numerous shortcomings that make it difficult to understand the project and its environmental impacts.^[8].”

Reunited in particular in the StopMicro collective, the opponents of the project are multiplying actions to try to push back the powerful electronics industry: public meetings, open letters, conferences, demonstrations, etc. On April 5, 6 and 7, the resistance fighters are organizing a major rally entitled “Water, not fleas: against the monopolization of resources by digital industries and “connected life””. On the program: workshops, conferences, an event and a rally^[9].

Unfortunately, while informing the general public about the damage caused by businesses is necessary, it is useless to believe that these local struggles will be able to reverse the global trend — the extermination of life on Earth organized by industrial psychopaths. If the expansion of STMicroelectronics is stopped in Grenoble, another factory, elsewhere, causing the same ravages, will take its place.

The electronics industry is part of a vast group composed, as we saw above, of the computer industry, the automotive industry, aeronautics, the military industry, etc. In the end, it is only one link in the technological system.

Revolutionaries who want to get rid of the electronics industry have no choice but to seriously think about decommissioning this technological system, which will not happen without a Serious strategy and a solid organization to carry it out.