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Corrales, New Mexico

Clean Air for All Now!

Clean Air for All Now! (CAFA-Now), founded in 1993 and based in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, is fighting to protect the health of 75,000 people living near Intel’s massive chip production plant. While CAFA-Now recognizes Intel’s vital role in technology and the economy, it is increasingly alarmed by toxic emissions from the plant’s ongoing expansion – pollution released into nearby homes, schools, and neighborhoods. Residents have reported decades of odors, illnesses, and unexplained symptoms. CAFA-Now monitors air quality, shares chemical data with the public, and pressures Intel to adopt the most advanced pollution control systems. Vulnerable groups – children, the elderly, and people with chronic illness – are especially at risk. Regulatory silence has failed these communities. CAFA-Now is standing up to ensure that progress never comes at the cost of public health.

The Intel plant in Rio Rancho spews toxic fumes above a residential neighborhood in Corrales, NM.

Led by residents of Corrales, Rio Rancho, and northwest Albuquerque, CAFA-Now is a grassroots group born from lived experience with air pollution. Co-founder Marcy Brandenburg closed her café after daily illness, while Dennis O’Mara joined after fumes filled his home. Now 55 members strong, CAFA-Now monitors air quality, shares findings, and fights for a cancer rate study across 14 nearby census tracts. The group has urged Intel to use part of its $3.5 billion expansion to upgrade outdated abatement equipment and asked the New Mexico Environment Department for a stronger air permit with enforceable emission limits and independent oversight. Their work supports a community that is 44% Hispanic, ranks in the 96th percentile for cancer risk, and includes many elderly, low-income, and limited-English residents—all disproportionately impacted by industrial pollution.

This aerial photo shows the dense residential development surrounding the Intel NM plant.

Contact
Dennis O’Mara
Climate impacts
Superfund Sites
Strategies
Community Organizing and Education, Risk mapping and/or monitoring e.g. flooding/contaminants etc
Environmental Justice Concerns
Air Pollution, Hazardous/Toxic Sites
501c3 Tax Deductible
No
Accepting Donation
Yes