To me this kind of makes the earlier article seem overblown. Okay, so the entirety of silicon valley is a toxic waste dump? Well then.
Yes, notoriously so. Think about where the name Silicon Valley comes from. HP, Shockley, Fairchild Semiconductor, Intel, AMD... Chipmakers. A lot of dangerous chemicals go into silicon chip fabrication, and a lot of them, especially in the bad old days, weren't disposed of (or contained) properly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiconductor_device_fabricati...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_hazards_in_semiconducto...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870411170457535...