Former official: Intel permit allows more pollutants

Jim Shively, a permit engineer and manager for the department who retired at the end of 2003, said Monday he waited until now to talk about Intel's permit because he was not allowed to give interviews as an agency employee. The permit was granted in April 2000.

Shively said the only recommendation he can make about the permit is to "rescind it, reopen it, revisit it — all of that applies."

The permit took more than five years to modify and was validated by the state. It also was upheld after being challenged twice in court by an activist group, the South West Organizing Project, said Terry McDermott, a spokesman for Intel.

"Mr. Shively is entitled to his opinion, but if you consider the five years of scientific review and challenges that went into the permit, I think you have to conclude that it is stringent, fair and enforceable," McDermott said.

Shively, who worked on Intel air quality permits from 1981 through 2001, said Intel's previous permit allowed it to release about 350 tons of volatile organic compounds into the air each year.

However, he said that number is deceptive because Intel had to clean 90% of toxins from the air, so the real amount allowed was closer to 45 tons.

The modification lets the plant release just under 100 tons of volative organic compounds.

"It looks like a big decrease, but actually it isn't. It's an increase," Shively said.

Intel plans to review Shively's numbers but could not comment immediately, McDermott said.

"We don't have an answer to that right now, but we will," he said.

Shively also said the previous permit required more monitoring. He said the latest permit also allows "rolling averaging," which essentially lets Intel release a certain amount of each toxin over 12 months, with the releases averaged out over time.

"Rolling averages work all right if a source operates evenly throughout the year," Shively said. "They don't work well for sources that are complicated and vary at different times, like Intel's do."

An air quality task force in the nearby village of Corrales has alleged Intel emissions are making some residents sick.

Last month, an expert hired by the state to monitor air quality near the Rio Rancho plant found no concentrations of airborne chemicals that would have caused the health problems. But Fred Marsh, a member of the task force, said at the time his equipment registered higher contamination levels than the state-funded study reported.

Intel officials have said the plant does not cause health problems and that emissions are within permitted levels.