Overview of Carbon Tetrachloride Emissions
Of Intel's routine chemical emissions, the Risk Assessment found that the highest risk to the public is from carbon tetrachloride, a chemical used in Intel's chip-making operations. Intel's permit from the New Mexico Environment Department's Air Quality Bureau (AQB) requires annual monitoring of stack emissions of carbon tetrachloride and reporting every three months of carbon tetrachloride emissions, based on measurement of the Intel operations that emit the chemical. These operations go on at a steady pace throughout the week and year, as is required to maintain the steady production rate of computer chips.

In addition, the AQB and Intel separately have monitored for carbon tetrachloride in the community. The AQB collected 27 days of open path Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (OP-FTIR) monitoring data from a residential neighborhood to the southeast of the Intel facility and 7 days of OP-FTIR data from the northwest corner of the Intel facility. The AQB also collected 22 canister samples from the OP-FTIR locations and from various other locations in the Corrales and Rio Rancho area. Intel conducted 19 days of OP-FTIR monitoring on the northwest corner of the Intel facility and 18 days at the southeast side of the Intel facility. The OP-FTIR and canister results were evaluated in the Corrales Air Quality Study, which followed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines. The EPA guidance documents can be found at http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/air_risc/3_90_024.html.

The study showed that risks from carbon tetrachloride were within the bounds, including a margin of safety, which the EPA recommends to protect the public from effects of human activity. The AQB final report is available online at http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/aqb/projects/corrales/. Information about safe levels of carbon tetrachloride can be found at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts30.html or Appendix D of the Intel Risk Assessment (contains other Web sites as well).

To summarize:
The measurements made on stack emissions, Intel plant operations, and state monitoring of air quality in the community all indicate that the risk from carbon tetrachloride emissions is below the levels that the EPA considers safe for the public, with an adequate margin of safety. However, since the Risk Assessment identified future carbon tetrachloride emissions as the highest contributor to risk, Intel will continue to monitor the carbon tetrachloride emissions data collected during the annual stack testing and in the quarterly emissions report to ensure they remain below the levels that would pose as risk.

All the information from the state and the company was also provided to the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), which is further assessing the risk from Intel's air emissions. More can be learned about the ATSDR on their Web site at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/.