Intel left a key piece of safety equipment off for 64 days last summer at its D1X factory in Hillsboro, according to state regulators, resulting in “significant” emissions of potentially hazardous chemicals. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality said that pollutants including hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride vented into the air while an “acid gas scrubber” was turned off, apparently inadvertently. Other potential chemical emissions include fluorine, chlorine, and hydrogen bromide. “The health effects from exposure to these chemicals depends on the amount and length of exposure,” DEQ environmental engineer Patty Jacobs wrote in a January violation notice to Intel. “However, short-term exposure to high enough air concentrations of these chemicals can cause severe respiratory damage in humans, including severe irritation and lung edema. Severe eye irritation and skin burns may occur following eye or skin exposure in humans. ” “It’s important to us to be a responsible and engaged member of the communities in which we operate in and we take these matters seriously,” Intel spokesperson Elly Akopyan said in a written statement. “Intel has taken a number of steps to address this event, preventing future similar events and is cooperating fully with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to rectify the matter. ” D1X is Intel’s main Oregon factory, located at its manufacturing campus south of Hillsboro Stadium. DEQ referred questions about broader health risks to the Oregon Health Authority, which didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry. “It does feel like that could have been a problematic exposure, particularly for the workers close by,” said Mary Peveto, executive director with Neighbors for Clean Air. “This was a serious violation and it lasted for a really long time,” Peveto said, noting that the emissions continued – apparently undetected – for nine weeks. “Something besides just a control device broke down. ” Intel is Oregon’s largest manufacturer and largest corporate employer, with 22,000 people assigned to its Washington County campuses. Like other chipmakers, Intel uses a number of potentially hazardous chemicals in its manufacturing process. They enable chipmakers to etch patterns onto silicon wafers to form the circuitry for semiconductors and to deposit specialized materials onto the computer chips. Scrubbers are designed to neutralize pollution by injecting a liquid — sodium hydroxide in this case — that reacts with hazardous chemicals to form less dangerous or benign emissions. Intel left its scrubber in a “hold” position from July 7 through Sept. 9 last year before discovering the situation and turning the scrubber back on, according to DEQ’s notice. The company sent an email to regulators on Sept. 23 to report the violation. The agency said Intel has “appropriately modified” its procedures, reducing the likelihood of a recurrence. But DEQ said the emissions represent a Class II violation of Intel’s state permit, which the agency considers a “serious violation. ” “The violation(s) cited above have the potential to have caused significant environmental harm or posed the risk of significant environmental harm,” Jacobs, the DEQ engineer, wrote to the company. She told Intel that regulators consider the incident “avoidable” and would refer it for enforcement action. On Thursday, DEQ said it is still determining its next steps. The agency said Intel hasn’t previously had a violation of this kind. A decade ago, however, without notifying the state or obtaining a permit. No evidence emerged that the fluoride itself posed a health risk, and Intel ultimately obtained a permit for the fluoride emissions. But for its permitting failures, one of the largest air-quality penalties in state history at the time. -- Mike Rogoway | | 503-294-7699.