Phoenix Installs Device to Trap Poison Gases; Lacks Regulators’ OK

Without obtaining permission from local air-pollution officials, Phoenix Research Corp. on Wednesday began installing a pollution-control device that company officials claim will prevent the deadly gases they manufacture from leaking from their La Mesa plant.

Phoenix President Randall Kelley said installation of a $250,000, 40-foot high “scrubber”--essentially a high-tech smokestack designed to catch arsine and phosphine gases before they reach the atmosphere--began Wednesday and is expected to be completed by May 31, the date the company had promised La Mesa city officials it would have a back-up safety system in place.

But use of the scrubber has yet to be approved by the Air Pollution Control District, and the company’s decision to install the device once again puts Phoenix at odds with the agency in charge of regulating local air quality.

‘Violation of District’s Rules’

“Installation of any air-pollution control equipment requires an authority-to-construct permit from the air-pollution control district,” said APCD spokeswoman Lynn Eldred. “At this time, Phoenix Research does not have such a permit. Installation of the scrubber . . . would be a violation of the district’s rules and regulations.”

A Phoenix spokesman, however, said the company tried to meet with APCD officials recently but was told they were too busy to talk about the scrubber.

“We had one meeting with them, and there was the press of other matters and they couldn’t deal with us at the present time,” said Jim Secor, director of communications for Union Carbide’s Linde Division, which owns Phoenix.

One environmentalist said Wednesday that installation of the scrubber is “little comfort” because the expensive device won’t stop the escape of arsine or phosphine during an earthquake or an explosion.

“Phoenix Research has tried to make it seem like the scrubber is the only safety feature that was needed, but it is far and away not the only safety feature that is needed,” said Diane Takvorian, executive director of the nonprofit Environmental Health Coalition. “The relocation of the facility is what’s needed.”

Announcement After Protests

Phoenix’s announcement Wednesday came barely seven months before the beleaguered company has promised to leave its plant at 8075 Alvarado Road for a new home near Kingman, Ariz. The move was announced earlier this year after a new round of community protests erupted over the presence of the manufacturer of the deadly gas.

The company makes arsine and phosphine, both acutely toxic and used in the semiconductor industry to alter the electrical characteristics of such materials as silicon. County records show that, at any given time, the La Mesa facility can have as much as 2,250 pounds of pure arsine on hand in several large cylinders.

Federal limits for exposure to the gases are extremely low--0.3 parts per million (p.p.m.) for phosphine and 0.05 p.p.m. for arsine. A whiff of 500 p.p.m. of arsine causes instant death by freezing the hemoglobin in the red blood cells.

Uncovered by Times Story

Despite the toxicity of the gases, Phoenix operated in relative obscurity until a Times article about the company in 1985 stirred the ire of La Mesa residents and public officials, who demanded that Phoenix leave its location near the Grossmont Shopping Center, other businesses and several residential subdivisions.

In 1986, the APCD ordered the Phoenix plant shut because it posed a potential health hazard, lacking adequate pollution-control devices in the event of a leak. Although the company successfully stalled the shutdown in court, it developed the scrubber that workers began installing Wednesday.

Kelley said tests of the scrubber, which cost at least $250,000 to develop and will be moved to the new Phoenix facility in Arizona, showed the device is 99.99% effective in removing up to 140 pounds of arsine or phosphine, should that amount be accidentally released through the company’s exhaust system. That amount is contained in a cylinder and is the maximum amount handled by Phoenix employees at any one time, Kelley said.

The APCD, however, has yet to determine how effective the scrubber will be, said spokeswoman Lynn Eldred. Although personnel from the pollution control agency were invited to witness the two field tests, they are still sifting through scientific data, she said.

And Takvorian, whose organization has helped organize community pressure on Phoenix, said Wednesday that the scrubber won’t be any good in a number of disaster scenarios.

“If a cylinder falls off a truck, if there is an explosion in the building that is going to blow out a wall, it’s not going to take care of arsine gas,” Takvorian said. “If there is an earthquake, which creates a hole in the building, the scrubber is not going to take care of that.”