Intel, EPA Sign ‘Alternative’ Environmental Strategies Pact

Intel Corp. on Tuesday signed a five-year agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allowing for “alternative” environmental strategies if the company produces “greater environmental results.”

The program, called Project XL, for “Excellence and Leadership,” will allow Intel to shed some regulations at its recently opened Chandler, Ariz., semiconductor plant, which employs about 700 people.

Benefits for Santa Clara-based Intel include a “one-stop air permit,” eliminating the requirement to change permits each time the company changes manufacturing operations, and the filing of a single, consolidated environmental report for air, water and land pollution to Arizona’s Department of Environment Quality instead of different reports for each area.

Intel also agreed to cap overall air pollution at 50 tons annually and to recycle the majority of water, solid waste and non-hazardous chemical waste produced at the facility. Craig Barrett, Intel’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, said Project XL will cost Intel more than it saves.

However, Howard High, an Intel spokesman, said savings will come through reducing the time navigating regulations. “We can’t quantify how much ‘time to market’ is in dollars and cents, but we know that it’s valuable.”

Intel stock rose $5.375 to close at $120.75 on Nasdaq on Tuesday.

EPA Administrator Carol Browner hailed the agreement as a “common-sense solution.”

Critics of the agreement say it sets lower standards for air quality and rescinds other regulations altogether. It “falls short of the standards contained in Intel’s original air permit,” said Chris van Loben Sels, an analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Intel has pledged to remain below the regulatory threshold, but Intel’s own data show that it can meet a tighter standard.”