INTEL-D1X.2012.JPG

State environmental officials are reviewing a new air emissions permit for Intel, whose D1X plant is shown under construction at the company's Ronler Acres campus in Hillsboro.

(Bruce Ely/The Oregonian/2012)

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality may have incorrectly granted Intel approval for its $3 billion expansion in Hillsboro, effectively bypassing public notice and now calling into question the company's pending air quality permit.

The agency has for months called the permit approval for Intel fairly “mechanical,” but that could now grind to a halt as officials decide whether the DEQ needs to redo part or all of its process.

The question was spurred by the DEQ's recent admission that Intel failed to report its fluoride emissions for more than 30 years.

Had Intel acknowledged its fluoride emissions in 2010 when it applied for expansion approval, the company could have been subject to a more intensive DEQ vetting and a public notice, DEQ’s George Davis said. The expansion could have required a permit -- instead, Intel needed only a DEQ letter of approval to move forward.

It was the fluoride realization coupled with a recent comment from an environmental lawyer that prompted the agency this week to start retracing its steps.

“We’re looking at every decision along the way,” said Davis, DEQ’s environmental engineer and the Intel permit writer.

The question comes at the end of an at-times tense series of public meetings and hearings that generated 55 formal comments. Intel is the largest private employer in the state with about 17,000 employees and campuses in Hillsboro and Aloha.

Now that the company has acknowledged the fluoride and requested an increase in another emission, volatile organic compounds, Davis said Intel could be required to go back and get a permit for construction already in motion. That could be only a precursor to obtaining the separate air quality permit Intel is currently seeking, called a Title V.

Even figuring out what the next step is could take months, Davis said.

“One could probably say that Intel should have known about fluorides earlier, so in that respect it’s kind of their mistake,” Davis said. “In looking at the permit today and whether or not that changes any of the decisions made in 2010, that’s really DEQ’s responsibility.”

Davis added it was up to the DEQ to catch the discrepancy between the two permits, and the agency failed to do so until recently.

Neighbors for Clean Air attorney John Krallman said the answer to DEQ's question is simple: The company should have required a permit to start building. It was a comment from Krallman earlier this week that first got Davis and other DEQ officials thinking about the process. Krallman said he included just two sentences on the matter, noting that there was no current basis for for Intel's fluoride limit.

“This (process) has been pretty fraught with issues,” said Krallman, citing the fluoride admission in particular.

Davis said he wasn’t sure how aware Intel was of the possible complications with its permit. Davis said there will be “more than one conversation” moving forward between the DEQ and Intel.

For Intel’s part, the company said in an emailed statement that it would cooperate with the DEQ in responding to public comments.

“We fully support ODEQ’s permitting process and stand ready to provide them with any information they need to provide full and complete responses to each comment,” spokeswoman Chelsea Hossaini said in an email.

The DEQ also plans to consult with the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA must ultimately approve Intel’s air quality permit and it has the right to return a permit to Intel if the agency hasn’t followed protocol.

There’s no timeline yet on when DEQ will decide whether Intel must get a new construction permit.

- Katherine Driessen

Mike Rogoway of The Oregonian contributed to this report.