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IBM and EPA Sign Innovative Agreement that Benefits the Environment and Business

Release Date: 07/31/2000
Contact Information: Amy Miller, EPA Press Office (617-918-1042)

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that IBM's facility in Essex Junction, Vt., will be given regulatory flexibility in handling its wastewater from a new manufacturing process that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption.

As part of the agreement signed today between the company, EPA New England and the state of Vermont, IBM new process for producing computer chips will reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions released from the facility. Also as part of the agreement, IBM will make other changes to its manufacturing processes to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a total of 40 percent at its Essex Junction plant. The agreement was negotiated under EPA's Project XL (eXcellence and Leadership) Program, which gives companies flexibility in implementing innovative projects to achieve environmental benefits.

As part of the agreement, EPA has promised to redefine as "non-hazardous" the waste coming out of the process. The new process uses an electroplating technique to deposit copper onto the chips. The rinse waters from this process are combined with other wastewaters, which produces a sludge that is officially regulated as hazardous waste because all wastewaters from plating processes are defined as hazardous. Since copper is not considered hazardous in this waste stream, EPA was willing to make this redefinition.

The redefinition will provide the same level of environmental protection while allowing the company to continue its innovative manufacturing process. It also acknowledges the environmental benefits associated with this new process. If successful, use of this process at other facilities could achieve similar greenhouse gas reductions and energy savings benefitting both the environment and business. The new project will run for five years at the Essex Junction facility.

"This sort of project is exactly why XL is such a good idea," said Ira Leighton, acting deputy administrator for EPA New England. "The company offered to make additional voluntary reductions in greenhouse gases in return for some flexibility on regulations that, in this case, did not provide comparable environmental benefits. The redefinition will not hurt the environment, but the greenhouse gas reduction will provide an environmental benefit for everyone."

Among those who attended the announcement of this Project XL agreement were: Ira Leighton, acting deputy administrator at EPA New England; Elizabeth Shaw, deputy assistant administrator of the EPA Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation; H. J. Geipel, IBM senior location executive, and Canute Dalmasse, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation.

"We're very pleased about this sort of pro-active approach from IBM," said Dalmasse. "They continue to make a number of thoughtful improvements and act as a leader for Vermont's computer and electronics industry."

EPA's Project XL is a national pilot program that allows state and local governments and businesses to collaborate with EPA to develop innovative strategies to test better and more cost- effective ways of protecting the environment and public health. Under the program, EPA provides participants with regulatory flexibility to achieve better environmental results while assuring that specific XL criteria are met. Among the required criteria are: superior environmental results beyond those that would have been achieved under existing regulations and policies, high potential for transferring the technology to other facilities; a strong history of environmental compliance, and strong support from stakeholder groups