[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 117 (Friday, June 16, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37780-37781]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-15155]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6708-9]


Regulatory Reinvention (XL) Pilot Projects

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability of the Project XL Proposed Final Project 
Agreement: International Business Machines Corporation Copper 
Metallization Project.

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SUMMARY: EPA is requesting comments on a proposed Project XL Final 
Project Agreement (FPA) for the International Business Machines 
Corporation, (hereafter ``IBM'') semiconductor manufacturing facility 
in Essex Junction, VT. The FPA is a voluntary agreement developed 
collaboratively by IBM, the Vermont Department of Environmental 
Conservation, EPA and interested stakeholders. Project XL, announced in 
the Federal Register on May 23, 1995 (60 FR 27282), gives regulated 
entities the flexibility to develop alternative strategies that will 
replace or modify specific regulatory or procedural requirements on the 
condition that they produce greater environmental benefits. EPA has set 
a goal of implementing fifty XL projects undertaken in full partnership 
with the states.
    In the draft FPA, IBM proposes to determine whether the wastewater 
treatment sludge resulting from a new, innovative copper metallization 
process should continue to be designated a Resource Conservation and 
Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste (F006). IBM's innovative copper 
metallization process is used to create electrical interconnections 
between device levels for new semiconductor technologies and replaces 
the Aluminum Chemical Vapor Deposition process used in previous 
generation semiconductor device technologies. Under current RCRA 
regulations, sludges or solids created from the treatment of 
wastewaters which include rinsewaters generated from an electroplating 
process carry the F006 listing (40 CFR 261.31). This process results in 
the generation of copper plating rinsewaters, which when introduced to 
the other process wastewaters generated at the facility, generates 
sludge that is regulated under RCRA as F006 hazardous waste. EPA 
currently considers IBM's process a traditional ``electroplating'' 
process for purposes of RCRA and therefore subject to its regulations.
    It appears that this classification artificially inflates IBM's 
figures for hazardous waste generation, while at the same time not 
providing any additional environmental protection, and adding paperwork 
and reporting requirements. In addition, it appears that the source 
documents for the F006 listing focused on much different industrial 
processes than IBM's copper metallization process. Finally, and perhaps 
most importantly, the chemicals used in IBM's process do not contain 
the heavy metals or cyanides listed in appendix VII of 40 CFR part 261 
which are the focus of the original F006 listing. IBM has also 
conducted Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) analysis of 
the rinsewater sludge that demonstrates that the sludge is not 
hazardous per the RCRA toxicity characteristic requirements (see 40 CFR 
261.24).
    IBM has proposed that EPA exempt this copper metallization process 
for semiconductor manufacture from the F006 definition through a site-
specific rulemaking and that this be done through the Project XL 
process. EPA is proposing the site-specific rule for the IBM 
semiconductor manufacturing facility in Essex Junction, VT in this 
issue of the Federal Register. Project XL was chosen as the vehicle for 
this project because IBM is asking EPA to review its entire copper 
metallization process and not just analyze the resultant wastewater 
sludge. This novel approach will possibly provide the Agency with a new 
methodology for evaluating the applicability of its regulations to 
specific activities. This paradigm shift will allow the Agency 
appropriate flexibility to ensure that necessary environmental 
standards continue to be met while providing a means to adapt their 
regulatory framework to a changing industrial landscape.

DATES: The period for submission of comments ends on July 17, 2000.

ADDRESSEES:  All comments on the proposed Final Project Agreement 
should be sent to: John Moskal, EPA New England, 1 Congress Street 
(SPP), Boston, MA 02114, or Chad Carbone, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, Room 1027WT (1802), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 
20460. Comments may also be faxed to Mr. Moskal (617) 918-1810, or Mr. 
Carbone (202) 260-1812. Comments may also be received via electronic 
mail sent to: [email protected] or [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To obtain a copy of the proposed Final 
Project Agreement, Test Plan or Fact Sheet, contact: John Moskal, EPA 
New England, 1 Congress Street (SPP), Boston, MA 02114 or Chad Carbone, 
Room 1027WT (1802) U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 
20460. The FPA and related documents are also available via the 
Internet at the following location: http://www.epa.gov/ProjectXL. 
Questions to EPA regarding the documents can be directed to John Moskal 
at (617) 918-1826 or Chad Carbone at (202) 260-4296. For information on 
all other aspects of the XL Program contact Christopher Knopes at the 
following address: Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation, United 
States Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, 
Room 1029WT (Mail Code 1802), Washington, DC 20460. Additional 
information on Project XL, including documents referenced in this 
notice, other EPA policy documents related to Project XL, regional XL 
contacts, application

[[Page 37781]]

information, and descriptions of existing XL projects and proposals, is 
available via the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/projectxl/inter/page1.htm.

    Dated: May 23, 2000.
Elizabeth A. Shaw,
Deputy Associate Administrator,, Office of Policy and Reinvention.
[FR Doc. 00-15155 Filed 6-15-00; 8:45 am]
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