Motorola Plant Making a Little More Smog

A fire at Motorola Corp.’s big semiconductor plant in Irvine last week destroyed a $900,000 machine that is part of the company’s emissions purification system.

But Motorola says it contacted the South Coast Air Quality Management District and got permission to continue production by switching back to an older air-purification system that had been shut down when the new unit was installed after Motorola bought the facility two years ago.

A spokesman at the air quality agency confirmed that the plant is operating under a temporary permit that allows it to use the older “liquid scrubber” device to clean up volatile organic compounds released in the manufacturing of semiconductors.

Using the older piece of equipment means that the plant is emitting more of the compounds since the new scrubber burned up. But company spokesman Dave Rogers says the plant’s emissions still are within the levels permitted by the air management district. Compounds cause smog, but otherwise those produced at the Motorola plant don’t pose any direct health threat, the company and the air management district say.

The plant has about 500 employees. It makes micro-controllers used in the automotive and telecommunications industries.

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John O’Dell covers major Orange County corporations and manufacturing for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-5831 and at [email protected].