A Micron New York fab lawsuit filed in Albany County seeks to void two permits needed for the company’s planned chipmaking complex in Clay. Neighbors for a Better Micron and Jobs to Move America contend that New York approved air and wastewater permits before setting adequate controls for PFAS and other pollutants. The filing makes allegations; it does not establish that PFAS are entering the Oneida River.
The petition names Micron Technology, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Onondaga County. According to Syracuse.com, it challenges a wastewater permit DEC issued to the county in April and an air permit it issued to Micron in March.
The groups ask a judge to nullify both approvals, which Micron needs to operate its factories, and seek litigation costs, Tom’s Hardware reported. No hearing date has been reported for the new permit case, and neither outlet included a response from Micron, DEC or Onondaga County.
What does the Micron New York fab lawsuit allege?
The complaint argues that DEC postponed key limits and safeguards rather than imposing them before authorizing the project. Its central concern is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a broad class of synthetic chemicals also called “forever chemicals.” The lawsuit alleges that the wastewater permit allows industrial waste containing identified emerging contaminants, including PFAS, while requiring monitoring rather than substantive controls, according to Tom’s Hardware.
Syracuse.com reported that the complaint says the county permit recognizes that 40 PFAS substances could be discharged into its industrial wastewater plant. The groups say PFAS discharge limits, pretreatment requirements, source-separation measures and treatment technologies had not been finalized when the permit was issued.
They also contend that the permit calls for quarterly PFAS monitoring but limits only two PFAS compounds, which Micron says it does not use. The suit separately alleges that DEC failed to set safe limits for air emissions and discharges to the Oneida River. Those are the petitioners’ claims, not findings by a court or environmental regulator.
How would Micron’s wastewater be handled?
Onondaga County is building an industrial wastewater plant at its existing Oak Orchard treatment plant, roughly two miles west of the Micron campus, Syracuse.com reported. Micron is expected to build its own pretreatment facility, then send industrial wastewater through underground pipes to the county plant. The permit dispute concerns the controls governing that route before the fabs begin operating.
The new case is separate from a January lawsuit by the same two groups that challenges the project’s environmental review. Oral arguments in that earlier case are scheduled for August 25.
Construction has continued at the 1,400-acre Clay site, where Micron has cleared much of the property and begun pouring concrete for the first of as many as four factories, according to Syracuse.com. The company expects the first facility to begin making memory chips in late 2030. A ruling voiding the permits could require the approvals to be revisited, but the available reporting shows no ruling and no suspension of the project.
This story draws on original reporting from Tom's Hardware.
