Micron broke ground last week on its massive semiconductor chip making facility in Onondaga County. But as work gets underway to clear trees from hundreds of acres of land in the town of Clay, a lawsuit says the environmental review was rushed.
The national advocacy organization Jobs to Move America is leading the legal action. Litigation Director Meredith Stewart said the crux of the lawsuit targets the environmental review process necessary for Micron to begin construction.
"The claims in the lawsuit will really relate to the agency's failure to adequately consider impacts of Micron's project, including on the wetlands, flooding, air and water pollution, energy use, and the reasonable alternatives that would mitigate those harms."
Also signing on to the lawsuit, a group called Neighbors for a Better Micron. Representing that group is Clay resident Bonita Siegel.
"The environmental concerns have not yet adequately been addressed to make us feel that we're entering into a really good arrangement with Micron, because that's where we want to be, "Siegel said. "But we're not sure we're there yet. So we want more time to flesh these out and we want Micron to be a good neighbor like we want to be good neighbors.”
Siegel said her concerns focus on the impact of eliminating wetlands in her neighborhood, as well as how Micron will handle forever chemicals created by the project.
"We want to have them to be transparent, to be honest with us, like 'this is what we're planning to do, this is what we're bringing to the community, this is how we feel we can protect people that whatever risks to this we're going to work with you to mitigate them,'" she said. "So that's what we're really looking for, and this group is not satisfied we're at that point."
Micron expects to begin construction of the first chipmaking fab later this year, with operations beginning in 2030.
