Residents living near the future home of Micron’s chip manufacturing hub in the Syracuse suburb of Clay are suing the tech giant and the state of New York, claiming the project poses a threat to the region’s air and water quality.
The lawsuit filed by Neighbors for a Better Micron asks an Albany Supreme Court judge to rescind an air permit issued by the state Department of Environmental Conservation to Micron as well as a water permit for Onondaga County’s Oak Orchard Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant.
It says the $100 billion project’s 600,000-square-foot cleanrooms or fabs, where it plans to manufacture semiconductor chips, will generate thousands of tons of greenhouse gas emissions at a time when the state has set far-reaching goals for limiting the air pollutants.
And it says wastewater coming from the facility will be laden with PFAS, so-called forever chemicals that are nearly impossible to eliminate from the environment.
“DEC failed to exercise its permitting authority rationally to impose meaningful limits and/or mitigation on the emission and discharge of recognized pollutants and toxic chemicals into the surrounding environment, causing harms that may be irreversible or incapable of meaningful remediation,” the lawsuit says.
Will fishing be impacted by Micron’s project in NY?
Among the residents backing the lawsuit is Lance Rudy of Brewerton, who was raised in Camillus and has fished local lakes and rivers for decades. His regular fishing spot is downstream from the treatment plant.
“If fish caught in the Oneida River or other downstream waters become unsafe or inadvisable to consume, I will be forced to reduce or discontinue an activity that has been an important part of my life since childhood and a regular source of food,” Rudy said in an affidavit accompanying the lawsuit filed on July 31, 2026.
What Micron says about new lawsuit
Micron declined to comment on the specific allegations, but issued this statement: “Micron remains committed to responsible environmental stewardship and to being a strong community partner in Central New York. The project has undergone extensive environmental review and permitting by the appropriate governmental agencies, and Micron will continue to comply with all applicable environmental requirements.”
The DEC also declined to comment on the litigation.
This is the second lawsuit filed by Neighbors for a Better Micron.
In January, around the time Micron broke ground in Clay, the group asked a judge to shut down construction, claiming an environmental review was rushed.
In court papers, Micron said it has already spent $661 million on the project, including $232 million in construction costs alone.
Joining the Neighbors lawsuit is Jobs to Move America, a national nonprofit that works with local communities to ensure projects supported by government funding make good on their promises to provide good-paying jobs and protect public health.
“This isn’t about politics,” said Timothy Roulan, a member of Neighbors for a Better Micron. “It’s about protecting the place we call home. We live here, we raise our families here, we fish these waters, we garden in this soil, and we want to be confident that a project of this size won’t leave our community with pollution and health risks that could have been prevented.
Thomas C. Zambito covers energy, transportation and economic growth for the USA TODAY Network’s New York State team. He’s won dozens of state and national writing awards from the Associated Press, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Deadline Club and others during a decades-long career that’s included stops at the New York Daily News, The Star-Ledger of Newark and The Record of Hackensack. He can be reached at tzambito@lohud.com
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Lawsuit challenges air, water permits for Micron’s $100B Central NY project
Reporting by Thomas C. Zambito, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Thomas C. Zambito, New York State Team | USA TODAY Network
