On a snowy Friday in January, dignitaries from both political parties braved the chill of a central New York winter for the groundbreaking ceremony of Micron Technology’s planned $100 billion manufacturing complex in Clay, a town not far from Syracuse. Over the next 20 years, Micron is promising the region thousands of jobs and the revitalization of a community hard hit by the decline of manufacturing.

Since President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act in 2022, billions of public dollars have flowed into domestic semiconductor manufacturing as the United States seeks to revitalize an industry that was born in the U.S. before it was largely outsourced to East Asia. Both Democrats and Republicans have argued that domestic chip production is essential to national security, citing the role advanced semiconductors play in military systems as well as in critical infrastructure like financial and telecommunications networks.

In order to expedite the development of up to four fabrication plants in central New York state, Micron may receive as much as $25 billion in public subsidies, including $6.1 billion from the federal CHIPS Act, $5.5 billion from New York state and billions more in refundable manufacturing tax credits.

But some residents and advocates question whether the Micron project, as it’s currently planned, will bring more harm than good. The facility will consume vast amounts of water and energy while producing substantial hazardous waste, according to the company’s environmental impact statement. Emissions and contaminated wastewater and soil from the notoriously dirty semiconductor industry pose potential environmental and health risks for surrounding areas, while exposure to its toxic chemicals has been linked to cancers and reproductive harm. Community members want enforcement measures to ensure the company follows through on promised environmental safeguards and its pledge to create 9,000 jobs.  

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“We’re not trying to stop any progress, but we don’t want this just bulldozed into our area,” said Gracia Roulan, a nurse practitioner who has lived in Clay all her life and is part of the local group Neighbors for a Better Micron. Roulan said advocates like her want to ensure the project is “truly better for the community,” and raised concerns about potential pollution of the local water system and the clearing of the “beautiful marshes all around the area,” which provide a home to endangered species. To make way for the new structures, the project will fill more than 200 acres of wetlands. 

For its part, the company touts the project’s benefits to the region, including a promise to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in education, worker training and affordable housing over the next two decades. “Micron is committed to being a great member of the community and a responsible environmental steward,” Anna Newby, a Micron spokesperson, said in an email to Capital & Main. The company has committed to developing new wetlands to offset those that will be destroyed. Newby said the environmental review process Micron undertook for its central New York project was “thorough.” 

Yet just hours before Micron broke ground, Neighbors for a Better Micron, alongside national worker advocacy group Jobs to Move America, filed a lawsuit against the project in New York Supreme Court for Albany County, arguing that the state permitting process was “unnecessarily rushed” and did not adequately consider public input.

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