The Trump administration is backing Micron in a New York court challenge to the tech giant’s plans for a $100 billion semiconductor manufacturing hub near Syracuse, claiming stalling the project would pose national security risks.
In a 30-page “statement of interest” sent to a state judge in Albany, Justice Department lawyers attacked a lawsuit filed by local residents who say the project should have undergone a more rigorous environmental review before receiving state and county approval.
The Justice Department says the cutting-edge semiconductor memory chips that will be made at four manufacturing hubs in the Syracuse suburbs of Clay and Cicero will be essential components in wireless communications networks, weapon systems and artificial intelligence.
And without them, the U.S. will remain dependent on foreign manufacturers and supply chain disruptions.
“Use of largely procedural state environmental law to halt such a project would thwart the will of Congress and signal to funding recipients that even the most consequential federally backed strategic investments face unnecessary litigation risks,” the lawyers write.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has invested $6.4 billion in CHIPS (Creating helpful incentives to produce semiconductors) Act funding to expand Micron facilities in New York, Idaho and Virginia. The company plans to invest $250 billion through 2035 in semiconductor production and technologies as the U.S. tries to challenge China's market dominance.
The lawsuit was filed in state Supreme Court in Albany in January by residents living near the Micron project who call themselves Neighbors for a Better Micron. They're backed by the national advocacy group Jobs to Move America, or JMA, which conducts research into taxpayer-funded mega projects.
Micron construction already underway in NY amid legal battles
In court papers filed in August, JMA attorneys urged Judge Thomas Marcelle to dismiss the federal government's arguments.
“The federal government cannot disregard state law simply by vaguely invoking ‘national security,’” said Meredith Stewart, JMA’s litigation director. “We want this project to move forward with a proper environmental review process. Following the law to ensure that review takes place doesn’t conflict with the government’s aim of a greater domestic presence of the semiconductor industry. We just want this done right.”
During a three-hour hearing before Marcelle last week, both sides focused largely on the adequacy of the state and county environmental permitting process. Justice Department lawyers did not attend the hearing, according to JMA lawyers.
JMA attorney Paul Sindberg said this is not the first time the Justice Department under Trump has tried to invoke national security issues to undercut environmental concerns.
“Using national security in this way as broadly as possible to define this pro-corporate perspective is not unique to this brief but something the Trump administration is doing broadly,” Sindberg said.
Idaho-based Micron has already cleared 300 acres of trees and spent $675 million on contractors and suppliers during the first phase of what's expected to be 20 years of construction. Four 600,000 square-foot manufacturing facilities, each the size of 10 football fields, will be built in Clay and Cicero.
Micron predicts the project will generate 9,000 permanent jobs at the site and thousands more construction jobs, a boost to a Central New York economy that has suffered after several large manufacturers shut down or moved away.
The effort has been championed by New York’s top Democrats, including senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand as well as Gov. Kathy Hochul.
But at a January groundbreaking, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick boasted that the Trump administration was responsible for getting the project to the finish line and delivering thousands of jobs to Central New York.
After last week's hearing Marcelle ruled that JMA, based in California, could not remain a plaintiff in the lawsuit. But the group will continue to support Neighbors for a Better Micron, which has grown to 140 members in recent weeks.
Among them is Liz Tallman,of Clay, who’s lived in Central New York her entire life.
“When the federal government steps in to override local concerns or tell our communities what they should accept, it ignores the voices of the people who are directly affected,” Tallman said in a statement issued through JMA. “Decisions about our neighborhoods should be driven by the people who live here, not by political agendas in Washington.”
A separate lawsuit filed by the same groups in July asks a state judge to rescind air and water quality permits issued by state and county officials.
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: Trump DOJ backs Micron in legal challenge to $100B New York project
