Neighbors for a Better Micron v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

A lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court challenged the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (NYSDEC’s) issuance of air and water permits for components of a semiconductor manufacturing project in Onondaga County. An earlier lawsuit challenging the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency’s State Environmental Quality Review Act determinations is also pending in New York Supreme Court. The petitioners challenging the permits asserted that NYSDEC’s issuance of a Clean Air Act Title V permit for the project failed to satisfy the requirements of Section 7(2) of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) because NYSDEC’s justifications for the permit did not identify “real, quantifiable, permanent, verifiable, and enforceable” mitigation measures and instead “rely only on funding for unidentified future projects, without established selection criteria, quantified emissions reductions, or any assurance that the funded projects will mitigate the Project’s [greenhouse gas] emissions.” DEC also asserted that issuance of the Title V permit was arbitrary and capricious for failing to adequately evaluate and control emissions, including by failing to resolve issues regarding potential sulfur hexafluoride emissions. The petitioners also asserted that NYSDEC’s CLCPA Section 7(2) determination for the water discharge permit failed to identify enforceable mitigation and instead required Onondaga County to prepare a future CLCPA mitigation plan. The petition also asserted failures to address air emissions and water discharges of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.