Groups Sue EPA Over Approval of Toxic Semiconductor Chemicals

Groups Sue EPA Over Approval of Toxic Semiconductor Chemicals

EPA approvals leave the public exposed to serious health risks that EPA admits it failed to measure

Contacts

Tylar Greene, [email protected]

CHIPS Communities United and Sierra Club today sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), challenging the agency's approval of two new chemicals for use in the manufacturing of semiconductors.

EPA approved the chemicals for immediate use despite identifying the potential for serious health risks, including cancer, neurological harm, and even sudden death. EPA admits that it does not know the full extent of those risks, claiming that it lacked the information needed to calculate them. Yet EPA still left workers and fenceline communities exposed to both chemicals, threatening their health and violating the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

"The Trump administration is rushing dangerous chemicals to market without the review or the protection that the law requires," said Jonathan Kalmuss-Katz, senior attorney with Earthjustice. "Here, EPA admits that it has not evaluated the full extent of these chemicals' health risks, yet it is still sending them into communities across the country and leaving the public to discover their effects one doctor's visit at a time."

"Neighbors and workers are exposed to toxic chemicals in semiconductor factories," said Judith Barish, coalition director of CHIPS Communities United, a national alliance of unions, environmental advocates, and community-based groups impacted by semiconductor production. "Over decades, workers in chip fabs have been harmed by workplace exposure and residents of nearby communities have been impacted by hazardous air or water that is contaminated by these chemicals. We call on the EPA to stop approving chemicals that can harm public health without understanding the risks."

"The rush to build more and more data centers is causing harm far beyond the data centers themselves," said Jane Williams, chair of the Grassroots Network National Clean Air Team at Sierra Club. "From the plants where toxic chemicals are used to make semiconductors, to the roads these chemicals are transported on, and finally to the incinerators where they are disposed, EPA's approval of these dangerously unstudied chemicals places the public at risk. These chemicals are suspected to be persistent, bioaccumulative toxins, a category of chemicals that contaminate breast milk, cord blood, and the next generation. This action is an assault on the future."

Semiconductor manufacturing is a major ongoing source of PFAS, a large class of toxic "forever chemicals," along with other industrial manufacturing sources. PFAS don't easily break down and can persist in our bodies and the environment for decades or more. Semiconductors are also foundational hardware for AI datacenters, affecting many communities in addition to those surrounding the massive polluting chip factories.

EPA's approval of these unstudied chemicals is just the latest example of the Trump EPA refusing to follow the legal risk assessment processes under TSCA and prioritizing industry profits over public health. Last year, the agency proposed shifts to how it conducts risk evaluations for chemicals already in use and on the market that would let it ignore the real-world risks posed by toxic chemicals.

CHIPS Communities United and Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice, filed today's petitions for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Additional Resources

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