Washington, DC – Thanks to outreach from CHIPS Communities United (CCU), CCU’s New York partners and members, and a coalition of environmental advocates, the New York legislature passed the PFAS Discharge Disclosure Act, sending the legislation to Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk for signature. CCU, along with many others, generated hundreds of letters to lawmakers during the 2025 and 2026 sessions, calling on the legislature to pass the bill.
If signed into law, the Act would require industrial polluters to test their wastewater for PFAS and publicly report their findings. The semiconductor industry is known to use and discharge hundreds of PFAS compounds. Because PFAS break down very slowly, they tend to bioaccumulate in human beings, wildlife, and the environment. PFAS are highly toxic and have been linked to serious health issues. Because PFAS cannot be removed by conventional drinking water treatment, industrial PFAS discharges are likely to end up in rivers, ground water, drinking water, and farmland.
New Yorkers have particular reason to worry about PFAS from semiconductor production, as chip-maker Micron is building a massive $100 billion fab in Clay, near Syracuse. Community members are concerned that Micron’s liquid waste could end up contaminating Lake Ontario, the drinking water source for over 9 million people.
“We’d like to go further,” said Judith Barish, coalition director for CHIPS Communities United, “and stop manufacturers from releasing these toxic chemicals into our rivers, lakes, and streams. But understanding the scale and extent of PFAS pollution is a critical first step. We can’t fix what we don’t measure.”
# # #
