US Government to Allow Some Semiconductor Fabs to Circumvent Environmental Laws

[AleksandarK]

According to a recent Reuters report, the US government, under Biden's administration, will allow a few criteria-matching semiconductor fabs to circumvent environmental protection laws. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed legislation that effectively enables these fabs to not follow the strict regulations designed for maximum preservation of the environment. The Semiconductor Industry Association has noted that without this new legislation, companies that are extending facilities on US soil would be significantly slowed down due to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969. The CHIPS Act's primary force driver isn't just domestic production but near-future completion so that future geopolitical shifts don't impact US companies. The speed of getting permits to manufacture advanced chips is essential for every CHIPS Act recipient company, like Intel, Samsung, TSMC, and Micron.




There are three conditions that exempt semiconductor fabs from NEPA review:

• (A) the activity described in the application for that project has commenced not later than December 31, 2024;
• (B) the Federal financial assistance provided is in the form of a loan or loan guarantee; or
• (C) the Federal financial assistance provided, excluding any loan or loan guarantee, comprises not more than 10 percent of the total estimated cost of the project.

This means that the fab construction must start before the end of the year and that the CHIPS Act federal loan must be no higher than 10% of the total project cost. How and what will come out of this is yet to be seen. US Representative Zoe Lofgren noted that prior semiconductor projects in California left massive environmental damage and that "We should be learning from this legacy and ensuring we don't repeat it." Others, like Democratic Senator Mark Kelly and Republican Senator Ted Cruz, expressed a more positive attitude towards the bill, saying that the legislation will remove unnecessary delays and enable more American independence.

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[A Computer Guy]

It would be nice to know which regulations they will be skipping out on so I can avoid fishing, trapping, and breathing in the area of concern.

 

[AusWolf]

Typical. Saving the environment is of utmost importance... until there's money to be made.

 

[erocker]

Typical. Saving the environment is of utmost importance... until there's money to be made.

US gov't REALLY wants fabs in the country for security reasons and from fear of the last chip shortage during the pandemic.

 

[AusWolf]

US gov't REALLY wants fabs in the country for security reasons and from fear of the last chip shortage during the pandemic.

Whether those are reasons, or just excuses, we'll probably never know.

 

[R-T-B]

Whether those are reasons, or just excuses, we'll probably never know.

I'm fairly sure it's a bit of both.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of this either, but I have to assume there was a rationale behind it I don't completely understand. I just hope it isn't mostly driven by dollar signs.

 

[remixedcat]

Well I'm 2:45-3:00 away from the new intel fab if it even gets built...

 

[_JP_]

Others, (...), saying that the legislation will remove unnecessary delays and enable more American independence.

That's the kind of expressions our government gives (doesn't matter which legislative) to - attempt - to blindfold us, since it stopped being a dictatorship. Before that, if the govt. said anything, it usually was in past tense.
It really translates into what is in the news article: regulators, authorities and courts will be barred from doing anything regarding violations that are otherwise law, all in the name of "the country's economy".

 

[Chomiq]

US Goverment: "We like nature, but we like money more".

 

[the54thvoid]

US Goverment: "We like nature, but we like money more".

Practically every government, you'll find

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I'm fairly sure it's a bit of both.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of this either, but I have to assume there was a rationale behind it I don't completely understand. I just hope it isn't mostly driven by dollar signs.

It most certainly is about dollar designs, it costs a lot of money to keep the environment clean from harmful waste. Money that leads to profits.

 

[pavle]

It's probably water quality near chip fabs that is going to go down. Curious that democrats in particular would allow such a trespass since they're usually green all-over.

 

[remixedcat]

It's probably water quality near chip fabs that is going to go down. Curious that democrats in particular would allow such a trespass since they're usually green all-over.

As if the Ohio Valley regions water is bad enough...

 

[windwhirl]

Typical. Saving the environment is of utmost importance... until there's money to be made.

I mean, the US Department of Defense is the biggest polluter in the planet, above the next five combined. Never mind, they contaminate more than 140 entire countries. Nothing new here.

US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries – shrinking this war machine is a must

If the US military were a country, its carbon emissions would rank between that of Peru and Portugal.

theconversation.com

 

[Vincero]

As if the Ohio Valley regions water is bad enough...

It may not be so much water quality but also water usage - I think they'll be acutely aware of a lot of people being more clued up with regards to water quality issues.
But if there were environmental limits on water usage / damage to land / habitats due to changes in water in environment that the government can wave away more easily and doesn't necessarily have any party who can try to be compensated (e.g. you can't lose a lawsuit to a bird/animal), I'm sure they will happily go down that road.

Although, it may also be other simpler less malicious things they could ignore regarding say erecting solar panels around the area or wind turbines, etc.... wishful thinking maybe but you never know.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I think everyone is coming to the realization that we've made it too hard to build stuff in the US.

Now we need to get something done fast for defense purposes we need to lift some of the more onerous regs to get it done (a bunch of environmental reviews that take 3 years each to squeeze through the beurocracy).

I'm generally ok with this, since we tend to go for 100% when really 80% would be keeping people and most animals safe with far less time and effort involved.

Next local and state governments need to do this for housing.

 

[JohH]

On one hand it sounds bad
On the other hand if these environmental laws were preventing useful activities such as producing chips in the manner of TSMC then perhaps exceptions should be made where the impact is most minimal.

 

[Steevo]

Is it worse than being built in countries that have little to no regulation? No.

Is it worse than not being built at all? Depends.

Jobs, independent manufacturing.

This wouldn’t have happened in the first place if the US didn’t become so anti-manufacturing, lying to consumers about cheaper goods and using that money to grease the palms of government.

If you don’t want to see the same thing happen in food and goods we need to stop shopping at Walmart and Amazon so much and continue to support local businesses.

 

[the54thvoid]

This wouldn’t have happened in the first place if the US didn’t become so anti-manufacturing, lying to consumers about cheaper goods and using that money to grease the palms of government.

The seeds of that were planted over forty years ago. Globalisation made things cheaper. One one hand, many more people could start buying 'luxury' goods. On the other hand, the cost was local jobs. It
happened in every first world country. That cat is so long out the bag, there's no point pointing fingers anymore. It's time to fix it, and this is probably a good step.

 

[redeye]

so allow INTEL to pollute, but not TSMC in the USA. (I really doubt a Taiwanese company will be allowed to pollute in the US)
I would be really surprised if TSMC could apply to pollute in the USA…

 

[Kapone33]

Typical. Saving the environment is of utmost importance... until there's money to be made.

"The love of Money is the root of all evil"

 

[Steevo]

The seeds of that were planted over forty years ago. Globalisation made things cheaper. One one hand, many more people could start buying 'luxury' goods. On the other hand, the cost was local jobs. It
happened in every first world country. That cat is so long out the bag, there's no point pointing fingers anymore. It's time to fix it, and this is probably a good step.

I agree, we can't undo it, but if we don't learn from it will repeat the same mistake. It already started with the death of many small local businesses during the shutdowns and the only way to get back to where we were is to encourage people to shop local.

We didn't renew our big box club membership, and instead are shopping at local employees owned stores. Unless it's something absurdly priced (our HVAC filters) we don't use Amazon for anything.

 

[R-T-B]

It most certainly is about dollar designs, it costs a lot of money to keep the environment clean from harmful waste. Money that leads to profits.

The argument is that its to avoid slowing down projects more than dollars, but not sure I entirely believe it either.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Putting picture like that... it means taking it off as faulty part in repair

 

[AusWolf]

I'm fairly sure it's a bit of both.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of this either, but I have to assume there was a rationale behind it I don't completely understand. I just hope it isn't mostly driven by dollar signs.

I just don't like the narrative of the common person having to foot the bill, we have to "do our part" to save the planet (from who knows what) while governments make up excuses to pollute more. It awfully reminds me of the UK government throwing massive parties while the rest of us sat at home in lockdown during COVID. Lies, lies everywhere.