The deal was announced by Foxconn chief Terry Gou and US President Donald Trump. Trump was joined at the event by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

However, it was not long before some of the press started to question the deal. Wisconsin’s plan to treat Foxconn to $3 billion in tax breaks in exchange for a $10 billion factory and Wisconsin’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau said that the state wouldn’t break even on its investment until 2043. That story mysteriously dropped any mention of Apple being Foxconn's partner too.

Now according to Reuters, Illinois’ Attorney General plans to sue the US Environmental Protection Agency for allowing a proposed Foxconn plant in neighbouring Wisconsin to operate without stringent pollution controls. This is a bit of an issue for Apple as it has always touted its green credentials and Reuters helped out by failing to mention Apple entirely in its version of the story. 

It is fairly clear that there has been some rather strange goings on behind the scenes of the project.  The EPA, which is supposed to be saving the US from pollution identified 51 areas in 22 states that do not meet federal air quality requirements for ozone, a step toward enforcing the standards issued in 2015. An exempted area was Racine County, Wisconsin, just north of the Illinois border that is known to have heavily polluted air, where Taiwan-based Foxconn is building a $10 billion liquid-crystal display plant.

Pollution monitoring data show the county’s ozone levels exceed the 70 parts per billion (ppb) limit. If Racine County had been designated a “non-attainment” area, it would have required Foxconn to install stringent pollution control equipment.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she would file a lawsuit in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the EPA’s ozone designations, saying its failure to name Racine County a “non-attainment” area puts people at risk.

“Despite its name, the Environmental Protection Agency now operates with total disregard for the quality of our air and water, and in this case, the US EPA is putting a company’s profit ahead of our natural resources and the public’s health,” Madigan said in a statement.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who supports bringing Foxconn to Wisconsin, tweeted on Tuesday that the state would work with EPA “to implement a plan that continues to look out for the best interest of Wisconsin.”