Judges at a state appellate court in Rochester heard oral arguments Tuesday in a case that threatens to derail the $2.25 billion plan to replace I-81 through downtown Syracuse. The group Renew 81 For All and the state DOT both appealed a state supreme court’s partial delay of the project in February pending additional environmental reviews that take into account the planned Micron facility. Meredith Lee Clark with the Attorney General’s office told the court that the DOT has the discretion to decline the study for the time being.
“There is simply no data available on any impacts from the Micron facility," Clark said. "No one disputes that Micron will is a potentially transformative project, but it will undergo its own rigorous environmental review that will have to take into account I-81 and the reconfigured transportation system in Syracuse.”
Presiding Judge Gerald Whalen seemed to agree with that argument moments later when he asked Renew 81 attorney Alan Knauf how it’s not true. Knauf says the governor herself has proclaimed the Micron project as transformative, bringing with it tens of thousands of jobs.
"Do they know all the facts and figures? No, that's the point of the EIS [environmental impact statement] to figure that out." Knauf said. "So you've got to go do the investigation, do the study and figure out what the facility going to be like, what the traffic patterns [will be].”
Renew 81 is asking the court to terminate the state’s plan and have them start over based on what Knauf says are substantive defects in their environmental reviews.
“The community grid we believe would be a disaster throwing traffic in into downtown, and frankly we have represent the south side neighborhood, they're going to be have to shoulder all this traffic," Knauf said. "They didn't look at traffic safety, the air impacts. They didn’t do 481, but they also didn't do the Southside community.”
But Meredith Lee Clark representing the DOT begs to differ, and referred to data she’s collected and analyzed.
"That data supports the department's conclusion that the community grid alternative would not adversely affect the air quality downtown or throughout the region.”
The court didn’t render a decision on the case, and it’s not clear when a ruling may come.
