Central New York residents anxious to review Micron’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement or DEIS will have to wait for a few more weeks. The semiconductor chip fab in the Town of Clay is expected to transform the area with as many as 9,000 new jobs for the company alone. County executive Ryan McMahon says they are reviewing the scientific report thoroughly to provide clearer explanations to help the public better understand it.
“We hosted work sessions in this community where we’ve had representatives from 30 different agencies here working together. So, it’s a pretty substantial process. Everybody wants to get it right," he said. "It’s essentially the largest and most scrutinized environmental review in the state’s history.”
Once the DEIS is finalized in its draft form, OCIDA the County Industrial Development Agency will take a vote at its meeting on June 25th whether to release the document publicly. McMahon anticipates the board will approve its release; triggering a 45-day public comment period between June 25th and August 11th. We asked where the public information sessions might be held. McMahon suggested Liverpool and C-NS High Schools… the communities most impacted by the semiconductor project.
“Once it’s reviewed, there’s going to be hard copies of the review distributed all over the place. For anybody who wants it," he said. "And so they have the opportunity to see that. Certainly, we’ll get it into 30 libraries throughout the community.”
After the public Q and A period, McMahon anticipates the final Environmental Impact Statement will publish online as early as October, paving the way for Micron to break ground on the project several weeks later. Click here for more information from the company about the project.