Onondaga County residents who’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of Micron’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement have 47 days to review and comment. The report created by Micron officially became public Wednesday after the County Industrial Development Agency approved it. County Executive Ryan McMahon says Micron is placing special emphasis on doubling the size of wetlands on the site. The report found future construction connected to Micron could impact 200 acres of wetlands.
“They're going to create over 400 new wetlands," he said. "It talks about the fact that they're going to acquire over 1,300 acres on the Oneida River and make that forever wild as part of the mitigation.”
However, the DEIS report also claims the project won’t impact water resources but, could actually induce the growth of wetlands and surface water over a 5 county region. McMahon says the public hearings are scheduled for July 24th to discuss the traffic management plan needed to support Micron and the community.
“On the Micron campus, on Route 11, we’re going to have the opportunity in Cicero to have 3,900 square foot road through one way to help disburse traffic from Caughdenoy Road and from Route 31, as well. Likely, we will have an I-81 exit on Sneller Road on that side. There’s already enhancements being made to Routes 31 and 11 to help support the project,” he said.
The report also details Micron’s proposed $100 billion dollar semiconductor chip fab requires removal of substantial volumes of soil, bedrock and the extensive fill and grading of at least 1,000 acres. The public comment period runs through August 11th. The public hearings for Micron’s DEIS report happen on July 24th at Liverpool High School in three different sessions: 10 am - 1 pm, 2 – 5 pm and 6 – 9 pm. Click here to view the report. Hard copies are also available at Onondaga County Public Libraries.