The groundbreaking of the $100 billion Micron project in central New York is being delayed by the release of an environmental impact statement, which won’t be released until later this month.
Officials have had Micron’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on how the project will affect everything from wildlife to housing since late March. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said local and federal officials have been reviewing it since then and preparing it for public release. It was originally expected to be released this week, but it is now expected June 25.
“It's a pretty substantial process and everybody wants to get it right,” said McMahon. “It's essentially the largest and most scrutinized environmental review in the state's history, I argue the country is at this point."
A 45-day public comment period will follow the release of the report, with a public hearing planned sometime in late July.
“There's going to be dozens and dozens of comments and questions, and we have to answer every one of them,” McMahon said. “So by putting in a little bit more work on the front end and being more thorough, it's going to save us time on the back end, which was a decision we made with the professionals in order to keep the construction timeline period intact.”
There are already some organizations, including a group called Sustainability CNY, calling for 120 days of public comment. But McMahon doesn’t expect any timeline extensions.
“I don't know that more than 45 days is merited,” he said. “Based off what? So I think certainly if something comes up in this comment period that is unforeseen, then I think certainly everybody has the ability to extend it."
McMahon says he expects traffic to be one of the big issues central New Yorkers will look at closely in this report.
“Obviously, for those of us who live in the northern suburbs now, traffic's an issue now, right?” he said. “And so I think this document will talk about definitive things that will be done, and then give options to the federal government. Similar to the 81 project, about things that they could do, and certainly the federal government will choose its own mitigation, not us."
If the review process continues without any bumps, the estimated groundbreaking for the massive project is now expected in late November or December.
