The next step before Micron can start construction on its central New York megafab is completing an Environmental Impact Statement in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the State Environmental Quality Review Act.
Graham Trelstad, of WSP USA an environmental consulting company working with Micron, said the environmental review will include analysis in areas like air quality, traffic and transportation, greenhouse gas emissions and use and consumption of energy.
"We are also looking at not only the direct impacts of the Micron project, the employees that will be coming here, but also some of the indirect or induced growth that might occur both commercial and residential in the regional area as the additional jobs that have been forecast, up to 50,000 jobs in the community, in central New York come into play," Trelstad said.
Micron expects it will need an additional 48 million gallons of water a day — coming from Lake Ontario working with the Onondaga County Water Authority. Up to 20 million gallons of wastewater could be produced.
Carson Henry, Micron's Senior Director of Strategic U.S. Expansion, said there will be onsite water treatment and recycling.
"We're going to target a very high percentage of water reuse, recycling," Henry said. "Once it gets to a point where our internal treatment isn't set up to handle it, then it will go to WEP and WebP will do further treatment until it meets the standards of water that can be discharged into the Oneida River."
In the spring of 2023, Micron conducted traffic counts at more than 200 locations surrounding the White Plains site. This helps to identify areas of existing congestion and plan for solutions to mitigate traffic for areas serving the site. Trelstad said Micron has been in communication with the Town of Clay, Town of Cicero, the Onondaga County Department of Transportation, the New York State Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration as well.
Fieldwork is also being conducted to identify the potential presence of threatened and endangered species like the Indiana bat, northern long-eared bat and northern harrier as well as whether the short-eared owl or sedge wren are living at the site.
An open house on the process will be held Tuesday, August 1 at North Syracuse Junior High School at 6 p.m. Formal scoping is set to start in the Fall.
