Micron held an open house Tuesday night in North Syracuse, to give residents the opportunity to learn more about the future of the massive semiconductor plant’s development — including the environmental review plans that have raised questions in recent weeks.
At stations, residents could speak with various experts from the company and local governments. Some came away feeling reassured; some didn’t.
The event was held after the company announced plans for the project’s environmental review process, including the announcement that Micron is preparing to use 48 million gallons of water per day — more than double the 20 million that was first announced.
“They talk about 48 million gallons; that’s a huge amount,” said Anne Robison of North Syracuse, who said those concerns brough her to the open house.
Carson Henry, Micron’s senior director of U.S. expansion, said the updated projections were taking every possibility into account.
“When new technology comes along, we’re going incorporate that into our operations,” Henry said, “and I would expect that number actually goes down, not up.”
Chuck Swartfager of Cicero went to the open house to learn about traffic plans.
“Traffic study and infrastructure for roads should be the very first thing that should be addressed before you even start building fab one,” Swartfager said.
Seven months after attending the first Micron town hall, Swartfager said Micron still hasn’t mapped out a plan he feels addresses local concerns.
“They don’t have an answer, and I think he mentioned that at tonight’s conversation, they wouldn’t be able to answer everybody’s questions,” Swartfager said, “but if you were in there, you could see that the transportation board was filled with people asking questions, so I think that is high on everybody’s list.”
Micron officials said they are compiling analyses, including traffic counts at 200 locations surrounding the park. They say the data will be analyzed to project what mitigation efforts will look like.