It’s needed because of Micron, Schumer says SCHROEPPEL — With Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) coming to northern Onondaga County, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) believes it’s time to expand the L. Michael Treadwell Oswego County Industrial Park (OCIP). Schumer wants to secure $2.5 million in federal […]
It’s needed because of Micron, Schumer says
SCHROEPPEL — With Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) coming to northern Onondaga County, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) believes it’s time to expand the L. Michael Treadwell Oswego County Industrial Park (OCIP).
Schumer wants to secure $2.5 million in federal funding to help the effort. He visited the site on Aug. 6 to announce his pursuit of the money, which would come through the Economic Development Administration (EDA).
The funds would “fast-track” the development of the site, Schumer’s office said in its announcement. Development would involve building the new infrastructure needed to land new companies to support the growth of the semiconductor industry and the good-paying jobs that come along with that investment.
OCIP is located less than 10 miles from the future home of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) in the White Pine Commerce Park along Route 31 in the town of Clay.
Schumer said this long-planned expansion would more than double the size of the park, using land that’s already been acquired. He called the potential expansion “critical” as the Oswego County Industrial Park is nearly out of usable space, just as investment opportunities increase for the region.
“With Micron coming and New York’s semiconductor superhighway revving up, the time to invest is now to ensure Oswego County and Central New York land the dynamic supply chain companies and good-paying jobs building America’s future. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and with the Oswego County Industrial Park less than 10 miles from the future home of Micron’s massive $100 billion mega-fab, this area is primed to be at the forefront of those efforts to build out America’s semiconductor supply chain right here in Upstate New York,” Schumer said in the announcement. “That is why I am pushing the EDA to deliver the millions needed to fast-track this expansion and get the site 100% shovel-ready for companies to move in and set up shop. Oswego County, like so much of Upstate NY, is a community that was the beating heart of America’s industrial past, and investments like this can help tap this region’s amazing assets to ensure they are the ones building America’s industrial future, too.”
His office said Schumer personally wrote to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in support of the $2.5 million in federal funding to help the County of Oswego Industrial Development Agency (COIDA) fund the development of these new, shovel-ready manufacturing sites.
The funding through the EDA’s Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance (PWEAA) Program would support the construction of new public roads, sewer lines, water lines, pump stations, storm water management controls, and other critical preparations of the 185-acre expansion that is being planned at OCIP.
“Prime real estate”
Schumer said that OCIP’s strategic location, just miles from Micron’s more than $100 billion megafab investment in neighboring Onondaga County, is “sure to make this expansion prime real estate” for future semiconductor supply-chain companies looking to set up shop near the mega project.
Oswego County is already in conversations with prospective companies looking at the OCIP site for potential investment, and the proposed site expansion and infrastructure improvements will help local leaders better market the area to secure that new investment, per Schumer’s office.
The Senate leader explained that local officials project the OCIP expansion could create as many as 10 new, shovel-ready development parcels, giving Oswego County the sites and infrastructure necessary to attract major new investments from the semiconductor, microelectronics, and advanced manufacturing industries. Schumer cited firms such as Daldrop SBB, which is planning to invest over
$7.2 million to build a state-of-the-art cleanroom-manufacturing facility in the business park that will create 30 new jobs.
“A federal investment at the Oswego County Industrial Park expansion site will be the catalyst to attract several new advanced manufacturing and semiconductor supply chain companies that would create hundreds of new high paying jobs, leverage hundreds of millions in capital investment in new facilities and manufacturing equipment and help to diversify and create resiliency in the Oswego County economy for generations to come,” Austin Wheelock, executive director of Operation Oswego County, said in the Schumer announcement.
