After Years of Leading the Charge, Schumer Announces Long-Awaited Army Corps of Engineers Permit Will Be Signed, Sealed, and Delivered the Week for the March Multi-Billion Dollar Computer Chip Manufacturing Plant

Press Release

Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that, after working for years to secure federal wetlands permits for Mohawk Valley EDGE, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will approve the project and issue the wetland permit to EDGE this Friday. This will now allow Mohawk Valley EDGE and the permit end-user, the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), to begin developing and constructing a state-of-the-art computer chip manufacturing facility that could generate over a thousand jobs. This manufacturing facility will complement the nano-science research and development conducted at SUNY IT, which is located adjacent to the site. Schumer led the push for the USACE to approve Mohawk Valley EDGE's long sought wetlands permit. Schumer explained that, now, CNSE, SUNY IT and EDGE can begin working together to make this chip fabrication manufacturing plant a reality and bring thousands of new, skilled, well-paying manufacturing jobs to the Syracuse region.

"Utica, New York: You've got mail. I am pleased to announce that, after working with the CNSE, Mohawk Valley EDGE, SUNY IT and Army Corps for over one year, these permits are set to be signed, sealed and delivered this Friday and will give this multi-billion dollar project the green light it needs to create jobs, jobs, jobs in the Mohawk Valley," said Schumer. "These necessary, long-sought Army Corps of Engineers federal wetlands permits are on the way, which will make Utica's computer chip manufacturing plant, Marcy Nano, a reality, make the site a tremendous regional job creator and a boon to the local economy."

In November 2013, Schumer personally met with Lieutenant Colonel Beaudoin, Commander of the Buffalo District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), to secure a commitment that EDGE's permit application would be expedited for a formal decision. In the meeting, Schumer pushed the Corps to render a favorable decision in light of the new end-user strategy he helped formulate this past August. In urging the USACE to approve Mohawk Valley EDGE's application for a federal wetlands permit, Schumer touted EDGE's site, located adjacent to SUNY IT as well as the new end-user plan. Mohawk Valley EDGE had long sought an end-user for its chip-manufacturing site, but had been unable to secure a wetlands permit from the USACE without also identifying a firm tenant. When CNSE has assumed that role, Schumer said that USACE would be able to more easily grant the permit.

In August 2013, Schumer's office organized a meeting between local economic developer Steve DiMeo of MVEDGE, CNSE and the USACE at Schumer's Syracuse office to try to find a solution to the problem -- and came away with the proposed solution of naming CNSE as the "end-user" or tenant in the wetlands application. As a result of Schumer's August meeting, a solution was found that allowed CNSE to submit the application. The meeting also allowed the USACE to ask early questions of EDGE and start reviewing plans to visit the newly expanded acreage for wetland assessments. In a meeting with Lt. Commander Beaudoin of the USACE in his Washington D.C. office, Schumer highlighted the value of the 400-acre Marcy site, and the economic impact of bringing new chip fabrication companies to Central New York.

EDGE has worked with USACE Buffalo District to obtain a permit for site preparations to attract a semiconductor manufacturer since 2013. Throughout the process, EDGE sought a permit that would allow them to market the site to a semiconductor manufacturer. USACE was willing to issue a permit but, because an end-user for the site had not yet been identified until CNSE was secured, they included a provision called "special condition 1" in the permit. Special condition 1 prohibited EDGE from disturbing existing wetlands on the site until a semiconductor manufacturer committed to the project site for the stated project purpose in the permit. After the August meeting convened by Senator Schumer at his Syracuse office, the application was submitted to USACE with CNSE as the tenant or "end user," a strategy which was accepted by the USACE and led to the commencement of review. The strategy, which came out of the August meeting, broke the deadlock and gave the consortium a head start in attracting tenants to the facility, setting a groundbreaking goal for early 2014, if the permit is accepted.

In his meeting with Lt. Colonel Beaudoin, Schumer stated that he believed that the project should be accepted because, once complete, it would be able to host a computer chip manufacturing facility that can revitalize the Mohawk Valley economy by creating thousands of new jobs. Throughout the permitting process, Schumer pressed the USACE, including a personal call to Buffalo District head Ltc. Stephen Bales, to issue a clean permit without prohibitive conditions, so long as EDGE officials committed to an appropriate Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative (LEDPO). Schumer worked with USACE officials and Mohawk Valley EDGE until that permit was issued this week.

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