Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, Economic and Workforce Development: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. This is a historic day for our city and a historic day for Sunset Park. First, I'd like to thank our partners the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC), Equinor, BP (British Petroleum), and the Sustainable South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) for helping make today happen. I would also like to acknowledge some very special guests. We have the Norwegian Consul General Heidi Olufsen; our DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) Commissioner and Chief Climate Officer Rohit Aggarwala; our Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi, for joining us today. We also have Councilmember Alexa Aviles and Councilmember Amanda Farias. I would also like to thank Glenn Segal, Managing Partner of Industry City; Julie Tighe, President of the New York League of Conservation Voters; Mariah Dignan, Regional Director for Climate Jobs New York; Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment; Fred Zalcman, Director of the New York Offshore Wind Alliance; KC Sahl, VHB National Director and Co-chair of the New York City Offshore Wind Industry Advisory Council. As you can see, we have a lot of guests here today, a lot of partners. Thanks to all of you for being here and for your support in this amazing project.
Now as Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development, I spend every day with my colleagues fighting to build a better future for New Yorkers. That means that as we come out of COVID, we have to make sure that we are making this city a leader in climate resiliency and in clean energy investments. Today we are laying the groundwork for that vision. We are investing in green jobs and an infrastructure that will benefit all communities. This is a real game changer for offshore wind in New York City and for the future of our economy. It is really incredible to think that this location will birth a whole new industry in New York City and will be a key driver of our long term equitable recovery.
This is truly about making New York City a place where everyone shares in our prosperity. It's about creating family sustaining jobs of the future and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It's ensuring every neighborhood can flourish. This is how we are going to create a clean energy future for all. So now it is my pleasure to introduce the man who is leading the charge, Mayor Eric Adams.
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Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank all of you here. You know, please excuse my hairdo, the wind is blowing it around. One thing is clear, that the sun will never set on Sunset Park because they are a lightened pathway for our future and the wind is blowing in the right direction. The winds of change are clearly at our back. And it is so important that we continue to move in the right direction. I'm really excited. I joined the Deputy Mayor in laying out the excitement of what we are about to accomplish here in this community and in this city and the entire state. This is a transformative moment. New York City is moving towards a clean future and a future of sustainable power and good paying jobs for local residents. That is so important to highlight because far too often we watch transformative moments take place in our city and we leave behind far too many people. That's something I've heard over and over on the campaign trail. The future of the city can't continue to rise while we watch the future of everyday residents continue to decline. Not in this administration and not with this amazing announcement we are making today.
This transformative moment is starting right here in Sunset Park. I'm sure it's not lost on all of us the walk past these warehouses that are empty and really the potential is endless. And when we talk about what we're going to accomplish here in the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal it's soon to be transformed into one of the largest offshore wind port facilities in the nation. That is historical to think about. Working with Equinor and their partners along with the New York City Economic Development Corporation, we're going to move this site to build a massive new facility with wind turbines, staging and installation operations, and maintenance. This is an unbelievable moment for this community because with the jobs you're also going to see the spillover into the local bodegas, the local restaurants, the local coffee shops, the schools, building a pipeline of opportunity and education. It's going to support 13,000 local jobs over time and 1,000 right here at South Brooklyn Marine Terminal. It's also expected to generate $1.3 billion in average annual investments citywide. This is an amazing opportunity for our city. This is going to be an anchor location for not only green jobs, but green dollars, to put in the pocket of everyday New Yorkers. It will ultimately produce enough power for over 2 million homes. In addition to creating jobs and economic growth, the wind capacity of this site will significantly reduce our carbon footprint, something we talked about over and over again. We're not just talking about it, we're going to be about it and institute initiatives that are going to reduce the footprint and ensure that we meet citywide our climate goals and 100 percent carbon clean electricity by 2040 and carbon neutrality by 2050. And that's what I'm calling, as we say in our model, and our administration, this is how we get stuff done.
Wow, that's a great picture. I want somebody to get a shot of that. That's a Tik Tok, you know. Love that, love that.
So we want sustainability and equity to go hand in hand. So we're going to make sure that this $191 million investment in offshore wind is also an investment in all New Yorkers. We say that all the time. It's about equity and ending the inequality that we have witnessed in our city. We will direct at least 40 percent of the jobs and investment towards women, minorities, and environmental justice communities. We'll work with Equinor and other offshore wind firms to ensure that our local schools in this community and throughout the city, that they are trained, the workforce that we need for the future, our colleges, and other young people will know how to experience these jobs. All the jobs will impact good middle class living and ensure that people are able to benefit from this investment that we're making. Equinor will establish a $5 million fund to bring more New York City residents to offshore and wind careers, real jobs with real careers, and allow them to move into a middle class lifestyle in our city. They're going to establish an offshore wind learning center here in Brooklyn, that will connect the community to jobs and training. These new jobs will include all kinds of construction work, as well as turbine staging, operations and logistics, and the technicians, staff members, and marine vessel crews that will service the turbines that we are building here. The design and engineering is already underway with construction starting to begin next year. By 2025, we will be putting together the turbines right here at this site and getting ready to install them off the coast of Long Island.
So young people that are in high school right now, by the time they graduate, they will be able to be employed in the jobs of the future and participate in not only decreasing our carbon footprint, but increasing our use of wind to power our city and power throughout this region. This project can expand and continue to grow this full capacity. If you didn't realize that this is a windy city, I know you realize it now. There's a whole lot of electricity in this wind that's around us. So they're going to not only graduate into better jobs, but they're going to graduate into a better climate and a better future. We're building a better future for next generations and it started right here at Sunset Park. And as your mayor, I'm proud of what we are accomplishing here and starting out the first few months of my administration. And this is a long term vision that we have.
We want to thank all of our partners and the team that has put this together. This is a great moment for our city as we move forward to a future where the wind is at our backs. The wind of successes is blowing in our direction, and we're going to make sure that we have a real win for New Yorkers. Thank you very much. Thank you, Deputy Mayor.
[Applause]
Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you, Mayor Adams. Now I'd like to introduce Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin, who along with Governor Hochul, has been truly committed to bringing green jobs and manufacturing to the people of New York. Lieutenant Governor.
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Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you Lieutenant Governor. Now I'd like to welcome the indefatigable Elizabeth Yeampierre, who's Executive Director of UPROSE and it's also the Co-chair of the New York City Offshore Wind Advisory Council.
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Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you, Elizabeth. Now I'd like to ask Lindsay Greene, who's the Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of the New York City Economic Development Corporation to say a few words and also take this opportunity to thank the incredible team at EDC, many of whom are here today, for working so hard on this project.
[Applause]
Lindsay Greene, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of the New York City Economic Development Corporation: Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you, Mayor Adams and Lieutenant Governor, I'm excited to be here to celebrate this great public-private partnership and community partnership to transform this site into one of the largest offshore wind port facilities in the nation and a true demonstration of what the future of a clean and just economic project can be.
I also want to take a moment to thank Elizabeth and the broader NYC climate justice community for their leadership. They were some of the first believers in the potential of this and so we couldn't be here without them. So thank you. I want to thank Equinor and BP for their partnership in the SBMT project and for the agreement to build up this facility as an operating and maintenance base, and to power the interconnection site for energy that will really bring it all back here from Long Island. EDC worked really hard to ensure this agreement includes a lot of commitments for the community and to expand the potential and capacity of our minority and women owned businesses that are based in the city. And it's a 30 percent participation goal specifically for this project and that's amazing.
And in addition to that, we're doing everything we can to put real money into jobs for New Yorkers in our local talent pipeline. We have the $5 million dedicated workforce fund that the mayor mentioned. We're also investing $10.5 million with CUNY to build up workforce training facilities and programs to help people learn what this work is. It will be hard as the wind is telling us, but it's important. We're also going to be building out innovation centers to continue to grow the industry over time so that we truly become a regional and national hub. On that note, I again want to thank our EDC offshore wind team for all of their hard work over the years and for putting on specially a successful workforce convening in the last week with a lot of people who are here today to really help start to realize this vision as the project is going and getting people prepared for these jobs so that when the work is here, there are people here to do those jobs and be really on time for that.
So thank you to the team for putting that together. And lastly, I want to thank the team for this event and for all their hard work just to bring it all together today. It's a combination, as many have said, of years and decades of hard work. Just thank you again for our partnership from the state, federal, and the community partners. We're ready to get to work with all the wind. Thank you.
[Applause]
Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Now this is, of course, a true public-private partnership. So in that vein, I'd like to invite Siri Espedal Kindem who is the President of Equinor Wind U.S. Siri.
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[Applause]
Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you, Siri. Another critical partner in this is BP America, so I'd like to invite Senior Vice President of US Communications and External Affairs for BP Mary Streett.
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[Applause]
Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you, Mary. As the Lieutenant Governor mentioned, this is an exemplary manifestation of city and state collaboration and so I'd like to both thank and welcome Doreen Harris, President and CEO of NYSERDA.
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Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you, Doreen. And last but not least, I'd like to welcome and introduce President and CEO of Red Hook Terminals Michael Stamatis.
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Question: [Inaudible]
It is a great two months into my administration. People have already determined what I'm going to do and what I'm not going to do. All I can say is buckle up and wait and see. Then give me an analysis when I finish my four years. Next. Okay.
Question: [Inaudible]
Mayor : You guys can bounce. Okay, good job. Thank you. Thank you. Good job, long battle, nice work, excellent. Excellent.
Question: [Inaudible]
Mayor : Great question. Anyone want to answer that?
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Question: [Inaudible]
Mayor: Ed has been amazing and is joining all Americans responding to the horrific actions that are taking place in Ukraine. I'm going to continue to lean on him because we have both a Ukrainian population and a Russian speaking population here in New York, and we don't want the terrible actions of Putin to be reflected or impacted on our Russian speaking population here. And so the business dealings that Ed has had in the past has nothing to do with what he's doing now in my administration, I'm going to lean on him to continue with the international relationship. This is an international city, and I'm looking forward to my international commissioner to build on that city.
Question: [Inaudible]
Mayor: Let me answer the one about the anti-gun unit. The unit is going to roll out and the commissioner can give you the exact date, but let's be clear, without the unit in place, executed now, we are still removing hundreds of guns off the street, because there is an operation that is in place and that will continue to be in place. So regardless of any new unit that we're going to unfold, we still have a job to do and that's removing guns in this city, and we are doing that job as well. The first question was, okay, yeah, let's see. My team under Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, we're going to put together a cross-analysis of how post-COVID New York is going to look – education, working, healthcare. We can't stumble into post-COVID. We must put in place a real analysis on what post-COVID is going to look like. It may include a four day week, it may include a five day week. We have to look at that, and that's what we're going to do. We're moving into a new era of working – what New York is going to look like, where our central business districts are going to be. So I'm open to the change that's going to take place. One thing is for sure, you cannot remotely run a city like this. There must be in-work interaction and that is something that we're going to have to come up with and only the future knows.
Question: [Inaudible]
Mayor: Health care professionals, I'm following their lead. Like I said from the beginning, I'm going to follow the science and the science has led us to where we are now and I'm going to continue to follow the science. Thank you.
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