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.
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.
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