SCHUMER ANNOUNCES, FOLLOWING HIS PUSH, STATEN ISLAND’S ARTHUR KILL TERMINAL AWARDED $48M FEDERAL GRANT; SENATOR SAYS SI IS ONE STEP CLOSER TO BECOMING MAJOR OFFSHORE WIND HUB WITH THESE PORT INVESTMENT FUNDS, WHICH HE SECURED IN BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE & JOBS LAW
Schumer Says Offshore Wind At SI’s Arthur Kill Terminal Will Create Thousands Of Jobs & Boost American Manufacturing; New Hub Will Be Huge Win For Community, Local Jobs & Environment
Schumer Personally Pushed For Major Fed Investment In Calls To Transportation Sec. Buttigieg To Upgrade Arthur Kill’s Port Infrastructure, So SI Can be Central To Offshore Wind Supply Chain
Funding For Arthur Kill Project Helps Advance Offshore Wind Power Goals & Support More Wind Technology Being Made In America, Including In NY
Today, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer announced that Arthur Kill Terminal on Staten Island has been awarded a $48,008,231 federal grant via the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) to upgrade Arthur Kill’s port infrastructure for offshore wind staging and assembly. The effort will establish Arthur Kill Terminal as a 32-acre offshore wind staging and assembly port on Staten Island, positioning the port as an essential site with unrestricted access for onshore assembly and deployment of large wind turbines to offshore wind projects that will power New York.
Schumer was on Staten Island in April detailing the effort and pushing for this major federal investment. The 2-year construction phase is estimated to produce over 1,000 jobs with more than $500 million in gross regional impact, and the ongoing operations are estimated to produce over 500 jobs with $147 million in gross regional impact. Arthur Kill’s state-of-the-art offshore wind port will create thousands of construction and operations jobs, including for union workers, will drive hundreds of millions of dollars in local spending that will create even more local jobs, will help New York meet its ambitious renewable power goals, and will help ensure more of the offshore wind supply chain can be developed in New York, driving further job creation across the state.
“In April I was on Staten Island at the future site of Arthur Kill’s state-of-the-art wind turbine assembly facility, pushing for this major federal investment to help create a new era of technology, jobs, and clean energy for Staten Island,” said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. “This vital federal investment in Arthur Kill Terminal will provide New York a critical foothold in the offshore wind supply chain and create tremendous opportunities for new jobs, including for union workers, and local spending. This project will also help the state, too, by helping meet ambitious renewable power goals laid out in New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which requires 70 percent of New York’s electricity to come from renewable resources by 2030.”
“With this federal funding, Staten Island can be among the New York communities leading the way on environmentally-friendly industrial development, helping to ensure more wind technologies are not only powering New York, but also being made in New York. Projects like this can create new, good-paying jobs and opportunity across the state,” Schumer added.
This federal funding will be used to dredge approximately 740,000 cubic yards to create a 35 foot-deep ship basin to support further development of the adjacent 32-acre site as a purpose-built offshore wind (OSW) staging and assembly facility on Staten Island. The OSW staging and assembly facility will contain 32 acres of upland area, a 1365-foot-long wharf with adjacent laydown area that has enhanced load bearing capacity, and two “program” areas (a tenant area consisting of a 15,266 square-foot combined warehouse and office building and a project owner’s area consisting of a 4,200 square-foot office building).
In the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Schumer pushed for and secured $450 million in a historic investment for MARAD (Maritime Administration)’s Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP).
Schumer called Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg several times to personally push for the project. Schumer’s original letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, also making the case for the project, appears below:
Dear Secretary Buttigieg:
I am pleased to write in support for the Arthur Kill Terminal project and its application for funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program 2022 Notice of Funding Opportunity.
The Biden-Harris Administration, as well as the State of New York, have established bold goals for generating offshore wind power by 2030. As an offshore wind staging and assembly port, Arthur Kill Terminal is a critical infrastructure project for enabling the timely and cost-effective achievement of these goals.
With funding, Arthur Kill Terminal will unlock significant local, regional and national economic benefits by enabling— in the heart of the East Coast offshore wind market—the use of Jones-Act-compliant jack-up vessels, and floating, self-installing and other emerging offshore wind technologies requiring full in-port assembly, providing jobs and training to hundreds of local and regional workers in the rapidly growing field of offshore wind. The terminal’s unique location will enable offshore wind projects to use the most efficient vessels, transportation and installation methods, lowering vessel costs and emissions while reducing weather, schedule, and safety risk for the construction of thousands of offshore wind turbines in the coming decades.
Arthur Kill Terminal has been carefully planned and if built on schedule can be operational in time for the imminent East Coast offshore wind construction boom, ready to serve both shallow and deep water offshore wind farms and play a critical role in reaching the Administration’s goal of 30 by 30.
I applaud the Arthur Kill Terminal for their foresight, and sincerely hope the application meets with your approval.
Thank you for your consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact me or my grants coordinator in our Washington, DC office at 202-224-6542.
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