SCHUMER PUSHES STATEN ISLAND FOR MAJOR OFFSHORE WIND HUB AFTER SECURING PORT INVESTMENT IN BIPARTISAN INFRASTRCTURE LAW; SENATOR SAYS OFFFSHORE WIND AT SI’S ARTHUR KILL TERMINAL WOULD CREATE THOUSANDS OF JOBS & BOOST AMERICAN MANUFACTURING; NEW HUB WOULD BE HUGE WIN FOR COMMUNITY, LOCAL JOBS & ENVIRONMENT

Schumer Says Staten Island Can Be Central To The Offshore Wind Supply Chain—BUT It Will Take Investment; In New Letter To Transportation Sec. Buttigieg, Schumer Pushes For Major Fed Investment To Upgrade Arthur Kill’s Port Infrastructure 

 Admin & NYS Have Established Bold Goals For Offshore Wind Power By 2030; Funding For Arthur Kill Project Would Help Advance Those Goals & Make Sure Wind Technology Is Made In America, Including In NY 

Schumer: With Fed Funding, Staten Island & Arthur Kill Terminal Can Be A Center In U.S. Offshore Wind 

Saying Arthur Kill Terminal on Staten Island is central to the dawn of the U.S. offshore wind industry—and the jobs that come with it—today, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer pushed for major federal investment via the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration’s Port Infrastructure Development Program to upgrade Arthur Kill’s port infrastructure for offshore wind staging and assembly. The effort would 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. The 2-year construction phase is estimated to produce 580 jobs with $235 million in gross regional impact, and the ongoing operations are estimated to produce 210 jobs annually with $184 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 the offshore wind supply chain can grow in New York, driving further job creation across the state. Schumer detailed the effort, made his case for investment, and said Staten Island can be among the New York communities leading the way on environmentally-friendly industrial development, helping to ensure wind technologies are not only powering New York, but also are made in New York. Schumer said projects like this can create new, good-paying jobs and opportunity across the state.

“We are here today because opportunity is knocking on Staten Island’s door, and we want to answer it and help a new era of technology, jobs and clean energy come on through,” said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. “This 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 and local spending. This project would 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 seventy-percent of New York’s electricity to come from renewable resources by 2030.”

“The Arthur Kill Terminal will position New York to become a regional hub in the fast-growing offshore wind sector,” said Vincent Alvarez, President of the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO and an Officer of Climate Jobs New York. “The development of the Arthur Kill Terminal will create hundreds of good union jobs built under a Project Labor Agreement, and set the stage for long-term, family-sustaining careers in the offshore wind supply chain. We are proud to stand with Senate Majority Leader Schumer as we push for bold investments to tackle the dual crises of climate change and economic inequality by creating true middle-class jobs for New York residents in the growing clean energy sector.”

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). These funds are now available and MARAD is accepting application submissions, and today Schumer is pushing for approval of Arthur Kill Terminal’s application. He also secured $234 million in additional funds for PIDP in the recently passed omnibus spending bill.

Senator Schumer also secured $7.5 billion over five years ($1.5 billion per year) for the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant program in the Bipartisan Infrastructure law, in addition to $775 million for the program in the recent omnibus package, for a total of $2.275 billion in FY22. Arthur Kill Terminal is also applying to the RAISE program, an effort that Senator Schumer is also supporting.

Finally, Senator Schumer secured $5 billion for the National Infrastructure Project Assistance or “Megaprojects” in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This new “megaprojects program”—or MEGA —provides grants on a competitive basis to support multijurisdictional or regional projects of significance that may also cut across multiple modes of transportation, including port infrastructure, which could be another source of potential funding for Arthur Kill Terminal.

Schumer’s letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, making the case for the project, appears below:

The Honorable Pete Buttigieg

Secretary

U.S. Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, West Building, 9th Floor

Washington, DC 20590

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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