The National Urban league is hosting a summit to discuss civil rights with floridas representave and other advocates. At 3 00 p. M. , the senate retur to consider whether to aance an assistant sec find live coverage on the cspan now video app or online at cspan. Org. The Energy Secretary talks about clean energy and jobs at an event hosted by the national urn league and washington, d. C. She discusses the biden administrations policies highlighting investments made from the Inflation Reduction Act and other legislation and how jobs are being the clean energy sector. This is about 40 minutes. ■÷sa very important three days but we begin today with what we are calling our energy jobs. Say jobs. Importantly, we are here because we are mindful of the challenges we face as a nation and as a globe. Whether you refer to it as Climate Change or Global Warming or adjustmen indoubt so. It is impacting our quality of life. You have ever traveled through union station, the Wonderful Union station, there is an ientrance. Maybe you have or maybe youve not. Look looked at thatja inscription looked at that inscription. In the history of humankind. That technological advance was the invention or the creation of fire. Fire as an enabler changed the trajectory of human beings. Fire gay people a different way to prepare food, different way to keep warm and if you studied humankxd, tention of fire also accelerated theman beings. The next great invention was the invention of electricity. The ability to capture electricity to impact the way people lived. We who have grown up in the 20th and 21st centuriesciaries of tht revolution. Indeed, in this rthe air conditg systems. This microphone, the ability of cspans cameras to capture us in realtime and transmit the visuals to people all over the tion and the world on either small devices or large devices has been enabled by electricity. Moits a serious technological advance. Many technological advances that we have enjoyed have been enabled by electricity. Stove. E your home imagine your home without a washing machine. Howy ember when you put close on the line . Clothes on the li■p. [laughter] our lives have been changed by electricity. Electricity has to be generated and created. It has to be produced. Producing electricity has changed and advanced with have changed in advance over humankind. Like so manyons that we enjoy, there is always a plus and there are challenges to that. ■[the challenge is to the modern world whether it be electricity or the internal Combustion Engine or other things that have improv significantly our quality of life. It also presents challenges to us. As human beings. As americans, as people and communities. Time when policymakers, Business Leaders leaders labor leaders and people are indeed grappling ■q the inventions and those things we have and use6■ that have imprd our quality of life, it helped us live longer, have helped is live healthier are going to continue to be available to us in the 21stentury and in a fashion that does not have significant detrimental impacts. That is the challenge before us. Id like to break it down sometimes in the discussion energy, it can become scientific and esoteric. It can become confusing as we seek to understand this reality. We are challenging ourselves today but we are government, thn the private sector, those in the labor community, those who are decisionmakers about this transition that we insist, we demand to be at the table. We want to be at the table to discuss, to participate, to be stakeholders and not only the Decision Making but the execution of this change. President biden challenge. He passed a blueprint bill which includes an up fund and supervisions in it with regard to Renewable Energy in this transition. We have to unpack, educate understand what that blueprint looks like so that we can fully, indeed participate. No one is better situated than the National Urban leagueban League Affiliates and the urban League Movement to play a constructive in this and on this issue than we are. We are connected communities. We dont speak about black americans. Mmunities of color. We dont speak about americans left out of the economic system. We are that. We represent that. Our mission. Thats our purpose. Thats our reason for being. When we are at the table, we come with authenticity, not with just studies and analysis but with a voice. Weird does that leave us . It leadshe i shared earlier today. It leads us to a desire to understand■ the jobs to realize that the new jobs that are being created broadly are jobs that require technical skills, that pay higher than the average american job, but also jobs where historically Khmer Community has been underrepresented. We to take a step forward and accelerate our participation in this industry. Secondly, Business Opportunity say Business Opportunity. Earlier are not satisfied with being consumers alone. We need to be producers involved in. We cannot close the wealth gap in this country unless we can build businesses owned by people of our community of size and scale. In this new industry, there are opportunities but we need open doors, we need access to capital, wenot going to be stane with their face pressed against the glass looking in. Or that they will be inside of the glass participating in all of these discussions. This energy jobs convening is about all ofim excited we wantl of our partners who are here today. T all another round of applause. [applause] thank you for being here today. In a moment, i will have the honor of introducing secretary Jennifer Granholm, the secretary of energy who works in the president sab area she is a former governor of michigan and i will introduce her in a minute but before doing so, i have the distinct privilege and pleasure of introdu dplease do. Duane is not a brother of the late great wilson pickett. [laughter] they share the same name and i dont know■÷ duane wants to be called duane wickett pickett but if so, you might find your way a1 [laughter] this gentleman is Vice President of Clean HydrogenMarket Development at constellation. He is working at constellation to develop their participation in clean energy solutions, marketplace initiatives. His mission is to help customers and communities meet their decarbonization goals in, if you will, the changes that take place by switching to the use ofan you Michigan University of michigan wolverines, dont get mad. Duane graduated from with honors from the ohio state university. [applause] he is a pro buc btoday, he ie her. Ladies and gentlemen, duane pickett. [applause] all right. I do hope mark knows he set me up a little bit, introducing me as a buckeye before a introduce the former governor of michigan. [laughter] we hope she didnt hear any of that. Lets get back to our remarks. I appreciate your comments this morning. I welcome your challenge, the challenge of all of us to be part of bringing the opportunity to the table especially for black americans. The constellation is one of the leading clean energy companies. We are accelerating that path. We are doing it while also creating sustainable, Diverse Workforce that represents the communities we serve. Thats an important part of our mission we are proud of is our 1. 20 5 Million Investment in a program called powering change. This program in partnership with the National Urban league, we have people, 1600 People Living wage apprenticeship jobs. [applause] we are working with the urban League Chapter in rochester, new york. We are working with the urban n springfield, illinois and all over the place. Im struck by comments earlier today from mr. Hris onhe panel where he said many hands make light work. Constellation and the urban league is a strong partnership. Come we are doing the training and earning opportunities and giving folks the skills as part of that futuhci will make it my lifes n to do that. I appreciate your remarks. Today,r of introducing someone whos been doing this work on Green Energy Jobs and environmental justice, the honorabland remarkable United States department of Energy SecretaryJennifer Granholm. Around of applause. [applause] i am so proud and honored to be part of the work she is doing to make Hydrogen Part of the Clean Energy Future and everything she is doing is holding uand industry and society accountable to make sure those benefits are borne by all. It is important work we are doing it with intentionality at the front of it. There was some conversation early today about the impact of pollution on black communities. When you think about global pollutants, industrial pollution from Industries Like aviation or steelmaking, those pollutions tend to sit where they are. Youre making something in your making pollution and youve got particulate matters that sit there. s been proven to lead to things like asthma, copd, lung cancer. There was a comment earlier today in the first panel. I think mr. Thompson said ask americans the number one reasons africanamericans are missing class. I was struck by that. My mom and dad have asthma. Ck community. Too often, we are facing the brunt of these negative impacts. I appreciate those comments todanow is the time for us to address industrialized pollution. Now is the time, and i was the moment. You heard unities today. We got to act now. Hydrogen can be one of the ways we tackle this problem. By making clean power, we can bring down industrial pollution by decarbonizing the way we make these products in the way we fly on the way we travel. At constellation, we are proud to be one of the seven Companies Selected by the government to produce hydrogen in sustainable way. Its part of their 1 billion our Lasalle Clean Energy Center where we make hydrogen there with the right policies. We will make a lot of hydrogen there. ■. Tons a year of Clean Hydrogen, 1400 jobs. This is important stuff we can do. The Midwest Hydrogen hub, weve committed that 40 of those benefits go to underrepresented communities. You can applau its a requiree proud to do it make it our mission. All of this conversation about opportunity, ive been thinking about my grandfather. My grandfather used to tell me a story he came from back from vietnam, he was jobless and had kids and needed something to do to protect his family. His mom told me, go down the street, Campbell Soup is hiring. He goes to leaves the house and before he leaves, his mom says wait, put on your dads suit and tie. He puts in on it thousand walked down the street and sees a long line in and of campbells soup in camden, new jersey. Line, the guy looks at it looks at the back of the line says you with the suit and tie, you want toe just like that in that singe moment, opportunity. Lifted two generations in my family out of poverty. [applause] he would go on and get a ho house. That house did not have a dryer so we had a scratchy towel that went on the clothesline. You brought me right back there when you said that. He would start a Carpet Cleaning company that i started at my youth and that opportunity can lift people. Thats why this hydrogen that is why this hydrogen opportunity, the collaborati and when to. They said the clean energy revolutiont communities that were left behind and make sure those who suffered the most are first to benefit, thosest are first to b. I agree. On behalf of the consolation, w appreciate the steps youve taken to make sure these benefits go to those who have suffered of the most and im going to welcome mark back up before we introduce the secretary but thank you for your time. [applause] mark lets give him another great round of appla delay, madm secretary, duane is an osu graduate, your big bluemichigao say that big 10 is well represented today. Its pride and pleasure that i present to you the 16th, 18 secretary they didnt for the United States of america, Jennifer Granholm has a distinguished■n career. She served as governor of the state of michigan from 2003 to 2011 but before that, she civil rights legend. Judge damon keith, a whose great shadow impacted this urban League Movement, a great federal Appellate Court judge from michigan, andx■he governorship, she joined the faculty of the university of california, berkeley, her all modern and has brought energy, political acumen and great advocacy to the cabinet. The urban league is proudvc to welcome the secretary of energy, Jennifer Granholm. [applause] sec. Granholm thank you so much. It always makes me so■s happy wn someone refers to judge keith because in your formation, youve got a lot of mentors that you go through life, but judge keith, used to claim him as my father in michigan, and he used to call me his fourth daughter d it is not just that, it is being infused with the values of judge keith every day. Thank you for doing that. Duane, go blue, thats all im going to say. I appreciate hearing your remarks and the promise of the hydrogen hubs, very excited about it. The National Urban league, you were founded in 1910, the beginning of the second Industrial Revolution and the whole point was to make sure that black americans had the ability to be trained for these jobs, and that included in detrt in and you saw the great migration north, the auto industry, waratw Industrial Revolution which is all about clean energy and if you can imaginestimated that gl, the products that will get all of these countries get to net zero by 2050 which is what they have all pledged to do is going to be a 23 tio opportunity ande question is, who was going to take advantage of that . Which country is going to go for it . I am so happy to say that your country is going for it. Let me just share a few numbers on this because it is so important. Since President Biden took office we will get smbers buk office, 14. 8 million jobs created, the largest amount of jobs created under any presint of term, under any president in the history of the United States. [applause] that includes 2. 6 million jobs for black workers. This is the longest continuous stretchf 4 that we have seen in 50 years. It is the lowest black Unemployment Rate on record. It is the strongest economic recovery of all major advanced■■ economies. Among black americans, a 60 percent wealth increase relative to prepandemic, the largest increase on record. You might ask, why is this happening . It is not coincidence. It is not luck. Result of a focused strategic plan,sident biden is a 21st century industrial strategy to bring manufacturing back to americaf off shoring, to list lift bruised communities from their knees ri jobs to workers in evey pocket of america. Just in my column of things,erge passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law, there has ries that have announced they are coming to or expanding in america to build these products. 500 communities are going to benefit from millions of jobs as a result of this strategy. This is a we call it to invest in america, investing in all of america. His focus on building a clean economy for the future is about making america the year a system a nation for investment. All of these countries are looking to do hydrogen. But no one has got what weve got. Not just 1 billion but 8 billion. There are seven hubs across the country that are going to create thousands and thousands of jobs in all of these communities. No other country has got that going on. We are the envy i meet with all of Energy Ministers from other countries and they all say things like oh my god, you guys are so far ahead. We are so envious. Dont get envious, get busy. You guys can do itthere is enou. In this reupping of an Industrial Revolution, investor revolution, we want to make sure that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. So to your point, this whole agenda is about making sure we gh past, that we really give the opportunity to communities that have historically been left behind. How are we doing this . ■di know you are well aware, m, this. The communities that have been on the forefront of a lot of fossil investments are the ones that are suffering the greatest. 6c■mlouisiana, the river perish the river parishes, these big refineries0 have go with an 82d gentleman named Robert Taylor the graveyard itself wasy literally bounded on all sides by aefinery and you cant move graveyards in louisiana, they are protected. The graveyard was downed by the refinery, you had to get permission to travel to go see your loved ones in this gravesite. Mr. Taylor, because the graveyard cannot grow because it has been bounded, they are stacking loved ones on top of one another and he is trying to decide when he passes, whether he willb■9 be on top of his fatr or his grandfather. I say this just because dead but the living. Who have been subjected to the the asthma rates, the cancer rates. What can we do . About writing that wrong . Righting that wrong . One of the elements that has been embedded in all the funding coming out for all of these projects is that if you are vying for funding from the department of energy, y h plan and you have to commit to benefiting the community, which is what you were talking about, t of the community that will benefit. It has to include, are you hiring locally . ■. Benefit for the air, the benefit for local businesses . Around these particular hubs or projects. We are trying to embed structural equity into a system that has been strucinequitablet the Community Benefits plan, but it is also the way these tax incentives have been structured. For example, say that you want you Community Solar developer. If you locate your project in a community, a disadvantaged community, you get extra credit, extra tax credits. If you have apprenticeship programs and pay a prevailing wage, you get extra credit. If you use americanmade solar panels, you get extra credit. These are all stackable. ■4you can get up to 50 50 to 70 as a tax credit of this investment. That is huge. 50 to 70 . That is irresistible. That is going to equity throughout the system. Its not just solar, a whole bunch of differentesyou might an reduction act has been in place for some time and what are the results . Is it working . Come to find out, studies that were released at the beginning of this year show that there has been two times the investment in disadvantaged communities relative to their size compared to other regions. So folks, it is working. It is working, which is really gratifying. The tax credits are doing the work which is really great. Our Community Benefits plan, in addition to the hydrogen hubs, talking about louisiana, we just also awarded a louisiana proposal from their department of Natural Resources called hubs for Energy Resilient operations or hero. 250 million they got to invest and 285 micro bids . Garound louisiana because of course louisiana has distant fortunately been harmed by hurricanes and this gives them resilience. As a condition of receiving the funding, louisiana committed to ensuring that under thatprograme will graduate from apprenticeship programs by 2030, 20 5 of the has to be for disadvantaged businesses from their Community Benefits plan and they are committed toip programs in the contracting solicitations. This to me is where i think a partnership with the ergot urban league comes in because as you said, you are so great at speaking to people and making sure everyday citizens, not just businesses but everyday citizens are aware of what is have voices from the community and who the Community Trusts to this. For example we have billions of dollars that will be going up through the states to citizens who want to get energyefficient appliances. If you want to install energyefficient stoves or heat pumps, you can get thousands of dollars of tax credits. Thats all going to be coming through the states. All 50 states will get lots of money to be able to do this. Citizens need to know about it and not every state is goingo ao partnering on telling people in addition to helping to figure out the training component for the hubs, these other big developers, a huge opportunity for us to be working together on these things, so i appreciate the potential for that partnership. One other thing i want to say about the pipeline of workers that we are seeking, because of all these jobs being created, we have been giving hundreds of millions of dollars tos for the science, technology, energy and math jobs that will be created in this energy space. Super important. We are excited about that. We are funding these Industrial Assessment Centers which is happening at msi and Community Colleges to get young people to know how to assess commercial and Industrial Buildings to reduce the energy footprints which is exciting work that leads them fully into this whole space, millions of dollars in that. We have this whole strategy which is ver holistic from research to development to demonstrations to earlystage deployments, full on deployments to create thisustrial energy revolution, from the department of energy and we are very excited about it. I feel so fortunate to be in this position right now because of my boss who is committed and thsore and the way this train is moving, this partnership, the partnerships that weve got. We are in the middle of this period of history and sometimes when you are in the middle of history, it is hard to tell because you may not befor thosey space, you are going to look back and you will be able to t you were there when this whole new Industrial Revolution happened. Nothing is a given. Weve got to hold onto the game. The fight is not over. Im gl be in a room full of warriors because we must continue to battle and cannot let our foot off of the , and in that battle, in the trenches, because some ou may have heard nancy pelosi say at one point, where she went to visit a africa and on their wall was a prayer. When at last an before the face of god, god will say to me, show me your wounds, and if i have no wounds, god will ask was there nothing worth fighting for . E scars from fighting for communities of color and for this clean energy revolution. Be in the fight with you all. [applause] ■