B-roll, Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Delivers Remarks at Micron’s Groundbreaking Ceremony

Earlier today, Governor Hochul delivered remarks at Micron's Groundbreaking Ceremony.

B-ROLL: B-Roll is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will have photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 I don't know, this might be Hochul country. Just saying, and I am here on behalf of 20 million very excited New Yorkers to welcome Micron to their new home. Sanjay, thank you for making it happen. And our Secretaries of Commerce and Labor, thank you for your presence. I also want to thank my partner in this endeavor - lots of long, hard fought conversations to make sure this got over the finish line. Ladies and gentlemen, our minority leader, but next year majority leader, Chuck Schumer. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, another great partner driving economic development, and our County Executive Ryan McMahon for his partnership making this happen. Our members of Congress, our state and federal elected officials. The local officials. I spent 14 years on a Town board - to our Supervisor of Clay. Let's give round applause to our local officials.

And I'm going to give myself an extra 30 seconds of my three minutes because I need to have my Commissioners stand up. These are the ones who are making sure the environmental reviews are done, that the economic development incentives are there, that transportation is done. We build the housing, and we find you the labor force. They're all right there. That is my dream team.

Now, this says, "Memory made in America." I'm saying, "We're going to make memories here in Upstate New York," because my memory of Upstate New York goes back very long, and I'm probably the only one in the room who can describe what it was like when you grew up in a steel town like Buffalo. All the jobs left in the seventies. Bethlehem steel was shut down a few years later. Our manufacturing was being killed and shipped overseas. Grandpa worked at the steel plant. My dad worked at the steel plant. Everybody we knew either made cars or steel, and all of a sudden, we were knocked down hard. And the same thing was happening in Syracuse when I came to Syracuse University in the seventies, and we were losing the major manufacturing that we had relied on that had defined our Upstate for so long. So, to live long enough and to have been able to facilitate this dream come true to launch the rebirth of manufacturing in the State of New York - I could not be prouder and on behalf of all those whose dreams were dashed, who gave up hope - this is the day we rise up, New York. This is a signal to the rest of the world and to all the great national and international companies, to the partners here today, what are you waiting for? Come to New York. This is where you want to be. And to our labor community, the men and women of labor who are going to build this, who made the deal get done. Greg Lancette. The Building Trades.

I will close with this because I'm going to give a hell of a lot longer speech this afternoon. Sanjay mentioned a cold day four years ago in January. I knew you were here. I heard that this could be a once in a lifetime, once in a generation opportunity. So, against all the advice of my staff, I got on a small plane during a snowstorm, convinced the pilots to fly me here because I said "I'm not missing the chance to sit down with the CEO of Micron, he may not be back again." So, I came here, we're supposed to have a 15, 20 minute meeting. We stayed for three hours. And I said, "I'm not leaving till I get this man to say yes." And I said, "I'll make it worth your while." He says, "Well I'm going to need 9,000 engineers." Done. "I'm going to need this. I'm going to-" I said, "I will do anything to make this deal happen.

And when President Biden and Chuck Schumer figured out how to create and unlock billions of dollars with the CHIPS and Science Act, I knew that meant industry could go anywhere in the country, but I needed to give New York an advantage. Literally, two days later, the Legislators and I thanked them for their support, and I signed into New York's first ever Green CHIPS Act, unleashing over $6 billion to make Micron become a reality. That's what getting stuff done is all about.

We are overjoyed today. Thank you. Thank you to everybody for making this happen. And for those who may not be familiar with the culture of Upstate New York, you never leave an event like this without saying, "Go Bills. Let's bring it home, Buffalo."

Contact the Governor's Press Office