Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Celebrates Completion of Champlain Hudson Power Express Project

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that the 339-mile Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE), one of New York's largest transmission infrastructure projects in 50 years, can now deliver reliable, clean energy from Canada directly to New York City. CHPE is expected to deliver 10.4 terawatt-hours of clean energy per year to the New York Metro area - meeting up to 20 percent of the city's needs - and reduce carbon emissions by 37 million metric tons through 2040. This will provide significant public health benefits by reducing harmful emissions and local air contaminants in New York City, and, in particular, historically underserved communities.

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 post photos of the event here.

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

Hello, everyone. Absolutely delighted to be here today with the planes flying overhead just in time. You know what you've got to love about New York, it's a city that never backs down from a challenge. No matter how hard it gets, whether it's Superstorm Sandy or COVID or recessions, New Yorkers adapt, they rebuild and they always come back.

Even if they've been down, they come back stronger. It's in our DNA. Just think about the New York Knicks. How many times people go to bed and count them out? And they came back with that New York resiliency and strength. So they never went down without coming back.

We also cannot have our energy grid ever go down either, and that is something that I take very seriously as the Governor of the state - that we have to do everything we can. This city, unfortunately, has run on dirty power, expensive power that pollutes our air and short-changes our future. And I've long thought that New Yorkers deserve a system - a clean system, a resilient system, an innovative system - as well as being forward-thinking.

So today, this month, with the launch of CHPE bringing clean hydroelectric power down from Québec all the way through the State of New York, we've finally delivered this vision, and I could not be prouder at this moment in time. I want to thank Doreen Harris for her incredible leadership - a true believer who brings innovative ideas to us constantly, trying to help us do everything we can to make sure that our power stays on, but we also do it in a clean way that protects the environment.

And all of our partners at TDI and Hydro-Québec and all the people who came forward with an idea that's been germinating for over 16 years - 16 years of waiting. So I first heard about this when I was Lieutenant Governor. I was the designated person to meet our dignitaries and businesses from out of state, out of country.

And so the idea was pitched to me by the Premier of Québec years ago. And it was yes at first sight. I said, "This is a brilliant idea." So literally when I became Governor, PSC made the decision within three months that we'd go forward with this, and that is why we're here today.

Why not use hydropower from Québec? Makes sense, absolutely makes sense. And after all this time of dreaming and planning and building, I'm proud to say that the future of energy has finally arrived right here in Astoria at the site of a former fossil fuel facility.

Now we have over 1,200 megawatts of clean power that will be coming onto New York's grid. That's up to 20 percent of New York City's demand - 20 percent of the grid will be covered by this power. That's a million homes - a million homes powered by this clean energy. It's extraordinary when you think about it. Just before this past month, they had to be powered by mostly fossil fuels. Now they're powered by clean energy.

In its first year of operation, CHPE will cut carbon emissions by 3.9 million carbon tons. That's extraordinary. That's the equivalent of taking hundreds of thousands of cars off our roads just with this power that just was launched this month. And it's also the largest, longest fully buried transmission line in North America - 339 miles underground and underwater from Montreal all the way here to Queens.

And it's been amazing. The 1,400 jobs that were created along the way, the hardworking men and women of labor - I want to thank them, giving them a special shout-out here today. Thank you for making the magic happen. It was tough out there. Four seasons, above ground, underground, underwater. Really an incredible engineering challenge, but you met the moment and you delivered. So again, I'm always so grateful to all of you.

And it did have a few challenges. Yes, a few challenges along the way. The point is, it got done, and I'm talking about how we could talk about building into New York's energy future. But look at the past, we have to make sure that we don't make more mistakes, like closing down Indian Point back in 2021. That killed a strong, reliable source of energy that powered New York City without a plan to replace it. So nuclear had provided over a quarter of our power. When that went offline, fossil fuel generation went up, emissions went up, and costs went up. And communities that bore the worst of the pollution were always the ones that got the hardest hit.

So I want to make sure we turn the page on this. The neighborhoods that were called Asthma Alley in Astoria, South Bronx, East Brooklyn, where kids are still suffering the ill effects of environmental injustices and asthma. And we're turning the page on that, making a real difference for the moms whose kids have asthma, spend too much time in an emergency room, or a small business owner whose costs keep going up and worries about reliability.

With CHPE coming online, the air will get cleaner, the grid will get stronger and communities that have carried this burden for far too long will finally get relief. But this is not alone. CHPE is not the only answer to the challenge. We support an all-of-the-above approach to energy transmission here in the State of New York, an array of ideas, hydropower, renewables, reliable nuclear energy to make sure that the lights stay on, the heat and the air conditioning stay on - especially this summer, we're expecting a very hot summer.

We also showed that with our State Budget, we can remain a national clean energy climate leader while protecting people's wallets. It can be done, and that's what we achieved.

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Thank you. We enacted a ratepayer protection plan to hold utility companies accountable and put consumers first. We secured $1 billion in one-time energy rebate checks to help families from rising home energy costs to the soaring prices at gas pumps, prices that have skyrocketed due to this war in Iran, and who knows when it's really going to end. All I know is it's going to take a while for the gas prices to go back to where they had been just in January.

So we have suffered for many, many months of higher costs that never should have occurred. As well as President Trump's war on renewables, constantly attacking renewables. We're in court all the time - won again yesterday on offshore wind. We should not be having to fight these fights against Washington, which should be our partners. They should be our partners in finding new ways to deliver clean energy.

And we also invested $1 billion in a historic investment in New York's fight against climate change. So we're going to keep modernizing our grid, keep fighting to expand renewable energy and create renewable power for decades to come.

So, like I said, this is not just a power line, this is a lifeline. This is a lifeline for thousands of homes and businesses and individuals, a million homes across the City of New York. And here in New York, we don't just follow trends, we start the trends. I am hopeful that others will see the light and understand that this is an incredible source of power with partnerships like we have with Québec, and there's more to come.

I'm not done with this challenge yet. The bigger the challenge, the more I'm excited to lean into it, and protecting our energy future is one of my top priorities right now. Driving down costs, ensuring reliability, and making sure that the lights never ever, ever, ever go out in this great city or state.

So we're bold, we're audacious, but you know what? We get it done. So thank you very much, and I want to turn it over to Doreen Harris for a few words on what it took to get us here. Doreen.