three days but we begin today with what we are our energy/jobs. say jobs. we are here because we are mindful of the challenges we face as a nation and as a globe. those are challenges with respect to whether you refer to it as climate change or global warming adjustments in weather patterns, there is no doubt something is occurring. it is impacting our quality of life. if you have ever traveled

through union station, the wonderful union station, the ine entrance. maybe you have or maybe you've not. look looked at that inscription -- looked at that inscription. in the history ofthat technologs the invention or the creation of fire. fire as an enabler changed the trajectory of human beings. gay people a different way to prepare food, different way to keep warm a invention of fire also aated the growth of human beings.

the next great invention was the invention of electricity. the ability to capture impact the way people lived. we who have grown up in the 20th and 21st have been great beneficiaries of that revolution. indeed, in this room, the electric lights. the air conditioning and heating systems. this microphone, the of c-span's cameras to capture us in real-time and transmit the visuals to people all over the nation and the world on either small devices or large devices has been enabled by elecity.it'l

advance. -many technological advances tht we have enjoyed have been enabled by electricity. imagine your without a stove. imagine your home without a washing machine. how many of you are old enough to remember when you put close on the line? -- clothes on the line. [laughter] >> our lives have been changed by eleínctelectricity has to bed and created. it has to be produced. the methodologies of producing electricity hasnd advanced with -- have changed in

advance over humankind. like so m inventions that we enjoy, there is always aluthe cn world whether it be electricity or the internal combustion engine improved significantly our quality of life. it also presents challenges to us. as human beings. as americans, as people and communities. it is in this moment in time when policymakers, business leaders, faith leaders, community leaders labor leaders and people are indeed grappling with how toe that the

inventions and those things we have and use that have improved our quality of life, it helped us live longer, have helped is live healthier are going to in the 21st century and in a fashion that does not have significanimta■+cts. that is the challenge before us. i'd like to break it down -- somes ble energy, it can become scientific and esoteric. it can become confusing as seek. we are challenging ourselves challenging those in government, those in the private sector, those in the labor community, those who are decision-makers about this

transition that we insist, we demand to t we want to be at tho discuss, to participate, to be stakeholders and not only the decision making but the execution of this change. president took on this challenge. he passed a blueprint bill which includes an up fund and supervision's in it with regard to renewable energy in this transition. we have to unpack, educate and understand what that blueprint looks like so that we fully, indeed participate. no one is better situated than the national urban league, urban league affiliates and the urban

league movement to play a trti role in this and on this issue than we are. we arene in 92 communities. we don't speak about b americans. we don't speak about communities of color. we don't speak about americans left out of the economic system. we are that. we representthat's our mission. that's our purpose. that's our reason for being. l■ when we are at the table, we come with authenticity, not with just studies and analysis but with a voice. weird doest as to what i shared earlier today. it leads us to a desire to understand the jobs transition that's taking place. to realize that the new jobs

that are being created broadly in this transition are jobs that require technical skills, that pay higher than the average american job, but also jobs where historically khmer community has been underrepresented. hear here to take a step - accelerate our participation in this industry. secondly, business opportunity -- y si oortunity. we, as i said earlier are not onsumers alone. we need to be producers involved in. web@ country unless we can build businesses owned by people

of ourin this new industry, thee opportunities but we need open doors, we need access to capital, we)p need our young entrepreneurs to know they are not going to be standing outside 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■xag■úe convenis about all of that. i'm excited we want to thank all of our partners who are here toda 's give them 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 erg cabinet 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■dpickett. please don't get confused. duane is a brother of the late great wilson pickett. [laughter] >> they share the same name and uz if duane wants to be called duane wickett pickett but if so, you might find your y as -- to the grammys. 1 [laughter] >> this gentleman is vice presidenthy6 drog development at constellation. he is working at constellation to develop their in clean energy solutions, marketplace initiatives. his mission is to help customers and communitiest their decarbonization goals in combat, if you will, the changes that

take place by to the use of clean hydrogen. all of you michigan -- university of michigan wolverines, don't get mad. duane graduatedhonors from the e university. [applause] >> proud buckeye but today, he is in urban league 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 didn't hear any of that. let's get back to our remarks. precte your comments this morning. i welcome your challenge, the challenge of all of us to be

part of bringing the opportunity to the tableecially ?p■6fothe ce leading clean energy companies. we are doing it while also creating sustainable, diverse workforce that represents the communities we serve. th mission and one of the things we are doing that 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 havetional urban league has put 1600 people, 1600 people living wage apprenticeship jobs. >> we are working with the urban league chapter in rochester, new york. the urban league in springfield, illinois and all over the place.

i'm struck by comments earlier today from mr. harris on the panel where he said many hands make light work. coteatthrough that partnership e are doing the training and earnings the skills as part of t future. i will make it my life's mission to do that. i appreciate your remarks. i've got the remarkable honor of introducing someone who's been doing this work on green energy jobs and environmental justice, the honorable and remarkable united states department of energy secretary jennifer granholm. around of applause. [applause] ■9>> i am part of the work sheg to make hydrogen part of the clean energy future and everything she is doing i

holding us and industry and society accountable to make sure those benefits are borne by all. it is important work and we are doing it with intentionality at the front of it. there was some conversation when you think about globalt of pollutants, industrial aviationr steelmaking, those pollutions tend to sit where they are. you're making something in your making pollution ave gers that t there. it's been proven to lead to things like asthma, copd, lung cancer. was a comment earlier today in the first panel. i think mr. thompson said ask americans the number one reasons africaami was struck by that.

my mom and dad have asthma. there it's all around the black community. too often, we are facing the brunt of these negative impacts. i appreciate those comments today. now is the time for us to address industrialized pollution. now is t#ndyou heard about the opportunities today. we got to act now. hydrogen can be one of the ways we tackle this problem. by making clean hydrogen, you can clean power like nuclear 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 the seven companies selected by the government to produce hydrogen in sustainable y. it's part of their $1 billion investment that will go towards our lasalle clean energy center where we make hydrogen there with the right policies.

wel 33,000 tons a year of clean hydrogen, 1400 jobs. this is important stuff we can do. the midwest hydrogen hub, we've committed that 40% of those benefits go to underrepresented communities. >> it's a requirement but we are proud to do it make it our miioall of this conversation abt opportunity, i've been thinking about my grandfather. my grandfather used to tell me a 3$z> about when he came from back from vietnam, he was jobless and had kids and needed something to do to protect his family. me, go down the street, campbell soup is hiring. he goes to leaves the house and before he leaves, his mom says waite. he puts in on it thousand walked down the street and sees a long line in and ofet■!

in camden, new jersey. when he gets to back of this line, the guy looks at it looks at the back of the line says you with the suit andjust like thate moment, opportunity. that opportunity lifted two generations in my family out of poverty. [applause] >> he would od house and we alt 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 coy at i sed a my youth and that opportunity can lift people. that's why this hydrogen that is why thisopportunity, thn we talked about with the urban league is so important. and when to.

they said the clean energy revolution must lift up these communities that were left behind and make sure those who suffered the most are first to benefit, those who suffered the most are first to benefit. i agree. on behalf of the conti we appreciate the steps you've taken to make sure these benefits go to those who have suffered of the most and i'm going to welcome mark back up before we introduce the secretary but thank you for your time. [applause] mark: let's give him another great round of applause. without any delay, madam secretary, duane is an osu graduate, your big blue michigan, let's suffice it to say that big 10 is well represented today.

thout any delay and with great pride and pleasure that i present to you thesecretary th'e united states of america, distinguished career. she served as governor of the state of michigan from 2003 to 2011 but before that, she clerked for a civil rights legend. judge damon keith, a man whose great shadow impacted this urban league movement, a great federal appellate court judge from michigan, and after leaving the governorship, she joined the faculty of the university of califoia, eley, her all modern and has brought energy, political acumen and great advocacy to the cabinet.

proud to welcome the secretary of energy, jennifer granholm. sec. granholm: thank you so much. it always makes s happy when someone refers to judge keith because in your formation, you've got a lot of mentors that you go throughkeith, used to cly father in michigan, and he used to call me hish daughter and it is not just that, it is being infused with the vue thank you for doing that. duane, go blue, that'i appreciar

remarks and the promise of the hydrogen hubsvery excited about it. the national urban league, you were founded 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 detroit when we were coming in and you saw the great migration north, the auto industry, we are at the cusp of this new industrial revolution which is all about clean energan u this, it has been estimated that globally, the products that will get all of thesentries to get to net zero by 2050 which is what they have all pledged to do is going to be

economic opportunity and the question is, who was going to take advantage of that? coi am so happy to say that your country is going for it. his because it is sofew mber important. since president biden took office some new numbers but since he took office, 14.8 million jobs created, the largest amount of created under any president 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 stretch of unemployment below 4% that we have seen in 50 years. it is the rate on record.

it is the strongest economic recovery of all major economies. among black americans, a 60 percent wealth increase relative to p increase on record. you might ask, why is this happening? it is not coincidence. it is the result of a focused strategic plan, and that plan from president biden is using a 21st century industrial strategy to bring manufactu after all thf off shoring, to list -- lift bruiseknees to bring future facg good jobs to workers in every pocket of america. just in my column of things, in

the energy space, since the passage of the inflation reduction act and the law, thers been 500 factories 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 strategy, we call it to invest in america, investing in all of america. s focus on building a clean economy for the future is about making is a system a nation for investment. all of these countries are looking to do hydrogen. but no one has got what we've 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. envy -- i meet with all of energy ministers from other all say things like oh my god, you guys are so far ahead. we are so envious. don't get envious, get busy. yoys c do it too. there is enough to go around. in re-upping 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 right those wrongs of the past, that we really give the opportunity to communities that have historically been left

i know you are well aware,you an this. the communities that have been on the forefront of aot of fossil investments are the ones that are suffering the greatest. was visiting cancer alley in louisiana, the river perishes -- i met with an 82-year-old gentleman named robert taylor who took me to his family's graveyard. the graveyard itself was literally bounded on all refin'e graveyards inthe graveyard was e

refinery, you had to get permission to travel to go see your loved ones in this gravesite. 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 whehether he will be on top of his father or his grandfather. i say this just because this notion is not just of the dead but the living. who have been subjected to the particulate matter, the asthma rates, the cancer rates. what can we do? about writing that wrong? -- righting that wrong? one of the eleme 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 energy, you have to write up a community benefits plan and you have to commit to benefiting the community, which is what you were talkinge largef the community that will benefit. it has tode, hiring locally? what is the benefit for the air, the benefit for local businesses? hubs or projects. we are trying to embed structural equityn structurally inequitable and it's not just the community benefits plan, but it is also the waysentives have. for example, say that you want you are a community solar

developer. if you locate your project in a community, a disadvantaged credit, extra tax credits. if you have apprenticeship programs prevailing wage, you get extra credit. if you use american-made solar panels, you get extra credit. you can get up to 50 -- 50% to 70% as a tax investment. that is huge. 50% to 70%. that is irresistible. that is going to drive equity throughout the system. it's not whole bunch of different types of projects. you might ask, the inflation reduction act has been in place fo and what are the

results? is it working? come to find out, studies 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. is really gratifying. the tax credits are doing the work which is really great. 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 oti$250 mit and 285 micro bids around

louisiana because of course louisiana has distant fortunately been harmed by ■ms gives them resilience. as a condition of receiving the funding, louisiana committed to that under that program, it hundred 75 people will graduate from apprenticeship programsy 20 5% of the contracting has to be for disadvantaged businesses from their community benefits plan and they are committed to including apprenticeship programs in the contracting solicitations. this to me is where i think a partnership with the ergot -- urban league comes in because as you people and making sure everyday citizens, not just businesses but everyday citizens are awarel+f what is coming down the pipe. super important to have voices

from the community and who the mmun trusts to be able to do this. for example we have billions of dollars that will be going up through the stateso citizens who want to get energy-efficient appliances. if you want to instaenergy-effit pumps, you can get thousands of dollars of tax credits. that's all goinges. all 50 states will get lots of money to be able to do this. citizens need to it and not every state is going to be as vocal as others, so partnering on telling people in addition to helping to aining cr 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 toare sef all these jobs being created, we have been giving hundreds of millions of dollars to hbcu's for the science, technology, energy and math jobs that will be created in thne 6prtant. we are excited about that. we are funding these industrial as and community colleges to get young people to know how to assess commercial and industrial buildings to reduce the energy leads them fully into this whole space, millions ofla we have this whole strategy which is very holistic from research to development to demonstrations to early-stage deployments, full on deployments to create industrial energy

revolution, from the department of energy and we are very excited i feel so fortunate to n this position right now because of my boss who is committed and the resources that we have, and the way this train is m partnere partnerships that we've got. we are in the middle of this period of history and sometimes when you are in the middle of because you may not be aware. for those who are in this energy back and you will be able to tell your grandchildren that you were there when this whole new industrial revolution happened. we've got to hold onto the game. the fiisvei'm glad to be in a rf

warriors because we must continue to battle and cannot off of the accelerator, and in that battle, in the8■m trenches, i will close with this because some of you may have heard nancy pelosi say at oneoi, e she we to visit a bishop in south africa and on their wall was a pr. last i stand 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 h fighng may we all bear the scars from fighting for communities of color and for this clean energy revoluti. i'm so glad to be in the fight with you all.

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