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Video transcript of Governor Paterson's press conference announcing plans to support Brookhaven National Laboratory with a NYPA power allocation, Brookhaven, N.Y.
February 27, 2009
Mike Colon, Site Manager of the Department of Energy: Good afternoon everyone, I’m Mike Colon. I’m the Department of Energy’s Site Office Manager here at Brookhaven Laboratory. I welcome you all here today. And it is an honor for me on behalf of the Department of Energy to welcome here today the Governor of the State of New York, David Paterson, and all of our other distinguished guests. Welcome Governor.
The Department of Energy recognizes the valuable importance of partnerships with the states that host the national laboratories and of course New York State’s Brookhaven National Laboratory is no different. We have many examples here at Brookhaven of wonderful partnerships with the State of New York, and certainly I and the rest of the department look forward in the future to many new and exciting opportunities to partner with the state. So without further ado, I would like to turn things over to the laboratory director, Sam Aronson, thank you.
Dr. Samuel Aronson, Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory: Thank you Mike and thanks everybody for being here. Welcome on this great day. It’s a pleasure and an honor to welcome Governor Paterson to Brookhaven National Laboratory on this great afternoon. The Governor and his office have been strong supporters of the laboratory as Mike just mentioned. There have been important, in recent times, important state investments in a number of areas. You all know about high performance computing, and the role the state has played in that for Stony Brook and Brookhaven. The acquisition of our new light source, which was just announced for approval to construct recently, was facilitated by actions of the State of New York. And there are many others that we will probably hear more of today from the Governor. So without any further ado, I’d like to ask Governor Paterson to come up and make some important announcements.
Governor David Paterson, Governor of the State of New York: Thank you very much. Thank you to all of you for being here this afternoon. This is quite a reception, I must say. To fill this auditorium at two o’clock in the afternoon, that’s pretty good. I am delighted to be here. I want to thank my colleagues in government. We’re expecting Congressman Tim Bishop; he will be here at some point later on. Senator Ken LaValle, who I’ve served in the Senate with for twenty-one years, is joining us today, as is Assemblyman Marc Alessi, who joined me at an earlier event today, and our County Executive Steve Levy. I want to thank all of them. Also we have with us today from the New York Power Authority, Richie Kessel, from the Long Island Power Authority, Kevin Law, and representatives of the Empire State Development Corporation, so thank all of you for coming and joining us today.
You know what they say, “you always forget the one you love.” Well I spent about eighteen months of my life trying to get Brian Foley to run for the New York State Senate. He runs for the New York Senate, he wins, he helps me, he invites me out here today, he gets water for me at the previous event and I don’t introduce him. OK, maybe I’ll be invited back sometime.
Brookhaven National Labs is an academic institution owned by the federal government, but is operated privately, including participation from New York State. So this is a unique public-private partnership in the form that was rarely accommodated back in 1947 when an army base and a small town in Long Island became the epicenter of this research from a number of research and development institutions, a consortion of them in the Northeast. And so it really laid the foundation for Brookhaven Labs and the tremendous economic development that has derived out of the research that’s come from this facility and how it has appealed to scientists around the world, with thirty-five hundred visiting scientists here in this area right now.
And so over the sixty-two years that it’s been in existence, it has yielded six Nobel Prizes for research and scientific discovery, right here in this institution, including the research on synthetic insulin, the levitation of trains with the use of magnets, something I’d actually like to see, and the development of clean and more efficient oil burners right here coming from this invention itself by some people of great forethought over six decades ago.
Today we hope that we expand on that advancement, and that is that the United States Department of Energy has granted to Brookhaven Labs nine hundred and twelve million dollars. And that will be to establish a National Synchrotron Light Source right here in this facility. And that capital award is the largest capital award that the Department of Energy has made at any of its ten regional subsidiaries and it will be made right here in Long Island. What it will mean is that Brookhaven Labs, which has really been among a short list of three of the national leaders in scientific research, will be able to continue in its great leadership and its great innovative efforts for years to come.
The light source research technology will be particularly helpful in the area of advancing what will be new properties. What it really means is that in the areas of nano research that the research can become more precise and more developed with greater precision. I think what that really means is that the molecular structures can be drilled down upon and researched a lot greater than they used to be. If I know any more than that I will come here and help with the research.
Now these advances are going to be very important for New York State as well as it will be for Brookhaven, because what they will do is bring new security to our nation and to energy research. Most of the research will be in clean and renewable energy forms. This will create an immediate thousand jobs, mostly in the area of construction, hopefully from people who live right here in Long Island. Brookhaven has estimated that it will take sixty three million hours of labor to complete the entire construction. And so we think a lot of people who are in difficulty right now will have that relieved by our announcement today.
But further, we have been working, New York State, the Long Island Power Authority, the New York Power Authority, and the Empire State Development Corporation has been working with the federal government and with Brookhaven to try to bring this facility here. And what we are announcing today is that the New York Power Authority will grant fifteen megawatts of hydropower so that this facility can run effectively.
And so, what this will enable Brookhaven to do is to operate this facility at lower cost and in an effective way. And it was an essential element in the agreement that was established between Brookhaven and the Department of Energy. Now we have a triple threat right here on Long Island: the Department of Energy will provide the funding; Brookhaven will provide the expertise; and New York will supply the power. And our colleges and universities and research facilities will be the great beneficiaries.
We will find that this light source technology will give us innovations that will take us to whatever the new levels are of discovery. And this really is how New York State, which has always been a leader in national research, and of course Brookhaven, which has always been one of the cogs in that wheel of moving forward and rolling out more and more innovations, it’s going to be extremely important to have this kind of project. The large project that it is, the largest one of its kind ever to be in New York State, it will benefit all of us. It will benefit our government with the number of jobs it will create and we’re delighted we’re doing this. But as they say on the infomercials “but there’s more.”
On February 11, 2008, I was still Lieutenant Governor, but I was charged with developing our renewable energy task force, the task force came out with a recommendation. And the recommendation was that we needed to get more aggressively involved in solar photovoltaic power, and in order to do that, we asked the New York Power Authority to issue what would be a request for proposals to get fifty megawatts of photovoltaic power. And we got back opportunities to receive actually four hundred megawatts of photovoltaic power. And then, we were really just looking for a venue, and we knew one of the largest projects in this area was located right here at Brookhaven. Today we are announcing that a private investor has agreed to lease property right here at Brookhaven so that there will be a Central Station Solar Power Plant right here on this facility.
Therefore, Brookhaven, along with the New York Power Authority and as well with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, will work together to put this whole project into place. It will be pursuant to our idea that I discussed at the State of the State address to divert 45% of our energy uses to energy efficiency, clean and renewable energy sources. We call it our forty-five by fifteen plan and it has just been enhanced immeasurably by the Central Station Power Plant that will be right here at Brookhaven.
We really believe that, if realized, that our forty-five by fifteen plan will yield fifty thousand jobs in New York State. And we already have a great work force development plan for clean and renewable energy, but we think we’ll be able to expand it that way, and the reason this is so important is that, in terms of the clean and renewable energy sources, solar power, hydropower, geothermal power, and wind power, they all have a capacity based on their ability to heat hydrogen.
I’ve said nitrogen a couple of times and I was wrong and people write letters to me about this stuff. When hydrogen is heated to a boiling point and it cracks, that becomes the energy source. Hydrogen is not an energy source, it’s a conductor. But the reality is that the most difficult thing that we try to do in the development of clean and renewable energy sources is to transmit a lot of these sources. It’s not like oil where you just put it in a pipe and ship it places, because hydrogen almost escapes any form of container that it’s in.
So where we can build these plants, as we’re doing today, will be an immeasurable step forward in the alleviation of traditional fuel sources through clean and renewable energy alternatives. And to do it right here at Brookhaven really is most apt, because it really was one of the first facilities to bring New York as far into the leadership of scientific research and also fuel cell research as we've ever had before and what we feel is, as it is a benefit to Brookhaven Labs itself and Long Island proper, it is also going to transform our country’s value and ability to produce energy in new and exciting ways and obviously reduce carbon emissions from our atmospheres. So these are all of the results that will occur from the announcements we are making here today. And we’re only happy that all of you could join us for a day in history that we’ll remember right here on Long Island. Thank you very much.
You know, I’m really glad that Kevin Law is not insulted that I accidently said that it was New York Power Authority and not LIPA who has actually created the opportunity and put forth the fifty megawatts so that we can have the Central Station Power Plant here and I’m glad that Kevin isn’t upset by that, particularly since many of you don’t know, I grew up right here on Long Island and it’s very difficult to offend some of your former neighbors. So I profoundly apologize to Kevin, but again thank all of you for being a part of this great event that we’ve had here today and thank you for having me.
Marc Alessi, New York State Assemblyman: Well, I am fortunate enough to have Brookhaven National Lab in my assembly district so therefore, I have the privilege of introducing the rest of the speakers. I want to thank the Governor for his foresight and his leadership in this area. This is one of the most important things we can do, not only for our environment but for our economy. Everybody’s talking about green jobs and what that means for us as we get ourselves out of this recession and the Governor has the most aggressive alternative energy plans I believe of any state in the nation, correct me if I’m wrong. So I think he deserves yet another round of applause.
And the two men that he has, one at LIPA, one at NYPA, Richie Kessel at NYPA and this announcement for the low-cost energy for Long Island couldn’t have come at a better time. So again I’d like to thank Richie Kessel. And finally, Kevin Law at LIPA, I think it’s no surprise to anybody about how passionate I am when it comes to energy issues on Long Island. Some of the gentlemen up here tonight will probably think I’m too passionate about energy issues at times, but Kevin Law, in doing this fifty megawatt RFP, again I think it’s the largest RFP of any solo project in the state, that is remarkable and he deserves a round of applause.
One thing I would like to do is acknowledge all of you here from Brookhaven National Lab, because the research that happens here is the building block for the science that’s going to be applied right outside and the driving force of what is going to lead the state and this nation to economic recovery, so thank you. And now I’d like to call up Senator Brian Foley.
Brian Foley, Senator of New York: Thank you Marc. And I’d like to thank the Governor as well. Any time he likes, I’ll be happy to bring the water along in order for him to make these great announcements.
Now this is a very important historic day for our national laboratory here. Many of us know and have known over the decades of the importance of the pure science that has been developed here. Being the neighbor to the late Dr. Davis in Blue Point, I know very well speaking with him and others, Judge Stoner when he was with us all well, that these were men and women that have devoted their lives to pure science.
What we’re seeing here today is another element if you will use that word, where we’re attempting to have applied science to be used in the fashion that will help move forward a common agenda of creating jobs, as well as the next generation of production of energy. And as a member of the New York State Senate’s Economic Development Committee, I can tell you that this is a very, very important day throughout the State of New York. And those of us in the New York Senate on a bipartisan basis really are joyful and very, very happy about today’s announcement. Once again it will put this national laboratory not just into the national forefront, but into the international forefront in the areas that you have devoted your lives to study.
So let me just say in conclusion, that today is very important for this laboratory. Earlier in the day the Governor and I were over at Sachem school district along with Congressman Bishop to make the announcement again that due to a lot of hard work among the federal representatives, the state as well, and through the Governor’s good work and also the congressman’s, that we’re going to be able to restore all the cuts that were made to education because of the federal stimulus package that was put forward by the feds and with the Governor’s strong support as well as us in the State Legislature. So again this is a very important day, yes. So today’s a chock-full of events for the Governor ,but we couldn’t be more pleased with the announcements we’ve made. We look forward to continuing to work with the laboratory to excel in the areas that are so important to all of us who live and breathe and work here on Long Island and really throughout the whole world. Thank you for what you do.
Marc Alessi: Before the Governor takes questions I’d like to acknowledge some of my colleagues that are sitting here in front. Assemblyman Steve Englebright, County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, County Legislator Ed Romaine, and County Legislator Kate Browning. Now the Governor has promised to take questions, but before I allow him to do that, the Director of the lab, Sam Aronson, would like to present him with a gift which we have vetted and we think it will be a wonderful opportunity.
Dr. Samuel Aronson: Thanks Marc, the gift is not radioactive, it does not have nano particles and it’s safe for the Governor to take with him as a memento of this great day. I’m going to bring it to the podium. This is a little gift built here at Brookhaven on short order in the last few days, using components from special super conducting magnets that are used at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider Facility. I thank the person at the Collider Accelerator Department who built this. It says on the base of this thing, it says “Brookhaven National Laboratory, Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and thank you”. So Governor, thank you very much.
Governor Paterson: Thank you. I’m going to take this and see if I can levitate a train with it. Are there any questions? (Q&As follow.)
Thank you very much everybody.