‭ rayton Point Power Station‬

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‭Somerset, Massachusetts‬
‭2:43 P.M. EDT‬
‭THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And thank you for your‬
‭patience. You’ve been sitting out here. Appreciate — please, have a seat, if you have one.‬
‭Well, hello, Massachusetts. (Applause.) It’s an honor to be with your outstanding members of‬
‭Congress today: Senator Ed Markey. Ed? Where’s — there you go. (Applause.) Senator‬
‭Elizabeth Warren. (Applause.) Congressman Auchincloss — -oss. Where is she? There you‬
‭go, Jake. Bill Keating — Congressman. (Applause.)‬
‭And your great former members and one of my dearest friends, John Kerry, who’s doing a great‬
‭job leading our international — (applause) — Special Presidential Envoy on Climate, traveling‬
‭the world and talking with an awful lot of people he’s talking into moving more than they’ve been‬
‭doing.‬
‭And another great Massachusetts nata- — native, Gina McCarthy. Gina? (Applause.) There‬
‭she is. My National Climate Advisor is leading our climate efforts here at home.‬
‭It’s an honor to be joined by your neighbor by — your neighbor from Rhode Island. He’s not a‬
‭bad guy at all. (Laughter.) I live in his house. Sheldon Whitehouse — a great champion —‬
‭(applause) — a great champion of the environment. And he’d been banging away at it.‬
‭I come here today with a message: As President, I have a responsibility to act with urgency and‬
‭resolve when our nation faces clear and present danger. And that’s what climate change is‬
‭about. It is literally, not figuratively, a clear and present danger.‬
‭The health of our citizens and our communities is literally at stake.‬
‭The U.N.’s leading international climate scientists called the latest climate report nothing less‬
‭than, quote, “code red for humanity.” Let me say it again: “Code red for humanity.” It’s not a‬
‭group of political official — elected officials. These are the scientists.‬
‭We see here in America, in red states and blue states, extreme weather events costing $145‬
‭billion — $145 billion in damages just last year — more powerful and destructive hurricanes and‬
‭tornadoes.‬
‭I’ve flown over the vast majority of them out west and down in Louisiana, all across America.‬
‭It’s a — it’s amazing to see.‬
‭Ravaging hundred-year-old droughts occurring every few years instead of every hundred years.‬
‭Wildfires out west that have burned and destroyed more than 5 million acres — everything in its‬
‭path. That is more land than the entire state of New Jersey, from New York down to the tip of‬
‭Delaware. It’s amazing. Five million acres.‬
‭Our national security is at stake as well. Extreme weather is already damaging our military‬
‭installations here in the States. And our economy is at risk. So we have to act.‬
‭Extreme weather disrupts supply chains, causing delays and shortages for consumers and‬
‭businesses.‬
‭Climate change is literally an existential threat to our nation and to the world.‬
‭So my message today is this: Since Congress is not acting as it should — and these guys here‬
‭are, but we’re not getting many Republican votes — this is an emergency. An emergency. And‬
‭I will — I will look at it that way.‬
I‭ said last week and I’ll say it again loud and clear: As President, I’ll use my executive powers to‬
‭combat climate — the climate crisis in the absence of congressional actions, notwithstanding‬
‭their incredible action. (Applause.)‬
‭In the coming days, my administration will announce the executive actions we have developed‬
‭to combat this emergency. We need to act.‬
‭But just take a look around: Right now, 100 million Americans are under heat alert — 100 million‬
‭Americans. Ninety communities across America set records for high temperatures just this‬
‭year, including here in New England as we speak.‬
‭And, by the way, records have been set in the Arctic and the Antarctic, with temperatures that‬
‭are just unbelievable, melting the permafrost. And it’s astounding the damage that’s being‬
‭done.‬
‭And this crisis impacts every aspect of our everyday life. That’s why today I’m making the‬
‭largest investment ever — $2.3 billion — to help communities across the country build‬
‭infrastructure that is designed to withstand the full range of disasters we’ve been seeing up to‬
‭today -– extreme heat, drought, flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes.‬
‭Right now, there are millions of people suffering from extreme heat at home. So my team is‬
‭also working with the states to deploy $385 million right now.‬
‭For the first time, states will be able to use federal funds to pay for air conditioners in homes, set‬
‭up community cooling centers in schools where people can get through these extreme heat‬
‭crises. And I mean people — and crises that are 100 to 117 degrees.‬
‭An Infrastructure Law that your members of Congress have delivered includes $3.1 billion to‬
‭weatherize homes and make them more energy efficient, which will lower energy cost while‬
‭keeping America cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and not using too much energy.‬
‭And my Department of Labor, led by a guy named Marty Walsh — (said in Boston accent) — he‬
‭talks funny, but he’s a hell of a guy. (Applause.) But all kidding aside, Marty was a great mayor,‬
‭and I know — I know he knows how to get a job done.‬
‭And he’s doing two things for me:‬
‭First of all, as Secretary of Labor, he’s developing the first-ever workplace standards for extreme‬
‭heat, saying, under these cond- — under these conditions, if it hits this pr- — you cannot do the‬
‭following — you cannot ask people to do a certain thing.‬
‭Second, he’s sending folks out from the Labor Department to make sure we hold workplaces‬
‭and — to those standards that are being set. They’ve already completed over 500 heat-related‬
‭inspections of workplaces across 43 states. At the end of the day, it’s going to save lives.‬
‭Now, let me tell you why we’re here at Brayton Point. Five years ago, this towering power plant‬
‭that once stood with cooling towers 500 feet high closed down. The coal plant at Brayton Point‬
‭was the largest of its kind in New England — 1,500 megawatts of power, enough to power one‬
‭in five Massachusetts homes and businesses.‬
‭For over 50 years, this plant supported this region’s economy through their electrici- — the‬
‭electricity they supplied, the good jobs they provided, and the local taxes they paid.‬
‭But the plant, like many others around the country, had another legacy: one of toxins, smog,‬
‭greenhouse gas emissions, the kind of pollution that contributed to the climate emergency we‬
‭now face today.‬
‭Gina McCarthy, a former regulator in Massachusetts, was telling me on the way up how folks‬
‭used to get a rag out and wipe the gunk off of their car’s windshields in the morning just to be‬
‭ ble to drive — not very much unlike where I grew up in a place called Claymont, Delaware —‬
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‭which has more oil refineries than Houston, Texas, had in its region — just across the line in‬
‭Pennsylvania. And all the prevailing winds were our way.‬

I‭ just lived up the road. I just — in an apartment complex when we moved to Delaware. And‬
‭just up the road was a little school I went to, Holy Rosary grade school. And because it was a‬
‭four-lane highway that was accessible, my mother drove us and — rather than us be able to‬
‭walk.‬

‭ nd guess what? The first frost, you knew what was happening. You had to put on your‬
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‭windshield wipers to get, literally, the oil slick off the window. That’s why I and so damn many‬
‭other people I grew up [with] have cancer and why can- — for the longest time, Delaware had‬
‭the highest cancer rate in the nation.‬
‭But that’s the past, and we’re going to get — we’re going to build a different future with one —‬
‭one with clean energy, good-paying jobs.‬
‭Just 15 years ago, America generated more than half its electricity from coal — coal-fired‬
‭plants. Today, that’s down to 20 percent because there’s a big transition happening.‬
‭Many of these fossil fuel plants are becoming sites for new clean energy construction. Others‬
‭are switching to new, clean technologies.‬
‭Look at Brayton Point. Today, Brayton is one of the frontiers — on the frontier of clean energy in‬
‭America. On this site, they’ll manufacture four hun- — 248 miles of high-tech, heavy-duty‬
‭cables. Those specialized, subsea cables are necessary to tie offshore wind farms to the‬
‭existing grid.‬
‭Manufacturing these cables will mean good-paying jobs for 250 workers — as many workers as‬
‭the old plant — power plant had at its peak.‬
‭And the port — (applause) — the port here, 34 feet deep, was used to carry coal into the power‬
‭plant. Now we’re going to use that same port to carry components of — for wind power into the‬
‭sea.‬
‭The converter station here and the substation nearby are the assets that move energy across‬
‭the power lines.‬
‭They’ll now move clean electricity generated offshore by the wind — (applause) — enough‬
‭power to power hundreds of thousands of homes onto the grid — putting old assets to work‬
‭delivering clean energy. This didn’t happen by accident. It happened because we believed and‬
‭invested in America’s innovation and ingenuity.‬
‭One of the companies investing in the factory here joined me at the White House this month.‬
‭Vineyard Winds, whose CEO told me about the ground-breaking project labor agreements‬
‭they’ve negotiated, would create good-paying union jobs. (Applause.)‬
‭And I want to compliment Congressman Bill Keating for his work in this area.‬
‭I’m also proud to point out that my administration approved the first commercial project for‬
‭offshore wind in America, which is being constructed by Vineyard Winds.‬
‭Folks, elsewhere in the country, we are pr- — we are propelling retrofits and ensuring that even‬
‭where fossil fuel plant retires, they still have a role in powering the future.‬
‭In Illinois, for example, the state has launched a broad effort to invest in converting old power‬
‭plants to solar farms, led by Governor Pritzker.‬
I‭n California, the IBEW members have helped turn a former oil plant into the world’s largest‬
‭battery storage facility — the world’s largest facility.‬
‭In Wyoming, innovators are chosen to — a retiring plant as the next site for the next-generation‬
‭nuclear plant.‬
‭And my administr- — my administration is a partner in that progress, driving federal resources‬
‭and funding to the communities that have powered this country for generations. And that’s why‬
‭they need to be taken care of as well.‬
‭I want to thank Cecil Roberts, a friend and President of United Mine Workers of America, and so‬
‭many other labor leaders who worked with — worked with on these initiatives.‬
‭Since I took office, we’ve invested more than $4 billion in federal funding to the 25 hardest-hit‬
‭coal communities in the country, from West Virginia, to Kentucky, to Wyoming, to New Mexico.‬
‭Through the Infrastructure Law, we’re investing in clean hydrogen, nuclear, and carbon capture‬
‭with the largest grid investment in American history.‬
‭We’ve secured $16 billion to clean up abandoned mines and wells, protecting thousands of‬
‭communities from toxins and waste, particularly methane. And we still — and we’re going to‬
‭seal leaking methane pollution — an incredibly power[ful] greenhouse gas that’s 40 times more‬
‭dangerous to the environment than carbon dioxide. (Applause.)‬
‭And, folks, with American leadership back on climate, I was able to bring more world leaders‬
‭together than — we got 100 nations together to agree that — at the major conference in‬
‭Glasgow, England — I mean, Scotland — to change the emissions policies we had.‬
‭We’ve made real progress, but there is an enormous task ahead. We have to keep retaining‬
‭and recruiting building trades and union electricians for jobs in wind, solar, hydrogen, nuclear,‬
‭creating even more and better jobs.‬
‭We have to revitalize communities, especially those fence-line communities that are smothered‬
‭by the legacy of pollution.‬
‭We have to outcompete China and in the world, and make these technologies here in the United‬
‭States — not have to import them.‬
‭Folks, when I think about climate change — and I’ve been saying this for three years — I think‬
‭jobs. Climate change, I think jobs. (Applause.)‬
‭Almost 100 wind turbines going up off the coasts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island with‬
‭ground broken and work underway.‬
‭Jobs manufacturing 2,500-ton steel foundations that anchor these offshore wind farms to the‬
‭sea’s floor. Jobs manufacturing a Jones Act vessel in Texas to service these offshore wind‬
‭farms.‬
‭We’re going to make sure that the ocean is open for the clean energy of our future, and‬
‭everything we can do — give a green light to wind power on the Atlantic coast, where my‬
‭predecessor’s actions only created confusion.‬
‭And today we begin the process to develop wind power in the Gulf of Mexico as well for the first‬
‭time. A real opportunity to power millions of additional homes from wind.‬
‭Let’s clear the way — let’s clear the way for clean energy and connect these projects to the grid.‬
‭I’ve directed my administration to clear every federal hurdle and streamline federal permitting‬
‭that brings these clean energy projects online right now and right away. And some of you have‬
‭already come up and talked to me about that. (Applause.)‬
‭ nd while so many governors and mayors have been strong partners in this fight to tackle‬
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‭climate change, we need all governors and mayors. We need public utility commissioners and‬
‭state agency heads. We need electric utilities and developers to stand up and be part of the‬
‭solution. Don’t be a road block. (Applause.)‬
‭You all have a duty right now to our economy, to our competitiveness in the world, to the young‬
‭people in this nation, and to future generations — and that sounds like hyperbole but it’s not; it’s‬
‭real — to act boldly on climate.‬
‭And so does Congress, which — notwithstanding the leadership of the men and women that are‬
‭here today — has failed in this duty. Not a single Republican in Congress stepped up to support‬
‭my climate plan. Not one.‬
‭So, let me be clear: Climate change is an emergency.‬
‭And in the coming weeks, I’m going to use the power I have as President to turn these words‬
‭into formal, official government actions through the appropriate proclamations, executive orders,‬
‭and regulatory power that a President possesses. (Applause.)‬
‭And when it comes to fighting the climate change — climate change, I will not take no for an‬
‭answer. I will do everything in my power to clean our air and water, protect our people’s health,‬
‭to win the clean energy future.‬
‭This, again, sounds like hyperbole, but our children and grandchildren are counting on us. Not‬
‭a joke. Not a joke.‬
‭If we don’t keep it below 1.5 degrees Centigrade, we lose it all. We don’t get to turn it around.‬
‭And the world is counting on us. And this is the United States of America. When we put our‬
‭hearts and minds to it, there’s not a single thing beyond our capacity — I mean it — when we‬
‭act together.‬
‭And of all things we should be acting together on, it’s climate. It’s climate.‬
‭And, by the way, my dear mother — God rest her soul — used to say, “Joey, out of everything‬
‭bad, something good will come if you look hard enough.” Look what’s happening. We’re going‬
‭to be able to create as many or more good-paying jobs. We’re going to make environments‬
‭where people live safer. We’re going to make the clean — the air safer. I really mean it. We‬
‭have an opportunity here.‬
‭I’ll bet you when you see what’s happened here in this cable construction here — manufacturing‬
‭— and you go back and ask all the people who grew up in this beautiful place what they’d rather‬
‭have: Do they want the plant back with everything it had, or what you’re going to have? I will be‬
‭dumbfounded if you find anybody, other than for pure sentimental reasons, saying, “I’d rather‬
‭have the coal plant.”‬
‭I’ll end by telling you another quick story. When we moved from Scranton — when coal died in‬
‭Scranton, everything died in Scranton. And my dad wasn’t a coal miner. My — my great — my‬
‭great-grandfather was a mining engineer. But my dad was in sales, and there was no work. So‬
‭we left to go down to Delaware, where I told you where those oil plants were.‬
‭But I remember driving home — when you take the trolley in Scranton, going out North‬
‭Washington and Adams Avenues. Within 15 blocks — we didn’t live in the neighborhood —‬
‭among the most prestigious neighborhood in the region, in the — in the town where the‬
‭Scrantons and other good, decent people lived, there was a pla- — you’d go by a wall that —‬
‭my recollection is it was somewhere between 15 and 18 feet tall. And it went for the —‬
‭essentially, a city block.‬
‭ nd you could see the coal piled up to the very top of the wall from inside. It was a coal-fired‬
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‭plant. A coal-fired plant. And all of that — all of the negative impacts of breathing that coal, the‬
‭dust were effecting everybody. But at the time, people didn’t know it and there wasn’t any‬
‭alternative.‬
‭Folks, we have no excuse now. We know it. There are answers for it. We can make things‬
‭better in terms of jobs. We can make things better in terms of the environment. We can make‬
‭things better for families overall. So I’m looking forward to this movement.‬
‭Thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.) May God bless you all. And may God protect‬
‭our troops. Thank you. (Applause.)‬
‭3:02 P.M. EDT‬