with what we are calling our energy/jobs. say jobs. importantly, 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 or adjustments in weather patterns, there is no doubt something is occurring. it is impacting our quality of fe. if you have ever traveled through union station, the wonderful union inscription aboe entrance. maybe you have or maybe you've @not. look looked at that inscription -- looked at that inscription. in the history of that technological advance was the invention or the creation of fire. fire as an enabler changed the trajectory of human beings. fire gay people a different way to prepare food, different way

to keep warm and if you studied humankind, the invention of fire also growth of human beings. the next gre was the invention of electricity. the ability to capture zm■electricity to impact the way people lived. we who have grown up in the 20th and 21st centuries have been great beneficiaries of that revolution. indeed, in this room, the electric lights. the air conditioning and heating systems. this ability 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 d enable. it's a serious technological advance. many technological advances that we have enjoyed have been enabled by electricity. imagine your home 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 byctelectricity has to be generd and created.

it has to be produced. the methodologies of producing electricity has changed and advanced with -- have changed in advance over human many inventie that., there is always a the challenge is to the modern world whether it be ehe internan engine or other things that have 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

, faith leaders, community leaders labor leaders and people are indeed grappling with how to ensure 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 to continue to be available to us in the 21st century and in a fashion that does not have sis. that is the challenge before us. i'd like to break it down -- hsometimes in the discussion about renewable energy, it can become scientific and esoteric. it can becomeon understand this. we are challengingtoday but we g

those in government, those in the private sector, those income decision-makers about this transition that wedemand to be . we want to be at the table to discuss, to participate, toe stakeholders and not only the decision making but the execution of this change. biden took on this challenge. he passed a blueprint bill which includes an 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 than the national urban league, urban league affiliates and the urban league movement to plconstructin this issue than we are. we are connected in 92 communities. we don't speakwe don't speak abs of color. we don't speak about americans left out of the economict. we represent that. that's our mission. that's our purpose. that's our reason foçyr being. when we are at the table, we come with authenticity, not with just studies and analysis but with a

weird does that leave us? it leads 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 broadly in this transition are jobs that require technical skills, that pay higher than the average american job, but also jobs where historically khmer een underrepresented. we hear here to take a step forward and accelerate our participation in this industry. secondly, businessortunity -- say business opportunity. we, as i said earlier are nottod

cannot close the wealth gap in this country unless we can build businesses owned by people of our scale. in this new industry, there are opportunities but we need open , we need access to capital, we need our young entrepreneurs to know they are not going to be standing outside with theiror that they will be f the glass participatingal■l of these discussions. this energy jobs convening is about all of that. i'm excited we want to thank all of our partners who are here today. let's give them all another round of applause. [applause] >> thank you for being here today.

moment, i will have the honor of introducing secretary jennifer granholm, the secretary ofesident's cabinet area she is a former governor of michigan and i will introduce her in a minute but before doing so, i pleasure of introducing duane pickett. please don't get confused. duane is not a brother of the late great wilson pickett. [laughter] >> they share the same name and i don't know if duane wants to be called duane wickett pickett but if as -- to the grammys. 1 [laughter] >> this gentleman is vice president of clean hydrogen market development at constellation. he is working at constellation to develop their■t participation

in clean energy solutions, marketplace initiatives. his mission is to help customers communities meet their decarbonization goals in combat, if you will, the changes that take place by switching to the use of clean hydrogen. all of you michigan■, duane graduated from -- with honors from the ohio state university. [applause] >> proud buckeye but today, he is in urban league her. ladies and gentlemen, duane >> all right. i 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. i welcome your challenge, the challenge of all of us to be part of bringing the opportunity to the table especially for black americans. the constellation is one of the leading clean energy companies. weetwe are doing it while also creating sustainable, diverse workforce communities we serve. that's an important part of our mission and one of the things we are doing that we are proud of is our 1.20 $5 million investment ia program called powering change. this program in partnership with the national urban leagu w have -- the national urban league has put 1600 people, 1600 people living wage apprenticeship jobs.

[applause] >> we are working with the urban we are working with the urban league in springfield, illinois and all over the place. i'm struck by comments earlier toda mr. harris on the panel where he said many hands make light work. constellation and the urban league is a strong partnership. through that partnership come we are doing the training and earningt future. i will make it my life's mission to do that. i appreciate your rematoday, i'e honor of introducing someone who's been doing this work on justice, thejobs and honorable and remarkable united states department of energy secretary jennifer granholm. around of applause.

>> a be part of the work she is doing to make hydrogen part of the clean energy future and everything she is doing is holding us and industry and society accountable to make sure those benefits are borne by all. s important work and we are doing it with intentionality at the front of it. there was some conversation early today about the impact of pollution on black communities. when you think about global from industries like aviation or steelmaking, those pollutions tend to sit where they are. you're mak pollution and you'vet particulate matters that sit there. it's been proven to lead to things like asthma, copd, lung cancer. there was a comment earlier

today in the first panel. i think mr. thompson said ask americans the number one reasons african-americans are missing class. i was struck by that. my mom and dad have asthma. there it's all around the black community. too often, we are facinghei apps today. now is the time for us to address industrialized pollution. nois you 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 constellation, we are proud

to be one of the seven companies selected by the government to produce hydrogen in su part of n investment that will go towards our lasalle clean energy center where we make hydrogen thewe win there. 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 benefitsrepresented communities. you can applaud that. [applause] >> it's a requirement but we are proud to do itake it our mission. all of this conversation about opportunity, i've been thinking about my grandfather. my grandfather used to tell me a story about when he came from back from vietnam, he was jobless and had kids and needed something to do to protect h■is family. his mom told me, go down the

street, campbell soup is hiring. he goes to leaves the house and wait, put on your dad's suit and tie. he puts in on it thousand walked down the street and sees a long line in and of campbell's soup 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 and tie, you want to be a foreman? just like that in that single moment, opportunity. that opportunity lifted two generations in my family out of poverty. [applause] >> he would go on and get a house and we all live in that 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. a carpet cleaning company that i started at my

youth and that opportunity can lift people. that's why this hydrogen that is why this hydrogen opportunity, the collaboration 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,hose who suffered the most are first to benefit. i agree. on behalf the consolation, 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 himund of appl. 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. it's without any delay and with great pride and pleasure that i present to you the 16th, 18 secretary they didn't -- for the united states of america, jennifer has a 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, 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 modern and has brought energy, political acumen and great advocacy to the the urban league is proud to welcome the secretary of energy, jennifer granholm. use] sec. granholm: thank you so much. it alw happy when someone refers to judge keith because in your formation, you've got a lot of mentors that you go through life, but judge keith, used to claim him as my father in michigan, and he used toall hand it is not just thats

being infused with the values of judge keith every day. thank you for doing that. duane, go blue,hat' going to say. i appreciate hearing your remarks and the promise of the hydrogen hubs, very excited about it. the national urban league, you were founded■o in■# 1910, the beginning of the second industrial revolution and the whole point was to make sure that black americansy to be trae 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 energy and if you can imagine this, it has

been estimated that globally, the products that will get all of these to get to net zero by 2050 which is what they have all pledged to do is going to be a $23 trillion global economic opportunity and the question is, who was going to take advantage of that? i am so happy to say that your country is going for it. 7zlet me just share a few numbes on this because it is so important. since president biden took office -- we will get some new numbers but since he took office, 14.8 million jobs created, the largest jobs 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 theemployment rate on rec. it is the strongest economic recovery advanced economies. among black americans, a 60 percent wealth increase relative to pre-p, the largest increase on record. you might ask, why is this happening? it is not coincidence. it is not luck. it is the result of a focused strategic plan and that plan from president biden is using a 21st century industrial sat mano america after all these years of off shoring, to list -- lift

knees to bring future facing good jobs to workers in every pocket of america. cy1wjust in my column of thingsn the energy space, since the passage of the inflation reduction act and the bipartisan infrastructure law, there has been 500 factories that have announced they are coming to or expanding in america to builde . 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 his focus on building a clean economy for the future is about making america the year is a system a nation for investment. all of these countries are

looking to do hydrogen. t 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. o country has got that going on. we are the envy -- i meet with all of energy ministers from other countries and they all say things like oh my god, you guys are so far ahead. we are so envious. don't get envious,etyou guys ca. there is enough to go around. in■ this re-upping of an industrial revolution, investor revolution, we want to make sure 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 behind. how are we doing this? i know you are well aware, you are a great spokesperson on this. the communities that have been on the forefront lot of fossil investments are the ones that are suffering the greatest. was visiting cancer alley in louisiana, the river perishes -- the river paris%yhes, these big refineries have gone up. 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 sides by a refinery and you can't move graveyards in■& l the graveyard was downed by the refinery, you had to get permison to travel■to go see your loved ones in this gravesite. mr. 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 when he passes, whether he will be on top of his father or his grandfather. i say this just this notion is not just of the dead but the living. who have been to the particulate matter, the asthma rates, the cancer rates.

what can we do? about writing that wrong? -- righting that wrg0ong?one ofs been embedded in all the funding coming out for all of these projects is that if you are vying for funding from the partmenergy, you have to write up a community benefits plan and you have to commit to benefiting theking about, about the large proportion of the community that will benefit. it has toncwhat is the benefit , the benefit for local businesses? "varound these particular hubs r projects. we are trying to embed structural equity into a system that has been structurally inequitable and it's not just

the community benefits plan, but its way these tax incentives have been structured. for example, say that you want -- are a community solar developer. if you locate your project in a community, you get extra credit, extra tax credits. if you have apprenticeship programs and pay a prevailing wage, you get extra credit. if you use american-made solar palsthese are all stackable. you can get up to 50 -- 50% to 70% as a tax credit of this investment. that is huge. 50% to 70%. that is irresistible. that is going to drive equity

throughout the system. it's not■ just solar, a whole bunch of different types of projects. you might ask, the inflation reduction act place for some time and what are the results? is it working? come to find out, studies were released at the beginning of this year show that there has been two times theú" investmentn disadvantaged communities relative to their size compared to other regions. so folks, it is working. its hich is really gratifying. the tax credits are doing the work which is really great. our community benefits plan, in addition to the hydrogen hubs, talkingbi we just also awarded a louisiana proposal from their department of natural resources hubs

for energy resilient operations or hero. $250 million they got to invest and 285 micro bids around louisiana because of course louisiana has fortunately been harmed by hurricanes and this gives them resilience. as a condition of receiving the funding, louisiana committed to program, it hundred 75 people will graduate from apprenticeship programs by 2030, 20 5% of the contracting has to be for disadvantaged businesses from their community benefits planted to including apprenticeship programs in the contracting . this to me is where i think a partnership with the ergot -- urban league comes in because as you s

speaking to people and making sure everyday citizens, jbusines are aware of what is coming down the pipe. super important to have voices from the community and who the communitys to be able to do this. for example we have billions of dollars that will be going 2up through the states to citizens who want to get energy-efficient appliances. if you want to install fficient stoves or heat pumps, you can get thousands of dollars of tax credits. that's all going to be coming through the states. all 50 states will get lots of money to be able to do this. citizens need to know about÷q it and not every state is going to be as vocal as others, so

partnering on telling people in addition to helping to figure out the training component for the hubs, these other big developers, a huge opportunity forese things, so i appreciate the potential for that partnership. want to say about the pipeline of workers that we are seeking, because of all these jobs being created, we have been giving hundreds of hbcu's for the science, technology, and math jobs that will be created in this energy space. super important. we are excited about that. we are funding these industrial assessment cenrs and community colleges to get young people to know how to assessommercia foots which is exciting work that leads them fully into this whole space, millions of dolle stratey

which is very holistic from research to development to demonstrations to early-stage deployments, full on■ e this iny revolution, from the department of energy and we are very excited about it. i feel so fortunate to be in this position right now because of my■@■b boss who is committedd the resources that we have, and the way this train is moving, thishat we've got. we are in the middle of this period of history and sometimes when youhistory, it is hard to l because you may not be aware. for those who are in this energy space, you are going to look will be able to tell your grandchildren that you were there when this whole new industrial revolution happened.

■ç//nothing is a given. we've got to hold onto the game. the fight is not over. i'm glad to be in a room full of warriors because we must let our foot off of the accelerator, and in that battle, in the i will close with this because some of you may have heard nancy pelosi say at one point, where she went to visit a bishop in south africa and on their wall was a prayer. when at 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 worth fighting fomay we all bear the scars from fighting for communities of volution. i'm so glad to be in the fight with you all. [applause] ♪ qp■■+