Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces 11 New Certified Climate Smart Communities

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the latest round of communities to achieve certification as part of New York State's Climate Smart Communities program, which supports local efforts to meet the economic, social, and environmental challenges posed by climate change. By taking meaningful steps to mitigate and adapt to climate change, 11 local governments met the criteria to be recognized as leaders for the first time. Additionally, three communities already in the program recertified and increased the number of certification points earned during the most recent round of review. Finally, Erie County ascended to the silver level.

The actions announced today during Climate Week 2021 support New York's ambitious goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent by 2050, as outlined in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, or CLCPA. The announcement was made in the city of Glens Falls, which achieved bronze-level Climate Smart certification.

VIDEO of the Governor's remarks is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.

PHOTOS will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

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

Thank you, Maureen. And first of all, happy Climate Week, everybody. You still know it's Climate Week, right? Well, I wanted to wrap up our announcements in Climate Week. We announced some really significant initiatives over the last five days. I wanted to do that right here in this community. This is a community I've come to know and love. I think you know that since I've been Lieutenant Governor, I've been here so many times, everyone's threatening to start charging me property taxes. So I've been here to announce some major improvements to our civic center, to talk about our local sports teams, to announce the Downtown Revitalization Initiative and to now see some of the fruits of this visionary concept that all of you worked so hard on to get over the finish line. And I was at the SUNY Adirondack Culinary School, for example, announcing their great work as well.

So I want to thank this community for believing in itself. It makes it easy for us to support your initiatives because these are all driven by leaders like our great mayor, Dan Hall, who's been a tremendous partner of ours. Let's give them the mayor a round of applause. And Jeffrey Flagg, you'll be hearing from in a couple of minutes, they always need a great director of economic development. I know this from my 18 years as a local government official, it happens because of great people like Jeffrey. So thank you to you and your team, Jeffrey. Let's give him a round of applause as well.

Our team at DEC is second to none. I do want to acknowledge our fabulous leader Basil Seggos, who can't be with us here today, but he's been running all over the state trying to catch up with me as we make these great announcements. And his chief of staff, Sean Mahar, is here. I want to thank Sean. Your team is amazing. And Maureen, thank you for what you're doing as the director of Office of Climate Change. There was a time when people, picture 10 years ago, why do you need an Office of Climate Change? She has to be one of the busiest people in our state trying to fight the ravages of mother nature and response to mankind's assault on her for so long.

And I feel like it's payback time. She starting to get even with us for all the things we've done to not honor her, but to actually destroy some of the most beautiful resources, our air and water, and this incredible place in our state that we have to continue to protect. So that's why we're calling on our local governments. This is where the ideas percolate, they come forward, you get the community support. And I've served at all levels, we told you, but there's nothing like being a local government official because you can have a direct impact on the quality of life, of your community and your friends in the community more than you can any other level of governance.

So to all the elected officials, who'll be recognized, I want to thank you for first of all, running for office. I know it's not always the easiest thing to do, but I thank you for being willing to put yourself forward to be a true public servant. And you can count on my hand in friendship, because I've been in your shoes, I've been in your chairs and I know what it's like sometimes when you feel like big, bad, Albany is telling you what to do. Well, this time you've got friends in Albany, and I want to make sure that that's reinforced.

Before I get onto this great announcement, I do want to thank this community for making such tremendous progress on getting people vaccinated. There is only one way we are through this pandemic, and that is people getting vaccinated. And you, Warren County, is almost 80 percent fully vaccinated, over 18, that's incredible. That's higher than the state average. Your infection rate is 2.6. Little higher than I want, but you're doing pretty good compared to some other areas, and I want to thank you for continuing to be vigilant and encouraging people, our teachers, our healthcare workers. Support the ones who are vaccinated. All those who've already been vaccinated do what they know is right to protect the people that are entrusted in their care when they are sick. I want you to make sure you thank thempersonally from me for making sure that we can continue to deliver quality health care in our state because they have done the right thing by getting vaccinated.

But here we're here to celebrate. We celebrate a milestone, something that you achieved. Glens Falls is now one of 11 newly certified Climate Smart communities. That's quite a designation. Thank you.

And as you heard from Maureen, we're trying to give more recognition to the efforts in some communities that are underway already, but also share ideas with the rest of the communities and what they could also be doing to be part of our climate solution. So we're supporting municipalities that are the foremost leaders in reducing emissions and working to transition to clean, renewable energy at the local level, and Glens Falls, you've taken strong steps to go green, reduce pollution and improve the quality of life.

Energy audits for your municipal buildings - I wish we had this when I was a local official. Nobody had thought of this. They didn't realize how many missions are discharged from our government buildings that we have control over. This is something that we have a responsibility to take care of and reduce, greening the municipal fleet, two new electric vehicles. This is the future, my friends. We are all going to have electric vehicles by the year 2035. We declared that a couple of weeks ago. It's bold. We and California representing 58 million Americans are going to make sure that we lead the way, and communities like this that have already started with new electric vehicles for the building of the code departments are part of that story. So thank you.

You also are implementing a residential organic waste program which is fantastic as well as hosting farmer's markets where, I'm a big fan of farmer's markets if you follow my social media, I hit a couple quite far from here, but I do it for fun. But I also do it to promote our local farmers and to support those that are particularly creating organic produce for us and making sure that we have healthy food for our children at our dinner table. So thank you to everyone involved in the farmer's markets.

You're also incorporating green planning and infrastructure in bicycle and walking. I try to ride my bike as often as I can. It's interesting. I ride along the Niagara River in Buffalo sometimes early in the morning and I have a chance to think about how majestic this is and all the beautiful places we have that look so different. Instead of driving by in a car, you actually explore them on foot or on bicycle. We want to do more to encourage that.

Also these electric vehicles aren't going very far if we don't have more electrical vehicle charging stations, right?

There's an anxiety that people say, well, I'll get there, but then I'm going to be stuck. And we announced last year a very, very bold plan where we'll have charging stations every 75 miles in our state and we're going to get that done so you never have to worry, as well as developing the technology so you can literally go well over 200 miles on a single charge. We're getting there, my friends, and that is the future. But the future is just around the corner. We're not talking 20, 30 years down the road. You also completed a climate vulnerability assessment, hope things aren't too vulnerable, Mayor. I'm not sure what you have in that plan, but at least you're prepared.

Streetlights. Who thought about streetlights being part of the solution? They can be more efficient to our turnkey streetlight program sponsored by our Power Authority, as well as developing multiple use trails in partnership with Warren County, the towns of Queensbury, Lake George, and the village of Lake George, all that connection. This is great. You just wonder, why didn't people think of this before? I mean, this makes so much sense, connecting these beautiful communities with trails so people can be outdoors. And I do believe that's one of the takeaways from the pandemic. People appreciate it, just being outside, where they could breathe and take the mask off once in a while. And for the community like this, to respond by giving them even better trails and connections to other towns is really forward thinking. I want to commend them.

So, with this certification, Glens Falls joins elite list of 81 certified climate smart communities, including Warren County, which was certified last year. Let's hear it for Warren County, too.

Since we launched this, this is exciting to me, we now have 345 climate smart communities across the state, representing 9.4 million New Yorkers. That's how you make a difference is that critical mass and all of you, who've been part of this. You're inspiring others. I want them to follow your lead in this. Instead of just being nation leading, we want to be global leading. I want people to look at this state and say, they're the ones who got it right. We are the birthplace of the environmental movement. We are the place of Love Canal, where I grew up, not that far down the road from Love Canal. You heard Maureen talk about the environment where I grew up in Buffalo. My friends, you could not see a sky like this because it was this cloud of orange smoke that was spewing out of the smokestacks was all we knew. And then the lake that one of the most beautiful freshwater lakes in the world, Lake Erie, one of the great lakes, we just watched the pollution be dumped into it, literally every single night and yet we still breathed that air. And we swam in that lake. And that's just when I was a child.

We've made tremendous progress, but we know we have even more to go. We have to do that. So that's why Glens Falls being named a climate smart community is a huge step in that right direction. And to all of you who love this community, you cherish it, you represent it, I thank you for being so forward thinking and being part of our energy solution. Your children and grandchildren will thank you for what you're doing. And I will as well. Thank you, my friends.