by Brianna Crandall — January 15, 2014—Vice President Joe Biden joined New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on January 7 for the unveiling of “Reimagining New York for a New Reality,” a $17 billion strategy that will transform New York’s infrastructure, transportation networks, energy supply, coastal protection, weather warning system, and emergency management to better protect New Yorkers from future extreme weather.
“The new reality in New York is we are getting hit by 100 year storms every couple of years. We have to wake up to that new reality by completely reimagining our state to be ready for any future disaster,” said Governor Cuomo. “Our plan completely transforms the way we build and protect our infrastructure, safeguard our energy supply, prepare our citizens and first responders, and provide fuel and electricity. I want to thank Vice President Biden for being here today to support our efforts to reimagine New York and for supporting our state throughout the Sandy recovery process.”
Vice President Biden commended Governor Cuomo’s innovative storm plan as what New York needs now and as a model to other states for future prevention and recovery efforts. New York has suffered nine presidentially declared disasters in the three years since Governor Cuomo took office. A key theme of the state’s rebuilding program is that extreme weather is a new reality.
New York reportedly presents special challenges in protecting its critical systems and infrastructure. Much of the critical infrastructure in New York City —transit and electric systems in particular—is built underground and is susceptible to seawater. On Long Island, communities, power systems, wastewater systems, and fuel terminals are built along the coastline. In Upstate New York, communities and infrastructure are often built along waterways vulnerable to increasingly severe flooding.
The state is using its share of federal funds appropriated for storms Sandy, Irene and Lee (along with state funds) to implement this far-reaching program, which includes:
- Building the most advanced weather detection system in the nation, with 125 interconnected weather stations to provide real-time warnings of local extreme weather and flood conditions;
- Launching the nation’s first College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity;
- Replacing and repairing 104 older bridges at risk due to increasing flooding;
- Implementing the largest reconstruction of the state’s transit system in 110 years with $5 billion of federal funds;
- Creating a statewide Strategic Fuel Reserve, and statewide gas station back-up power on critical routes throughout the state;
- Hardening the state’s electric grid and creating 10 “microgrids” (independent community-based electric distributions systems);
- Building new natural infrastructure to protect the New York’s coastline, and provide advanced flood control for inland waterways;
- Training a new Citizen First Responder Corps to make New York residents the best prepared in the nation to deal with emergencies and disasters;
- Expanding the $650 million NY Rising Community Reconstruction program to allow 124 communities around the state to create their own individualized storm resilience plans; and
- Issuing special license plates for first responders.
The complete press conference detailing the governor’s plans is available on a video from the New York Web site, as is a detailed press release.
