Al Samuels doesn”™t mince words. The Rockland Business Association”™s president can get proactively forthright at times.
When Entergy came to present its solution to Hudson River cooling woes at its Indian Point nuclear facility to RBA members, Samuels didn”™t express an opinion about their project. But he did let the audience know that Rockland is behind the eight-ball when it comes to bringing in green-tech industry, “something we can”™t afford to do if we want to keep a solid business base here in the county.
“We need to bring these high-paying green-based industry jobs down into the southern portion of the Hudson Valley,” Samuels told RBA members in May. “We”™ve fallen behind in this area. These are the businesses that pay high wages and are needed to keep this county going. We”™re welcoming Alteris Renewables into New City (the company recently bought out ISI Solar), but there is much more we can do to make Rockland attractive to these businesses.”
With Pfizer cutting hundreds of jobs over the next two years, Samuels said Ron Hicks, the county development chief, has already started working on filling that empty space in the Pearl River headquarters, focusing on green-tech companies. “We are in a perfect physical location for this industry, and we have to do more to attract them here,” he said. “If this is the future, we had better climb on board or be left behind.”
To that end, the RBA will host a half-day info-session about bringing solar and renewable energy business to Rockland on Thursday, June 10, at Rockland Community College”™s Ellipse.
Carl Meyer, former executive vice president at Central Hudson and now head of The Solar Energy Consortium in Ulster County, will lead the panel discussion that will include Jim Albert, executive director for Alteris Renewables (formerly ISI Solar); Ronald Hicks, president of Rockland County Economic Development Corp; Bruce Kaminstein, owner, Casabella; and Howard Gurock of Eco Lite Products.
Michael Shilale, chairman of the RBA”™s Green Council, told HVBiz at Alteris”™ ribbon cutting, “Rockland needs to get on board this industry; the construction market has slowed, but we are going to see these technologies used more and more in new construction. We need the companies to be here in Rockland to keep us economically stable.”
Thom Kleiner, former supervisor of Orangetown and now Hudson Valley regional director for the New York State Department of Labor, agrees, saying solar and renewable energy will play a “major role in the revival of the Hudson Valley”™s economy.”
Albert has already gotten the ball rolling for future green-tech engineers by working on a renewable energy program with Rockland-BOCES to have students take vo-tech courses in solar energy at his New City offices. “We need to give our work force of the future an opportunity to learn a technology that will become a standard in the future,” said the former owner of ISI Solar, who sold his company to Alteris in May. “We need to be training the next generation to have expertise in this field. It is not a ”˜buy in local chain store”™ industry. You need to be trained to work with the nuts and bolts of renewable energy products and with electricity, a very high-tech field.”
Samuels wants to be sure RBA members ”“ as well as the county”™s local planning and zoning boards ”“ are on the same wavelength when it comes to welcoming the industry. Several cities and villages already have renewable energy buildings and retrofitting jobs in the state”™s pipeline and are waiting for the New York State budget to be enacted.
“Renewable energy and its affiliated businesses are helping Ulster and Dutchess build their economies,” said Samuels. “There”™s no reason why we can”™t attract this business here to Rockland. We are ideally situated between New York City, Fairfield County, Connecticut and Bergen County, New Jersey. It”™s time for us to turn serious attention to this industry and get it established. We have fallen behind in this area. Now, with the departure of more employees from Pfizer, it”™s critical for us to find a sustainable base for our economy and not put all our eggs in one basket.”
The June 10 “Green Jobs-Why Should We Care?” forum at RCC begins with 8 a.m. registration and an opportunity to visit with some of the renewable energy vendors already established in the county or thinking of relocating or opening a secondary site. The program runs until 12:30 p.m.
For more information, visit rocklandbusiness.org
