The Port of Albany needs $29.5 million.

Its $357 million offshore wind manufacturing project has a $29.5 million budget gap after port officials announced they rescinded their application for the U.S. Department of Transportation award.

The funding was promised to the port last December to complete a historic offshore wind manufacturing site planned for Beacon Island, which the port owns along the Hudson River. Four new buildings, a wharf, bridge and internal roadways will be constructed.

The U.S. Maritime Administration had been reviewing its commitment to give the port the $29.5 million grant, putting the funding in jeopardy as first reported by Spectrum News 1, after contractors improperly cleared trees on the port's 80-acre site this spring without securing all the required federal environmental assessments and permits.

"The only reason we did turn this down was just for timing in order to get the project moving and continue with all the environmental reviews," Port of Albany CEO Rich Hendrick told Capital Tonight on Thursday.

Work ceased in April after the port's mishap — coming under fire from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for clearing the vegetation while neglecting a review process mandated under the National Environmental Policy Act.

The Maritime Administration would not comment on its probe or if it recommended the port withdraw its application.

"We don't have information back on that review and that was a part of the decision related to this, in that we need to get going," Port of Albany Chief Commerce Officer Megan Daly said Thursday. "We're looking to be back on site before we have a New York winter."

She added the Maritime Administration's time frame did not coincide with the port's timeline to keep the project on track.

Port officials expect site work to resume in the beginning of November.

Manufacturing is expected to start by early 2024.

Pulling out of the chance for the federal award will allow more time for ongoing state and federal reviews for the project's various pending permits legally needed to do the work.

Federal funding will not be part of the Port of Albany's major offshore wind manufacturing project — now or in the future.

"I don't expect that this project will reapply for federal funding," Daly said. "I think the time frame just does not marry up."

A group of local residents has filed a lawsuit requesting an additional public hearing about the Beacon Island project. They say residents were not properly notified about the proposal and 2 million tons of fly ash, a byproduct of burned coal dumped there several decades back, remains on the site.

"What we keep saying is, right project, wrong site," said Sylvia Rowlands, a Glenmont resident who is part of Article 78 filing. "It is the site that we're about that is absolutely it, not the project." 

They're concerned about toxic metals in the ash impacting the Hudson River and surrounding ecosystem.

"All of those heavy metals are super neurotoins, and it takes years for them to build up to full toxicity," Rowlands said. "For example, it takes arsenic 78 years before it's really toxic to the environment, and down there, we're hitting about year 65 to70 right now."

Thousands of pages of documents and evidence continues to be submitted in the pending case. The ongoing suit had no impact on the $29.5 million award.

The offshore wind project will go on as planned without the federal dollars.

The port had not received any payment of the federal grant, and is in discussion with its partners about how to fill the budget gap and keep the project timeline on track.

The state Energy Research & Development Authority, or NYSERDA, budgeted $40 million to support the offshore wind tower manufacturing facility at the Port of Albany last year, according to the department.

The federal funding allocated for the Port of Albany offshore wind tower manufacturing facility is independent from NYSERDA’s $40 million award and has no impact on the state’s commitment to this project, a spokesperson with Gov. Kathy Hochul's office said Thursday.

"As New York state continues to scale clean, renewable energy, we continue to monitor and support the responsible development of this offshore wind manufacturing facility, which will bolster the region’s economy and meet New York state’s ambitious climate goals," according to the governor's office spokesperson. "The federal funding allocated for the Port of Albany offshore wind tower manufacturing facility is independent from NYSERDA’s $40 million award and has no impact on the state’s commitment to this project which will help bring clean energy to our electric grid, create jobs and provide significant economic benefits."

The state award is contingent upon the completion of the state's environmental review, and will be paid in two payments of $20 million.

It's unclear how long the EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers and state Department of Environmental Conservation will take to review the project's pending permit applications. 

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed colleagues in Washington, including U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to give the grant to the Port of Albany.

“Sen. Schumer was proud to deliver this federal grant to the Port of Albany to develop offshore wind projects and make Albany a hub in the supply chain for those projects," Schumer's spokeswoman Allison Biasotti said in a statement. "Though the Port will withdraw its application, Sen. Schumer will continue to fight to secure good-paying, clean-energy jobs in the Capital Region and to combat climate change, including passing the historic Inflation Reduction Act— the largest climate and clean energy investment in history, including wind production tax credits– that will provide new wind in the sails and make this Albany project a success.”