UD/TDC Update: UD, Alan Levin And Jack Markell Get A Taste Of People Power. Thank You Willett Kempton!

 

 (Amy Roe image Willett Kempton and John Kowalko)

WOW,  Jonathan Starkey tweeted this today ~ From @GovernorMarkell on data center: "The way it works is you don't put every new development up to a public vote." 

 With comment rescues ~

- I have elderly neighbors who have lived here 50 years and they are a wreck from all of this controversy. The people of Newark are being vilified by their own government for not wanting this monstrosity in, literally, their backyard. This company has built nothing- nada. They are a bunch of IT guys who plan on moving on from state to state and making millions, while the people of Newark are going to be subjected to whatever they choose to leave behind. None of the people who signed that petition believe what was told at the meeting that TDC presented. The noise will be nothing more than a conversation - a 24//7 conversation for the rest of our lives! For our government to plot behind our backs and then expect us to swallow this whole thing is a disgrace! Yes we are going to continue to protest, that is what our forefathers did and that is our right as citizens, since no one else in this state is doing it for us. We have had Bloom and Fisker shoved down our throats and now Markell wants to give an unknown entity another $7.50 million and states we are $55 million short on our budget this year. He was asked on WDEL the other day how many of these data centers has this company built - his answer I don't know. Yes, you do - NONE! I, frankly, have had enough!

- In those 2011 planning commission zoning notes the hypothetical, allowable power generation example was for an IKEA store backup generator, not anything remotely close to the scale of this proposed project. 

- Excellent reporting! A fossil fuel power plant should NEVER be located this close to homes, schools and playgrounds. The UofD plans to locate their nursing school on this same campus, within yards of this powerplant! As a parent of a UofD student, I am extremely concerned about my daughter's health while she is attending college.

• A comparison of greenhouse gas emissions
• A look at the proposed Wolf Technology Center

Here's (News Journal) Melissa Nann Burke and Wade Malcom's fantastic must-read report ~ Contention churns on over data center plan - "The conflict has pitted local officials against the state, residents against the university, and envi­ronmentalists against en­ergy- hungry “Big Data.”

 “The way it works is you don’t put every new development up to a public vote,” Gov. Jack Markell said last week. “This is why you have environmental regulations, and this is why you have land-use regulations.” Residents remain determined, collecting more than 900 petition signatures, holding protests and pressuring public officials to stop the project. Many of the estimated 5,560 residents within a mile of the site fear the data center’s 248-megawatt, gas-fired plant poses a threat to their health, property values and quality of life. The facility would rank among Delaware’s top 10 emitters of greenhouse gases, even if the company captures the bulk of its carbon output, according to a News Journal analysis of data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

.........Markell and a top adviser say the community is gambling not just 340 new jobs – 290 full time – but Delaware’s ability to attract future economic-development opportunities.“Newark or any place that shoots this down could get a reputation,” said Alan Levin, Markell’s economic development director. “When you say, ‘I like this, but I don’t like that,’ it becomes very difficult for economic development. It becomes purely subjective.”........The project has spotlighted Newark’s inability to control what the University of Delaware does with its property. Roughly 40 percent of Newark’s footprint is university land, and UD has historically argued its state charter exempts it from local zoning restrictions, including Newark’s..........“You’re talking about add­ing 20 per­cent to the power generation capaci­ty to the whole state,” said UD professor Willett Kempton, who studies the electric system, including generation. “You could run five Newarks on this single power plant.”........The company chose Newark because the site was zoned for their pur­poses

.........“The American utility system is very high relia­bility, especially com­pared to the rest of the world, at 99-plus percent. The problem with these types of loads is that data centers don’t believe that’s good enough.” Project opponents question why the compa­ny needs to generate its own power when Wolf could tie into three elec­tric feeds at the property. “It’s highly unlikely that all three of those would go down at once,” Kempton said. “Each one provides 180 megawatts, and that’s enough to run all your IT equipment and all your air conditioning, without building your own power plant. The state­ment that it’s not reliable, is not credible to power professionals."

The monkey wrench? City of Newark Council members voted Monday to exert oversight over any TDC power purchase agreement ~

The Data Centers is ne­gotiating an agreement to sell 50 megawatts to the Delaware Electric Muni­cipal Cooperative........ The power deal with DEMEC is a “critical” piece for investors con­sidering the project, ac­cording to Levin of DE­DO. “That’s the biggest con­dition predicating their ability to get funding,” he said. “It’s the only way their model works.” ........“I just want to move the discussion into a pub­lic forum, rather than al­lowing this to move for­ward behind closed doors,” Councilman Mark Morehead said. City Council has been looking into how The Data Centers’ business model could affect Newark’s ex­clusive right under its charter to provide elec­tric utility services within city limits, Morehead said.

.........The potential for pow­er generation also came up during a meeting of the Newark Planning Com­mission when it reviewed details of a special zoning district for the STAR Campus in 2011, accord­ing to meeting minutes. Commissioners dis­cussed a hypothetical sce­nario involving an on-site generation system – wind, electric and even nuclear power. Then-Planning Di­rector Roy Lopata said it would be permitted. The commissioners ultimate­ly recommended the zon­ing language to Council, which unanimously adopted it into the city code last year. “What was missing from the discussion was a concept of scale,” said Councilman Doug Tuttle, whose dis­trict in­cludes the STAR Cam­pus. “Frank­ly, we may not have paid as much atten­tion as you might think.”

The UD says it's got the right to be whatever it feels like whenever it serves any which way it wants to lean ~

 [Residents] say [a fossil-fuel-burning plant] is inconsistent with the educational and sustainable vision for the STAR Campus. UD, however, never in­tended STAR to be a tradi­tional extension of its aca­demic campus. The school paid $24.2 million cash for the former assembly plant in 2009 and is recruiting outside entities to fund all construction on the site. “Our resources will not be reinvested into this site,”

Digital recordings of last Tuesday's Town Hall meeting and the September 23rd Newark City Council meeting will be posted soon - look for them online.

No Newark Power Plant reports ~ Newark City Council takes first stand on power plant

Newark City Council members used uncharacteristically strong language at the Monday, September 23, 2013 City Council Meeting about the steps taken by city staff to support a 248MW natural gas fired power plant on the University of Delaware’s STAR Campus, which is just a few hundred feet from homes and city parks.
“This process was done incorrectly” echoed several Council members who made a decision at the meeting that all purchased power agreements (PPA) should be brought before City Council in the future.   This decision was met with applause from the full house of residents at the meeting.
City Council’s direct oversight over The Data Centers LLC’s PPA with Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation (DEMEC) is the City Council’s first stand on the power plant issue.
Delaware’s nine municipalities that participate in the DEMEC are exempted from oversight by the Public Service Commission.  Instead, it is the responsibility of City Council to oversee utility affairs.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, Newark resident Amy Roe learned that DEMEC sent a letter of intent with The Data Centers LLC in December 2012 to purchase 60 MW of power from the facility.  DEMEC later advised the City Manager by email that City Council approval was not required for the project.  This information was presented at the City Council meeting on July 22, and again on September 23 by Dr. Roe, accompanied by a plea for City Council to exercise their responsibility to oversee utility decisions.

• December 17, 2012 DEMEC Letter of Intent
• June 21, 2013 email from DEMEC
• July 22, 2013 City Council Minutes, see pages 1-3

Several members of the public also spoke at the City Council meeting about the need for City Council to take action.  Nancy Willing asked about the legislative intent of the Council’s decision to adopt STC zoning rules for the STAR Campus in March 2012.  Jen Wallace asked specific questions about the contract between the City and the University for electricity sales, and Rob Gifford pointed out serious errors in the City’s confidentiality agreement with The Data Centers LLC in July 2012.  Beth Sheridan of Arbour Park asked Council to be proactive on the power plant issue.
During his statement about the project, Councilman Mark Morehead (District 1) described his concern about how the decisions of a small number of people (meaning city staff) have been a direct threat to our way of government.
Councilman Doug Tuttle (District 3) spoke about his concern about the proximity to his neighbors on Shull Drive and in Arbor Park.  Missing from the discussion, he said, has been any concept of the scale of the power plant.
Councilman Jerry Clifton (District 2) commented about the precedent-setting nature of the power plant, and his fear that further projects could be built on the rest of STAR Campus.
Councilman Stu Markham (District 6) described how he would be using a spreadsheet to evaluate the pros and cons of the power plant.
Several City Councilman referred to the University of Delaware as an 800 pound gorilla.  Residents were encouraged to direct advocacy efforts towards the University.

Also read Sierra Club's As Knowledge of Newark Power Plant Grows, So Do Concerns | Delaware Chapter

And their Town Hall tweets and photos ~ https://twitter.com/desierraclub

Plus Kavips' Radioactive Fallout From Power Plant Meeting

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