UD/TDC Update: Power Plant Fails To Meet Newark Zoning Code; Will Jack Markell Eat His Words?

 http://www.nonewarkpowerplant.org/

No Newark Power Plant writes ~

We will meet in front of the Park and Ride on DE 896 and DE 4 at 1pm with our signs and walk across the street to stand in front of the Delaware Stadium/Bob Carpenter center to bring attention to proposed power plant for all those who will be attending the Universality of Delaware’s Parents’ Weekend football game (kick-off is at noon).
We are reaching out to University of Delaware parents and alumni, who may not be aware that the current university administration is planning on an industrial sized power plant on the UD campus! UD should be in the business of education, research, enrichment and athletics–not in the business of industrial power generation.
Bring your voice, a sign and your neighbors!
We will have some pre-made signs and sign-making materials on hand as well.
Please note: parking at UD football games can be challenging. Please do carpool or consider walking or biking if you do live close by. The Boy Scouts also charge $10 to park in the park and ride lot. You can tell them that you aren’t there for the football game though and see if you can get in without paying.

Update: The Newark Residents Against the Power Plant is claiming a timely victory in its cause against the proposed power plant on the UD STAR Campus.

(No Newark Power Plant TDC Contradictions images)

The most recent update, a real bombshell, finally hit the paper today. (News Journal) reports ~ Newark defers zoning decision on power plant plan- Conflicting information on scope of proposed project puts status on hold

Newark says it can’t confirm whether a 248-megawatt, gas-fired power plant proposed for the former Chrysler site is permitted under the city’s zoning code, in part because of conflicting information from the company behind the project.

A letter sent by the city to the developer’s engineer on Friday explained that a power plant would only be allowed if it’s not the primary use of the property.........The zoning issue arose because TDC is seeking environmental permits from the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. DNREC’s Division of Air Quality requires proof that a proposed development is permitted under local zoning laws before processing permit applications.

Feeney Roser said that last week Newark for the first time received a copy of the document submitted by TDC to the Delaware Economic Development Office in April seeking a $7.5 million state grant for infrastructure costs. “Essentially, the power plant runs independently of the data center, so it's economic viability is only tied to the cost of natural gas and the national grid energy costs,” the application states. “The power plant economically benefits from a ‘captured’ client base of high-density data center users.” Feeney Roser gave this and other examples of “what appears to be unsettled proposals” regarding the project.

Resident Amy Roe sent TDC’s grant application to city officials after receiving it via a Freedom of Information Act request, she said. She wants the city to hold off on verifying the project’s zoning until the matter is investigated further. “There’s reasons to be concerned. Not everything that’s been presented has been forthright and honest, and we need full disclosure before decisions are made,” said Roe, who is running for Newark mayor. “It’s City Council’s responsibility to investigate these types of issues. They haven’t done it. It’s the residents who are trying to uncover as much information as possible.”

City Councilman Mark Morehead said TDC’s grant application calls into question other information the company has provided regarding its plans. “The grant application says it’s a power plant, first and foremost,” said Morehead, who is also running for mayor. “If that’s true, their credibility is zero.”

Yet our Governor would publicly slam Newark's State Legislator Kowalko for representing us? WTF? Let's create jobs in Delaware, not sent them away ~

As governor, I spend significant time talking to employers about investing in Delaware because jobs continue to be my top priority. Without private in­vestment and job creation, other things we care about – im­proving edu­cation, pro­tecting our environment, enhancing public safety and delivering quality health care – are not possible. Businesses have many choices as to where they create jobs and economic opportunity. A welcoming attitude from state and local officials mat­ters, and businesses value a strong workforce, quality schools and a good quality of life – all of which Delaware has and is improving on. And busi­nesses want to know that if they play by the rules, they will have a chance to grow. That is where some conversa­tions around the state right now risk costing us jobs.

A company looking to locate or expand in Delaware wants relative certainty that if it complies with laws governing land use, the environment and the marketplace, it will be allowed to invest and succeed.

What elected officials do and say has an impact on these decision makers. When asked at a recent town hall meeting how we can attract more mid­dle- class jobs, I said the first thing we need to do is “stop saying no” when employers want to invest millions of dol­lars in our state. The exchange came in the context of the Newark data center proposal, but it applies to other contexts as well.

Many were concerned when activists raised unprecedented legal arguments that threat­ened to shut down some exist­ing operations of the Delaware City Refinery, which employs hundreds of well-paid workers. Another example is when some residents argued against the creation of 700 jobs and a $100 million investment at a closed pickle plant in Millsboro. If projects like these in existing industrial sites meet the zoning and environmental regulations placed on them by the federal, state and local governments, they deserve support.

This is not a partisan issue. It is a Delaware issue when any elected official, including one in my own party, seems to forget that creating good jobs is Job One. That’s why it mat­ters when Rep. John Kowalko suggests that some of his con­stituents opposed to the data center want jobs, just not these jobs near their neighborhood. But if we want to avoid turning more farms into industrial tracts, it is sites like this, where almost 7 million vehi­cles were built, that need to continue to be economic catal­ysts in our communities.

Of course, there are air, water, safety and noise re­quirements that all manu­facturers have to meet. The process to determine whether companies meet them should be rigorous and include public input. It should be based on facts, not rumors. And, in the end, if the project meets the standards we set, it should move forward.

This is the high bar that we set for manufacturers in this state, and there are a number of vacant sites where we want those manufacturers to create jobs. If companies are willing to comply with our laws, gener­ate tax revenue and invest in our communities, we should welcome them.

It is not enough for us to wring our hands about the economy and talk about want­ing to create jobs; we need to send the message consistently that Delaware is the right place to build and grow a busi­ness. Because if “somewhere else” is where we want to cre­ate jobs, that “somewhere else” just might be Maryland or Mexico.

I am the first to say our economy is not where we want it to be and that we need to continue to focus on job growth. That includes support­ing small business and en­trepreneurship, promoting blue-collar manufacturing jobs, helping employers be globally competitive, building on the strengths of our core industries, and creating an environment where businesses want to grow. But one thing I know for sure is that we will not be successful as a state if we cannot come together and say “yes” when good opportu­nities arise.

Jack Markell is Delaware’s governor.

DELAWARE VOICE

GOV. JACK MARKELL

With comments ~

• Nancy Willing
  
  

  It is quite a stretch, Jack Markell, to call the argument "unprecendented" that DNREC and the refinery violated the Coastal Zone Act in refusing to submit for Industrial Board review, the expansion of the footprint and new use of the facility in off shore bulk transfer.
  And as far as the Newark-proposed natural gas Power Plant and Data Center having proper zoning for the site? Ask the various News Journal reporters who currently are in possession of Friday's letter of rejection from Newark's Planning Director for zoning confirmation to UD/TDC/Duffield Associates and by extention to DNREC. The city is abjectly denying that the Data Centers' have a zoning go-ahead because of the enormous amount of mischaracterizations now on record from the company. They have shown they can't be trusted.
  It is an insult indeed to presume that all corporate ventures onto once-industrial use sites should be automatically embraced. Frankly Governor, the citizens are hard pressed to trust you or your agency leadership these days.

  
  

  Carol Robbins
  
  

  There are no words for the disrespect this man has shown John Kowalko and the concerned citizens of Newark. Where was he when the people of Greenville shot down the Stoltz project, simply because it would be an eyesore. We are facing a project that will change our lives forever. We have a right to question it, especially since we were last to be informed. I am ashamed to live in Delaware!
  
  Paul Baumbach
  The Governor states that 'If projects like these in existing industrial sites meet the zoning and environmental regulations placed on them by the federal, state and local governments, they deserve support,' and therefore if projects fail to meet such regulations, they deserve opposition. We look forward to the Governor being consistent, and opposing all projects that fail to meet the existing regulations.
  
   David Alan McCorquodale
  
  Although Jack Markell gives lip service to growing small business, his personal experience is in being a top level manager for large corporations Nextel and Comcast. Apparently his orientation as Governor to grow jobs is to appeal to larger corporations with a multi-national focus to bring their business into the state. His record is replete with this model - Fisker, Bloom Energy, PBF to restart the Delaware City refinery, and the attempt to sell the port of Wilmington to Kinder-Morgan. The latest venture, to create a Data Center, along with a gas-fired plant doesn't fit the model. The corporation making the proposal only has eight employees and no track record of having built anything. But it would be nice to know who are the deep pockets behind the funding of a billion dollar project.
  One particular irksome quality about some of these businesses (Bloom, PBF, and now the Data Center) is that they all rely on using fossil fuels. Natural gas, although cleaner than coal when it is burned, is not a renewable source. Even though Markell opposed tracking in the Delaware River basin, these projects rely on fracked gas. The evidence on the long term effects of fracking is still being accumulated. But one aspect of these projects which is similar to corporations Markell worked for is that the work can not be done by small businesses. They require concentrations of money and so accumulate concentrations of money to a select few.
  Meanwhile Markell abandoned the hopes of many Delawareans by not supporting the wind turbine project. Yes, Brown and Babcock, the last owner of Bluewater Wind, went bankrupt. Did the state try to find a new owner or offer money to help start the project? What about the solar energy credits, which have now withered under Markell? Lots of small businesses were being started, but with solar energy, the money doesn't accumulate in the hands of a few. Nor are the energy sources controlled by a few large corporations. The money and the control of energy is spread among many. But Jack Markell has proven he's "a man of the corporations". He's for large centralized projects, not businesses which would spread the wealth and decentralize the power sources.
  Does anyone realize how many plants and warehouse have flat roofs? Each one could have solar panels installed on them. But without some state incentives, businesses won't be able to tackle the jobs. Too bad because that would create many more jobs, decentralize the power and make the state more prosperous. But Corporate Jack seems able to only see big business as a model.
  
   Thomas Pulhamus 
  Gov. Markell seems to suffer from a bad case of selective memory. He seems to forget that no only did he say that we should "stop saying no" to business but also that "you don't put every new development up for a public vote." It is difficult to listen to him say the public should have faith in the rules and regulations and hear little more than a self-serving lie. Not only is the process of applying those rules something he wants to keep the public from but he has to crudely and crassly attack those public representatives like John Kowalko who have the strength of character and conviction to stand up for the rights of their constituents to be heard and participate in our government. He speaks of decisions being based on facts and not rumors yet, in the case of the power plant at least, most everything we know of it comes from government documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and used in the planning of the project. The state gave TDC $7.5 million on the strength of one of those documents. Should we believe the state is giving away money on the rumor of jobs?
  It is no surprise then that imagination should fail utterly and Gov. Markell think the trade-off is one to one, this space or farmland, or that the only thing that can replace one pollution producing facility is another or that the quality of life and property values of those who would be impacted by a facility matter less than a project following Jack's version of the rules. This blind obsession with jobs regardless of any interests the public may or may not have in the consequences of producing them, regardless of consequences period, is cheap demagoguery at worst, a complete failure of imagination and foresight at best. Either way, this pimping of the state and public interests has to stop and Gov. Markell needs to get serious about replacing the jobs that are lost when someplace like Chrysler closes, not just replacing some fraction of them at lower wages. There's a lot of smart people in a University town. Someone is bound to have a better, more sustainable idea than this.

Amy Roe notes Markell's promotion of natural gas plants in his  State of the State - January 17, 2013 ~

"...we need more local generation. That is why we support numerous utility-scale clean and efficient natural gas plants and cost-effective clean energy projects...........we need to expand natural gas infrastructure across our state..."

Meanwhile, Kilroy slams the Governor and the DE GOP put their foot in it ~

Republican Legislators Support Data Center Complex

By State Reps. Danny Short, Deborah Hudson, Jack Peterman, Jeff Spiegelman, Steve Smyk, Tim Dukes, Mike Ramone, Harvey Kenton, Bobby Outten, Dave Wilson, Ron Gray, Don Blakey, Joe Miro & Ruth Briggs King and 

State Sens. Cathy Cloutier, Gary Simpson, Ernie Lopez, Dave Lawson & Brian Pettyjohn.

We believe the proposed construction of a $1 billion, 900,000-square-foot data center complex in Newark provides a unique opportunity to capture numerous benefits for countless Delawareans.

Situated on 43-acres of leased property in the University of Delaware's Science, Technology & Advanced Learning (STAR) Campus, the data center would use a new, state-of-the-art design to supply its clientele with secure storage and access to their digital information. 

A large aspect of this security is tied to the reliability of the data center's electricity source.  For that reason, West Chester-based "The Data Centers" (TDC) is proposing that their complex include a 248-megawatt, natural gas-fired co-generation power plant. 

The plant would make the complex energy independent, with the local electric grid used only as a back-up.  It is this aspect of the proposal - and concerns about its potential environmental and noise impacts on the surrounding community - that has become the focal point for local opposition to the venture.

The co-generation plant will produce electricity while recycling thermal energy from the combustion process to create more power and run the data center's cooling systems.  Using high-efficiency gas turbines, systems of this type regularly achieve fuel-to-energy conversion rates of approximately 80 percent, making this proposed power plant environmentally-friendly and economical.  In fact, with the planned inclusion of advanced emissions control technology, TDC officials believe it will be one of the cleanest facilities of its kind in the U.S. 

The surrounding community is not expected to be significantly affected by noise from the plant.  To mitigate sound emissions, the turbines will be isolated inside of buildings.  A 25-foot high vegetated berm will also help shield neighboring residential areas from operations at the complex. 

The complex is expected to comply with Newark's existing noise ordinance, producing sound no louder than a normal conversation (about 52 decibels) at the border of the property.  By comparison, according to GE Global Research, the nighttime background noise level in even the quietest rural areas is about 34 decibels (dB).  The noise produced at a typical football game is approximately 117dB.

Newark residents, as well as citizens residing in eight other municipalities around the state, could benefit from the power plant's low-cost operation.  Newark is a member of the Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation (DEMEC), a coalition of nine Delaware cities and towns that sell electricity to their residents.  Clayton, Dover, Lewes, Middletown, Milford, New Castle, Seaford and Smyrna are the other DEMEC members.  Only the City of Dover produces a significant portion of the electricity they distribute.  The other municipalities collectively purchase power from the grid.

Huge quantities of domestically produced natural gas have become available in recent years with the arrival of fracking technology.  Previously inaccessible reserves can now be tapped, dropping prices for this clean-burning fuel and ensuring a stable resource for decades. 

Because even a short loss of power at the data center complex would have dire consequences, the power plant is designed with redundant generation capability.

The convergence of all these factors could create an environment where DEMEC might find it advantageous to purchase the complex's excess power at predictable, competitive rates.  While the state would be uninvolved in any such arrangement - leaving it to both parties to weigh the merits and negotiate terms - we are confident a mutually beneficial deal could be struck.  

Even if such a compact never materializes, the project would still result in improvements to the City of Newark's power system.  Plans for the project include the construction of a new $18 million, 138-kilovolt substation.  The addition would improve the flexibility of the local grid at no cost to taxpayers.

The TDC project will also produce something even more valuable than reliable, low-cost power.  It will create high-quality jobs.

Construction of the complex might employ as many as 5,000 workers during the three-year project. 

Once finished, TDC estimates the complex will need 290 full-time employees.  Average annual salaries would exceed $46,500 and include medical and retirement benefits.  Another 50 part-time positions will also be created, for a total staff compliment of 340 employees - almost the same number of workers that will be left jobless by the impending closing of the nearly century-old Evraz Steel Mill in Claymont.

The complex will also produce millions-of-dollars in annual tax revenue, supporting local schools and city services, easing the burden on residents.

Rising from the rubble of the former Chrysler plant, the TDC complex represents the jobs of the new century.  TDC has proposed entering into a 75-year lease on the STAR property.  We need to embrace this project, not only for the benefits it will produce for the Newark area, but the promise it offers for a better tomorrow for all Delaware.

With a comment ~

The Repubican argument embraces the very talking points of TDC. It's almost as if it was co-written. Makes you wonder. What's fascinating is the usual arguments of comparing the power plant to Chrysler. As if Chrysler was somehow still there. It's a facile argument. The real argument is what could we do that's better than TDC's new power plant on this piece of Brownfield that has access to I95, the rail corridor, and adjacent to a major engineering campus? The argument should be made that there are better opportunities for this newly acquired piece of land. Truly, 340 jobs is a small number given the size of the grounds involved in terms of jobs/linear foot of commercial space. Yet nobody is making the argument that the University could expand their campus for the future, pull in higher paying out of state students (after all, the SEED scholarship was created to push Delaware resident students off to Deltech for two years before they return back to the main campus to do just that - bring more out of state freshmen into the city).

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