Not too long after arriving in Delaware in the late 1980s, I remember reading a newspaper account of a meeting regarding a commercial bakery in the Newark area. One of those in attendance said the $12-plus an hour wages did not justify the potential congestion caused by the project.
At the time, we did not know it, but manufacturing jobs in Delaware were evaporating, masked by the growth in banking jobs. Also, keep in mind we are talking about more than two decades ago when $12 an hour wasn’t a bad wage.
Having arrived from the upper Midwest, an area hit hard by the loss of manufacturing, I marveled at the comment. I was later told that Delaware was a long shot for the bakery jobs. Still, the memory of the comment returns from time to time.
Over the years, we could take some comfort in the practical side of Delaware government. When a big project emerged, support could be summoned.
But I always wondered how many smaller projects went elsewhere, due to regulatory and not in my back yard issues.
Fast forward to 2013 and we have the $1.1 billion project proposed by The Data Centers, LLC at a site once occupied by auto maker Chrysler. In Sussex County, Allen Harim is proposing a $100 million poultry processing plant at a former pickle plant in Millsboro that had fallen victim to cost-cutting efforts. Employment is expected to total 700.
The plant is good news for the state. Not too long ago, there were fears that the broiler industry could get much smaller on Delmarva after a downturn that led to the purchase of family owned Allen by Harim, a Korean company.
But Sussex County has changed over the years with new residents having no ties to the broiler industry. Critics simply do not believe Allen Harim will be a good neighbor that will operate a plant that could break new ground in the industry.
To the north, details of the project emerged in the spring when the West Chester, Pa.-based start-up went to the state to seek an infrastructure grant for the $1.1 billion project aimed at creating a data storage hub with 100 percent reliability for the mass of material that has moved from paper to the “cloud.”
The project drew little attention until summer. By that time, a handful of foes had emerged, obviously upset over the natural gas-fired generators that could put a portion of the plant’s power back into the electric grid.
They were also bruised by the less-than-kind treatment from workers and management at the Delaware City Refinery over their efforts to oppose a new environmental permit for the site. Far too many hold the view that the refinery should be shut down and end direct and indirect employment for 1,000 or more workers.
They turned to the Data Centers project, claiming that the city had not been forthcoming about discussions with the company that has an agreement with an entity of the University of Delaware.
After some back and forth, a public information meeting was held last week that attracted upwards of 400 people.
The meeting generated an estimated 200 questions that were discussed in a moderator format without the raucous public hearing sought by opponents.
When compared to the difficult job of running a refinery, The Data Centers project could be a model “green” project generating upwards of 600 jobs and perhaps more from data companies. The natural gas plant could be the cleanest in the country if carbon dioxide is removed. But that did not stop opponents from throwing everything against the wall in terms of real and imagined environmental and quality of life problems.
On the plus side, the Allen Harim project seems to be on track for approval. It also support from legislators in the area.
The Data Centers project has a long ways to go and it is easy to believe that if push comes to shove, the General Assembly and other units of government will remove any not in my backyard roadblocks. A couple of legislators are playing to the crowd, but that is to be expected.
But in a way, serious damage has already been done. The ability of small groups to stir up the community has to be a worrisome development in efforts to bring jobs to the state.
We can ill afford to let these efforts drown out the common sense views of a majority of residents who want to rebuild the state’s economy.
It is time for supporters of job-creating projects to immediately answer the critics who too often get a free ride for their job-killing positions.
I think it’s easy to dismiss some people’s opinions using the “NIMBY” label. But it’s exactly those people who, because of their proximity, are concerned and taking a closer look at the potential consequences. We need the local population to pay attention to what’s being proposed around them, because no one else is there to say, “Hey, wait a minute! This isn’t right!”
It looks to me like the data center is basically a smoke screen so they can build a 248 Megawatt power plant that runs on a fossil fuel – natural gas. This capacity is probably 100 times what the data center will require, allowing them to sell 99 percent of the electricity they generate. Most large data centers use less than one megawatt of power. Facebook’s very large 300,000 square foot data center in Prineville, Oregon uses 28 megawatts.
A typical 248 megawatt gas-fired power plant can power 150,000 homes, and releases over 200,000 tons of CO2, over 100 tons of NOx and 3 tons of SO2 per year.
I find this “data center” plan very suspicious. They would employ 600 people? Really? I don’t think so. They would “liquify” the CO2?
The Data Centers company has no history. Where are they getting the 1.1 Billion dollars to build this? Is this is a very large scam on the citizens of Delaware?
The excess power amounts to less than 30% of the total generation, according to The Data Centers. Agreed, this is a big project and it will be interesting to see the answers to the 200 or so questions that were posed.
Sorry, accidently hit enter. I know someone who was working for a major consultant company here in Wilmington. When their client wanted them to reduce their costs, they shipped everything to India, everything, including junior managers. No one was aware that in the late 80’s and early 90’s work was being sent out of the country for data entry. This was not of a concern since no one lost their job, they just did not hire people to do this work. Something that could of improved the economy in Delaware. These large corporations were given tax incentives to locate in Delaware, so we not only lost tax revenue, but also future jobs. So why are people concerned about jobs being created?