The decision by the City of Newark, to offer conditional zoning approval for The Data Centers project did not come as a big surprise.
Given the fact that the project was on what amounts to a brownfields industrial property at the former Chrysler assembly plant seemed to offer the University of Delaware wide latitude in selecting projects on the 300-acre tract that until fairly recently was largely covered by a concrete slab. Additionally, the university has broad powers over its property similar to those of a city or town.
UD chose to work with the City of Newark on zoning, even allowing the city to sell electricity to the site, which under Chrysler ownership got its electricity elsewhere.
The massive project, known as the Wolf Technology Center, would be built in stages calls with its power coming from a natural gas-fired power plant. The final price tag could total more than $1 billion.
The Data Centers is a start-up company based in West Chester, Pa. It is led by Gene Kern, a long-time information technology executive. Kern has long been involved in what is known as “big data,” a reference to what is expected to be rapid growth in the need to store information.
The city, in the decision release Friday, determined that the natural gas power plant amounted to an accessory use, akin to a large scale version of the diesel generators that typically power data centers during outages or periods when the grid cannot supply all industrial power demands.
These noisy generators are fired up at various times in the summer when the grid strains to meet demand. The difference is that the Data Centers power generation would be on a far bigger scale that befits a giant project that aims to house the massive amount of data now being churned out, with no chance of an outage. The Data Center also wants to send less than a third of that power back into the grid if it does not need the output.
Driving the Data Centers project is the fact that everything from the Affordable Care Act to policing statistics that target police calls in neighborhoods is generating vast amount of data that under government and other regulations will have to be stored somewhere. With the zoning conditions, The Data Centers management can now shift their focus toward obtaining air permits that are graated through a hearing process of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Resources.
But true to its name, the umbrella group, No Newark Power Plant, is not into dealing with the subtleties about electric power and data centers. The group seems to see a large, power plant looming over the city with the data center being something of a side business.
Residing in the background is concern over the extraction of natural gas in neighboring Pennsylvania through hydraulic fracturing or “fracking.” Fracking involves the use of sand and chemicals to coax natural gas out of the ground. Environmental issues have surfaced, some generated by the state’s often lax regulatory environment.
Also in the mix is the transport of crude oil via rail to the Delaware City Refinery, an issue that has also been brought up by power plant opponents.
The rail yard near the proposed Data Center once handled shipments of cars and trucks. It is now used for tank cars that move crude oil to the Delaware City Refinery. Recent fires elsewhere have led to concern over the safety of the mode of transport.
Such concerns have led to a core group of environmental activists allying neighbors and others who have long harbored suspicions about city hall, Chrysler and the University of Delaware.
There is also concern about the continuing redevelopment of the Main Street area that has now moved toward what was formerly known as Elkton Road.
It is probably no coincidence that opposition over the Data Centers project arose in the summer as controversy built over a proposed Wawa market with gas pumps off Main Street, formerly Elkton Road.
The ferocity of the opposition to the Wawa by some of his neighbors was initially cited by Mayor Vance Funk in his decision to retire from the post. Funk has since moved from the neighborhood.
At the time, opponents said the city had not been open about its dealings with The Data Centers, claiming the process should have been public.
At times, there has been talk of alternatives such as using solar and wind as part of the energy mix for the Data Centers. Of late, the more vocal elements of No Newark Power plant simply want to see classrooms or perhaps no development at all at the site, which is now known as the STAR Campus.
That would seem to suggest a continuing battle that will include more candlelight vigils, trips to court and a packed house at Newark City Council meetings.
Faced with their second defeat (the first was the narrow loss of their most visible leader, Amy Roe, in a special election to Polly Sierer), the remaining hope is to simply wear out The Data Centers leaders and entities that would finance the project.
Research will also be frantic in finding an environmental regulation that would cripple the project.
One thing we will see is continuing involvement in city politics, litigation and appearances at public meetings.
Getting more seats on Newark City Council will be another priority. The Delaware Way blog, long a megaphone for No Newark Power Plant, took note of the candidacy of Robert Gifford for a City Council post that will become vacant with the decision of long-time councilman Douglas Tuttle to not run for another term.
Gifford, a resident of the Devon Binns neighborhood, has questioned the need for the power plant at the Data Center as well as perceived safety issues. Also expected to enter the discussion is the recent controversy over ties to political contributions and government decisions and contracts some times referred as “pay to play.”
Former Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice Norman Veasey authored a report that suggested changes to current practices. Veasey took heat from critics who demanded prosecutions.
The Delaware Way blog, has brought up the topic in continuing criticism of Gov. Jack Markell, a supporter of the Data Center project. – Doug Rainey.
