The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control will hold a virtual public hearing Tuesday, Sept. 29 on a proposal from the Diamond State Port Corporation to construct a new container port on the Delaware River at the former Chemours-DuPont titanium plant property at 4600 Hay Road, Edgemoor.
Diamond State, a State of Delaware entity that operated the Port of Wilmngton, purchased the site from Chemours. The state later leased the port to Emirates-based Gulftainer, which is moving forward building the container port.
The proposed port has drawn fire from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the home of upriver ports. The states claim Delaware is seeking special treatment for the port, which would shorten voyages for container ships that might otherwise sail to upriver ports.
The proposed container port project will require permits from both DNREC’s Division of Water and the Division of Waste of Hazardous Substances, as well as a Federal Consistency Certification from the Delaware Coastal Management Program within DNREC’s Division of Climate, Coastal and Energy, all of which will be presented for public comment in the Sept. 29 hearing.
The public may comment in writing prior to the hearing, or comment live during the virtual hearing, or submit written comments following the hearing until November 1.
Written comments may be submitted online, via email or USPS mail from now until Nov. 1. Written comments are made available to the public on the hearing website as they are received.
Members of the public who wish to comment live during the virtual hearing must pre-register with the Department online or by phone no later than noon on Tuesday, Sept. 29. Live comments will be transcribed and will be publicly available soon after the hearing.
All comments receive equal weight. All comments will be reviewed by the hearing officer as she makes her recommendations on all pending matters associated with this proposed project to DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin. Comments will also be reviewed by the Secretary as he makes a final decision on the applications. No recommendations or decisions on any matters currently pending before the Department are made at the time of the hearing.
All documentation and information about the proposed project and links to the upcoming hearing, including instructions on how to join, pre-register, and/or submit comments, may be reviewed at https://de.gov/portproject.
