Protect our Coastal Zone from Data Centers

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Use this tool to draft a public comment on the hyperscale data center proposed for construction in the Coastal Zone near Delaware City, otherwise known as "Project Washington." A sample letter has been supplied on the next page that you can add a personal message to or edit to articulate your opinion on this important matter. Note that all comments sent using this tool may appear online on the DNREC subpage regarding this application.

Due to the Coastal Zone Act, a law from the early 1970s aimed at protecting our coastal ecosystems from industrial pollution, being silent on Data Centers and how to classify and permit them under the Act, Project Washington has applied for a "status decision." This is a regulatory process by which the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) reviews a new industry seeking to establish in the Coastal Zone to determine whether it should be prohibited, permitted, or allowed to operate without restrictions or regulation under the Act.

We have until January 12th to submit comments to DNREC for consideration while they consider how to regulate data centers in the Coastal Zone.

Below is some information about Project Washington from their application, some background on the Coastal Zone Act, and what the current decision point is under the "status decision" process.

What is the Project Washington Data Center (Project CZA-448SD)?

Data centers generate data processing, storage, and high-powered computational services. Starwood Digital Ventures is proposing to build a massive data center campus, referred to as Project Washington, in Delaware’s coastal zone on two contiguous New Castle County, Delaware tax parcels (10-049.00-073 on Hamburg Road and River Road and 12-002.00-025 on Governor Lea Road and South Dupont Highway. The project will impact 579 acres. The parcels are bisected by the Red Lion Creek and associated riparian wetlands. The development is proposed to include 11 two-story buildings (each building is estimated to range from 500,000 sq. ft. to 700,000 sq. ft.), 5 substations, one switch station, equipment yards, parking lots, driveways, stormwater management areas, and the installation of 516 diesel-fired emergency generators. Each generator will be equipped with a double-walled 5,020-gallon diesel belly fuel tank. The diesel-fired emergency generators will emit Particulate Matter (PM), Sulfur Oxides (SOx), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Carbon Monoxide (CO), and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC).

The data center campus will discharge 2,737,500 gallons per year to a permitted wastewater treatment facility.

According to Starwood Ventures, “maintaining heating and cooling requirements for the data centers and equipment is vital to operations for the facility.” Starwood Ventures is still exploring options for an advanced cooling system and provides no information about the extent of Per- and poly fluoroalkylsubstances (PFAS) pollution from the data center campus. Data centers are known to increase PFAS pollution directly and indirectly through operations such as cooling equipment and directly in the equipment housed in the centers.

The total data center campus will be approximately 6.1 MM +/- building square feet. Starwood Ventures has applied to the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) for a Delaware Coastal Zone Act status decision.

What is Delaware’s Coastal Zone Act?

The Coastal Zone Act (CZA) protects the sensitive coastal areas of Delaware by prohibiting new heavy industrial development and regulating other industrial and manufacturing uses through a permitting program. When a use is proposed in the coastal zone, DNREC must determine whether the proposed use is a heavy industry use, a use allowable by permit, or a use requiring no action. If it is unclear whether a proposed use requires a permit, is exempt from permitting, or is prohibited, the applicant can request a status decision from DNREC to make that determination.

Heavy industry is prohibited in the CZA and is defined by both characteristics and examples of the kinds of facilities that are considered heavy industry. Characteristics include a use involving more than 20 acres and employing equipment such as smokestacks, tanks, distillation or reaction columns, etc. Another indication of heavy industry is an industry that has the potential to pollute when equipment malfunctions or human error occurs (emphasis added). The examples of heavy industry provided in the definition include heavy oil refineries, basic steel manufacturing plants, basic cellulosic pulp-paper mills, and chemical plants. See, 7 Del. C. § 7002(e).

Manufacturing is allowable in the CZA by permit only. Manufacturing is defined as the mechanical or chemical transformation of organic or inorganic substances into new products. A product is something that is distributed commercially for use or consumption, and that is usually (1) tangible personal property, (2) the result of fabrication or processing, and (3) an item that has passed through a chain of commercial distribution before ultimate use or consumption. See, 7 Del. C. § 7002(d).

Delaware regulations also exempt certain uses from being considered either heavy industry or manufacturing, including but not limited to, facilities used in transmitting, distributing, transforming, switching, and otherwise transporting and converting electrical energy and back-up emergency and stand-by source of power generation to adequately accommodate emergency industry needs when outside supply fails. See, 7 Del. Admin. 101 § 5.1.5 and 5.1.8. However, this section was never written with data centers in mind and has historically been applied to renewable energy generation (ie, solar) and public utility infrastructure. The applicant is claiming that this section exempts them as they claim to be a "facility used in transmitting, distributing, transforming, switching, and otherwise transporting and converting electrical energy." However, there is a difference between electrical energy and transforming data using electrical energy.

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Project Washington Data Center Status Decision (Project CZA-448SD)

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Dear Secretary Patterson, Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Project Washington Data Center Status Decision. I strongly believe the Data Center is incompatible with the Coastal Zone, has the potential to cause significant environmental harm, and therefore, it should not be permitted. In June 1971, the State of Delaware, motivated by concerns over the industrialization of its coast, made a crucial decision to prioritize coastal resource preservation over unrestricted industrial growth by enacting the Delaware Coastal Zone Act (CZA). According to the first section of the CZA, it is the public policy of the State to control the location, extent, and type of industrial development in Delaware's coastal areas. As you are aware, the CZA prioritizes protecting coastal resources over the interests of industrial development by completely prohibiting certain uses because of the environmental threats they pose. Due to the size, scope, and industrial nature of the Data Center, DNREC is obligated to fulfill the legislative intent of the CZA and prohibit the Data Center. The Data Center, a new hyperscale campus with massive energy demand, hundreds of industrial generators, diesel fuel tanks, substations, and switchyards, is the exact type of heavy industrial complex that the CZA was enacted to prevent in the Coastal Zone. The Data Center will occupy 579 acres and be one of the largest industrial developments in the Delaware coastal corridor. The CZA defines prohibited heavy industry, in part, by reference to uses exceeding 20 acres with industrial characteristics, such as tanks. The Data Center is nearly 29 times the size of a prohibited industrial site, and the number of tanks makes it a prohibited use both as heavy industry and as a tank farm. The Data Center application also fails to analyze the environmental justice impacts on citizens who live and work near this massive proposed use. The definition of prohibited heavy industry in the CZA also includes industries with the potential to pollute when equipment malfunctions or human error occurs. The Data Center will create air pollution in the Coastal Zone. The Data Center will have 516 emergency generators, each with a 5,020-gallon diesel fuel tank. The Data Center application provides air emissions data based on testing and a worst-case scenario, but fails to provide a cumulative analysis for simultaneous startup of the many generator units, nor does it include a regional air impacts assessment. The application also does not explore the possibility of a leak or spill of the 2,590,320 gallons of diesel fuel in the Coastal Zone, as required by the CZA. The Data Center will impact water availability and wastewater treatment in the area. According to the application, the Data Center will discharge 2,737,500 gallons per year to a permitted wastewater treatment facility. Despite cooling systems being vital to the operation of a data center, the Data Center application provides that advanced cooling options for the Center are still being explored. Given the size of the Data Center, the proposed water usage appears low and likely underestimates cooling needs at full build-out. As is typical in Delaware’s Coastal Zone, the Data Center site contains wetlands, and sensitive species such as monarch butterflies, the tri-colored bat, and the northern long-eared bat that may occur on or adjacent to the property. The size and nature of the Data Center will detrimentally impact nearby wetlands and sensitive species through noise pollution, altered hydrology, increased stormwater runoff, and sedimentation during construction. The prohibitions in the CZA were meant to protect the fragile ecosystems within Delaware’s coastal corridor; therefore, DNREC should prohibit this use in the Coastal Zone. I urge you to protect Delaware’s Coastal Zone from this proposed use, and I thank you for considering my comments. Sincerely,

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