Why Should Delaware Care?
Months of jockeying between Gov. Matt Meyer and Senate leaders within his own Democratic Party could not only impact how Delaware operates and expands its largest port, but could also set the power dynamic in Dover for years to come.
The inaugural meeting on Wednesday of a port oversight task force that lawmakers had created over objections from Gov. Matt Meyer became the latest front in a monthslong power struggle between legislators and the Delaware governor.
In attendance at the meeting were several high-profile Delaware officials, including labor leaders from the Port of Wilmington and the Delaware building trades, as well as Wilmington Mayor John Carney and New Castle County Executive Marcus Henry.
Not in attendance were members of Meyer’s cabinet – a fact that the task force chairman, Sen. Darius Brown (D-Wilmington), noted during the meeting. In public remarks that included a string of harsh criticisms of the governor, Brown argued that their absence amounted to Meyer “not showing up for hard-working Delawareans.”
The comments were a clear reference to Brown’s plans to make his task force into a vehicle to push the state to move forward with plans to expand the Port of Wilmington through construction of a $635 million container terminal on the Delaware River in Edgemoor.
They also followed months of jockeying and bad blood between Delaware senators and the governor over who gets to control the Port of Wilmington
For decades, the Port of Wilmington has served Delaware as a state-subsidized anchor of good-paying, blue-collar jobs. In recent years, state officials led by Carney, who previously served as Delaware’s governor, had hoped that an expansion at Edgemoor would add thousands of more of those jobs to the state.
For his part, Meyer has also been vocal about his support for expanding the Port of Wilmington.
When reached for comment, Mila Myles, a spokeswoman for Meyer, criticized the existence of Brown’s committee, saying that it was “needless bureaucracy” that amounts to an “attempt to make a second port board without the collaboration or participation of the Meyer Administration.
She said the board of the Diamond State Port Corporation – which is a taxpayer-owned entity chartered by the state to oversee the Port of Wilmington – is the body responsible for oversight of the Port of Wilmington.
“There is only one Port board. And that board is focused on operating and expanding our existing port to benefit all Delawareans,” she said.
Permits and money
Beyond political maneuvering, the task force meeting also featured pointed questions about whether the Port of Wilmington’s long delayed expansion will even occur given questions surrounding permits, and around whether federal dollars committed to it by the Biden administration would still be available in the coming years.
“I think the principal questions that a lot of people have today are, A, about the money and, B, about the permitting process,” said task force member Mike Houghton, an attorney and former chair of the Delaware Economic and Financial Advisory Council.
Under then-President Joe Biden, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the EPA awarded nearly $180 million to the Port of Wilmington and its expansion project in Edgemoor.
The awards – combined with contributions from the state and from the port’s operator – would have set the Edgemoor project to begin construction. But, last fall, just days before officials announced the EPA grant, a federal judge in Pennsylvania invalidated a permit the port needs to dredge the Delaware River to the Edgemoor berths.
During the task force meeting, port union leader WIlliams Ashe Jr. pressed a team of executives for the Port of Wilmington’s private operator, Enstructure Inc., on whether Delaware was actively working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reissue the permit.
He said he previously had been told by port officials under the Carney administration that Corps of Engineers would reissue the permit in four or five months — a period that has since elapsed.
“If you don’t have these permits, you’re wasting everybody’s time,” Ashe said in comments that also referenced legal challenges to a state permit.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told Spotlight Delaware that the agency is currently working with the Diamond State Port Corporation “to gather data so we can address the issues identified” by the Pennsylvania federal judge.
“If the findings support the issuance of a Department of Army permit, we will issue a permit for the project, the spokesman Stephen Rochette said in an email.
Myles, the spokeswoman for Meyer, further said that the governor and Secretary of State Char Patibanda-Sanchez met with leadership at the Army Corps of Engineers on Monday “to discuss the port expansion.”
Even before a federal permit is potentially reissued, the Port of Wilmington’s private operator, Enstructure Inc. is moving forward with design work for the Edgemoor terminal, according to Enstructure.
During the task force meeting Wednesday, Bayard Hogans, president of Enstructure’s mid-Atlantic division, said his company has partnered with a team of engineering firms to carry out the design and build of the terminal.
The design part of the process could begin in May, he said.
When pressed by several task force members about availability of federal grants, Hogans acknowledged that the dollars hadn’t yet transferred to Port of Wilmington accounts, but said the grants had been reviewed by President Donald Trump’s officials and “were OK.”
“There was a period where people in D.C. were concerned about it, but that has passed,” he said.
Beyond the federal dollars, Houghton questioned Hogans about the nearly $200 million that the state government, under Carney, had committed to the Edgemoor construction.
He asked whether any of that money was at risk of being diverted by the Meyer administration, given the state’s currently tight budget situation.
In response, Hogans said he had been told that Meyer is in full support of the project.
Houghton pressed the issue, prompting Enstructure spokesman Eugene Young to say that the question is best addressed to the governor and to Patibanda-Sanchez, who serves as the chair of the Diamond State Port Corporation board.
As they spoke, a row of chairs sat empty at the meeting that had been designated for members of Meyer’s cabinet.
