DNREC board affirms decisio to prohibit Starwood Digital data center in coastal zone

The DNREC’s Coastal Zone Industrial Control Board has upheld a decision to prohibit Starwood Digital Ventures from constructing a large-scale data center in New Castle County, Delaware. Following three days of testimony and public comment, the five-member board deliberated for approximately 40 minutes before affirming Secretary Greg Patterson’s initial ruling that the proposed data center constitutes "heavy industry" under the state's 1971 Coastal Zone Act. This designation forbids new heavy industrial development within Delaware's coastal zone, an area spanning about 274,000 acres along the shoreline. Starwood Digital Ventures had argued that its data storage and processing facility did not fit the characteristics of heavy industry defined by the CZA. The company's legal representation contended that its 516 planned diesel fuel tanks for backup power should not be considered a "tank farm" and their associated emissions pipes were not "smokestacks." However, board members, including Willie Scott and Robert Snowden, emphasized the CZA's intent to prevent pollution and highlighted the project's massive energy consumption—projected at 1.2 gigawatts, or about a tenth of the power generated by the Salem New Jersey power plant—as an indicator of "something heavy going on." Despite the swift decision, Starwood Digital Ventures issued a statement through press representative Jim Lamb, expressing "absolute confidence" that the multi-billion dollar "Project Washington" will be successfully completed and remain on track. The company is committed to working with DNREC and regulators to develop an "environmentally-conscious data center campus" that will create thousands of jobs. Starwood is expected to appeal the board's decision to Delaware’s Superior Court, continuing the legal challenge over the largest proposed data center project in Delaware's history.