Carney signs Coastal Zone Act reform bill

The News Journal

Gov. John Carney on Wednesday signed a bill to amend Delaware's Coastal Zone Act, marking the first major change to the state's landmark environmental law in its nearly 50-year history.

Praised by business groups and reviled by environmentalists, the measure is designed to provide more flexibility in the use and redevelopment of 14 former and current heavy industrial sites –– all but one of which are in New Castle County.

"This is a big deal," Carney told nearly 100 people who gathered for the bill signing at one of those sites, the former General Chemical Corp. in the governor's hometown of Claymont.

"This is a win-win opportunity for our state: a stronger and cleaner environment with greater utilization of our industrial sites and additional jobs," he said.

Gov. John Carney signs a bill amending the Coastal Zone Act during an event at the former site of General Chemical Corp. in Claymont.

Passed in 1971 under Republican Gov. Russell Peterson, the Coastal Zone Act specifically sought to protect the Delaware Bay and the state's shoreline from the encroachment of heavy industrial development. Fourteen industrial operations in existence at the time were allowed to continue their grandfathered functions, but the sites were limited to those exact footprints and uses.

A sulfuric acid manufacturer, General Chemical employed hundreds of workers until the plant shut down in 2003, leaving behind a fallow 71-acre property polluted by arsenic, lead and DDT. After two years, the site lost its grandfathered abilities and the property has sat vacant ever since.

Kevin McGowan (left) and business partner Keith Delane stand on the former General Chemical pier along the Delaware River in Claymont. The real estate developers expect to land a major company willing to invest in the site, thanks to a recent amendment to the Delaware Coastal Zone Act.

Now the property is expected to be the test case for a new permit process created by legislation passed by the General Assembly in late June. The measure, known as House Bill 190, will allow sites like the former General Chemical property to be redeveloped for a new heavy industrial use.

Pennsylvania-based real estate investment firm D2 Management bought the land in 2015 and is now working to attract $1 billion in new heavy industrial development.

A 14-acre rail yard that will serve Braskem America's polypropylene plant just over the state line in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, is slated to be completed by 2018 and the company is hoping to surround it with new factories.

"This kind of development only just became possible, but we're in talks with several people and hope to have something finalized very soon," D2 owner Keith Delaney said.

Environmental groups, Newark City Council and members of Peterson's family fought against those changes, arguing they will re-open environmentally sensitive sites to further pollution.

But Carney and business groups successfully convinced legislators that HB 190 would forge a middle ground that protects the environment while allowing new heavy industry in select, targeted areas.

Now that those changes have been signed into law, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control will be able to issue so-called "conversion" permits immediately, even though the underlying regulations are not expected to be in place until late 2019.

Environmentalists who fought against the bill's passage say they now plan to turn their attention to those regulations in the hopes of ensuring the new rules preserve the intent of the original act.

"We also will be working to make sure DNREC actually follows the regulations that it puts in place," longtime environmental activist Amy Roe said. "DNREC has a history of playing fast and loose with the rules and we will be watching what they do next very closely."

Contact business reporter Scott Goss at (302) 324-2281, sgoss@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ScottGossDel.