Edgemoor Port Expansion

Diamond State Port Corporation is seeking permits and approvals for their Edgemoor Port expansion at the old Dupont Chemours Edgemoor manufacturing facility, located along the Delaware River in New Castle County, DE. The project would create a multi-use containerized cargo port to service deep draft vessels. The applicant must obtain permits and approvals from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and the Delaware River Basin Commission.

Based on the last publicly available project application from 2021, the project includes dredging and deepening to create a new 45-foot deep access channel from the main navigation channel to the port facility resulting in 3,325,000 million cubic yards (cy) of dredged spoils for disposal. Maintenance dredging will result in an additional 200,000-300,000 cy of dredge spoils annually. 10% of the spoils would be used for fill onsite or other purposes, the rest would be disposed of in Army Corps confined disposal facilities (CDFs) including Wilmington Harbor North, Wilmington Harbor South, Reedy Point North and Reedy Point South. 

The project includes construction of a ~2,600-foot long, pile-supported wharf and steel sheet pile retaining wall (bulkhead) along the landward side of the wharf structure. Construction of the bulkhead will require the discharge of fill material into 5.5 acres of river bottom. The wharf will be supported by 4,500 twenty-inch diameter steel pipe piles filled with concrete.

13 fans in the River 

The project previously included the installation and operation of 13 fans in the River that posed a risk to aquatic species, including the impingement or entrainment of fish, eggs or larvae, and the blowing of sediment that threatened to smother river bottom habitats, sessile species or cause sediment plumes in the water column that could choke or displace fish. There was particular concern about the federal endangered Sturgeon of the River and Striped Bass. 

Delaware Riverkeeper Network commented on the harms #)P02o3of the 13 fans to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (view here). Our oppositi0 |}n, along with that from agency officials, was followed by the Army Corps issuing an updated public notice that declared the 13 fans had been removed from the project proposal on November 21, 2021.

Legal Hurdles

The Army Corps initially only provided 30 days to comment on the project, during a pandemic and the oft-busy month of August. Many of you responded to our call to urge the Army Corps to give more time to comment. While they only did so after the original comment period had expired, in the end, the Army Corps did give more time to comment. You can find our comment to the Army Corps here. 

After the most recent public notice issued in November 2021, the Army Corps made recommendations to the District Commander to approve the project’s federal permit applications. There was no public hearing held on the project updates included in the November notice. In August of 2022, the Army Corps officially approved the project for the federal permits it was seeking.

Competitor ports in Philadelphia and New Jersey sued the Army Corps for the permit approvals, claiming that the Corps did not effectively analyze the project’s negative impacts on navigation, safety, economics, and the Delaware Deepening project. The case came before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where a judge agreed that the Corps failed to engage in reasonable decision making because it did not consider navigation and safety issues, and that it strayed from standard procedure when it did not obtain ‘No Objection’ statement from the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (as a non-federal sponsor of the Delaware Deepening project). As a result, both of the project’s federal permits were vacated in October of 2024. There have not been any public updates on attempts to reapply for federal permits since.

Diamond State Port Corporation and a new private partner for the project, Enstructure, attempted to intervene in the lawsuit in order to appeal the decision. However, the Judge dismissed this request because it was not made in a timely manner.

The project also requires permits from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Read Delaware Riverkeeper Network’s comment to DNREC here.

While DNREC also approved the project by issuing the requested permits, competitor ports once again intervened. In October 2021, the ports challenged DNREC’s issuance of a Subaqueous Lands Permit and Federal Consistency Certification was before the Delaware Environmental Appeals Board. The Board attempted to dismiss the case, but on appeal to the Delaware Superior Court, a judge agreed with plaintiffs that the Board applied an incorrect standard of review and failed to make factual findings. As a result, the Board’s decision to dismiss the case was reversed and the matter handed back for reconsideration in April of 2025. 

Thanks to comments from Delaware Riverkeeper Network and members like you, the Delaware River Basin Commission decided to undertake its own independent review of the Edgemoor Port Expansion, rather than relying on only the Corps and DNREC project evaluations. See Delaware Riverkeeper Network’s comment on the matter here.

On March 9, 2022, the DRBC approved the proposed project activities subject to conditions intended to ensure the Project does not substantially impair or conflict with the Commission’s Comprehensive Plan. In light of the years-long delays the project has experienced, DRBC passed a resolution that the docket approval is still in effect unless the project materially changes with new Corps approvals in June 2025.

A Victory for the Endangered Atlantic Sturgeon

Delaware Riverkeeper Network sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for violating the Endangered Species Act. These violations concern the Biological Opinions issued to the Army Corps of Engineers for the New Jersey Wind Port project and the Edgemoor Container Port project. If permitted by the Army Corps, these commercial ports could threaten the continued existence of the Delaware River Estuary’s genetically unique population of Atlantic sturgeon. According to the notice, if these projects move forward, the increase in ship traffic within the estuary will increase sturgeon deaths due to vessel strike, which could threaten the survival of the Delaware River Atlantic Sturgeon.

In response, NMFS updated its vessel strike calculations using the study that Delaware Riverkeeper Network pointed to in the NOI, which contained best available scientific data. The updated calculations resulted in a severely increased, and more realistic, estimated take of Atlantic Sturgeon from vessel strikes. NMFS committed to utilizing the updated calculations in all Biological Opinions moving forward as a result.