Residents and community groups around Edgemoor are opposed to the expansion of the Port of Wilmington.
The state announced the $635 million public-private partnership in May. The new Edgemoor facility will quadruple the port’s container cargo capacity and allow it to handle newer, larger ships.
However, environmental issues such as air and water pollution have long been a major concern for residents of Edgemoor and the surrounding area.
“Trucks are idling in the morning when kids go to school,” said Jeffrey Richardson, executive committee member for the Delaware Community Benefit Compact Coalition. “They’re sitting there waiting to go to the port and pick up their load. That’s really something that shouldn’t be happening, so the air quality issue is significant.”
Richardson added that even just building a new port could pose a risk to water quality if contaminated soil is disturbed.
“But there’s dioxins, mercury, PCBs in the soil under the river,” Richardson said. “They’re looking at moving 3.3 million cubic yards of soil, dredging it, deepening the river so it can accommodate larger cargo ships. They’re looking at quadrupling their capacity with this expansion.”
Richardson said the coalition is fighting for community benefit agreements but has consistently faced resistance from the state when it comes to public participation on health and environmental impacts.
Bayard Hogan, regional president of Enstructure, highlighted the jobs aspect of the project, but also noted that stakeholders are looking at ways to make the port more “green.”
“We will continue to carefully consider our carbon footprint and will also use technology to electrify and hybridize our equipment and LED lighting.”
Hogan said the Diamond State Port Authority is planning a community outreach meeting for late July.
The state appointed Enstructure as the port operator last year, replacing Gulftainer, which had run the port for nearly five years but failed to deliver on promises of jobs and expansion.
Richardson said the coalition had been calling for transparency in port operations even before the Gartainer affair and was concerned that operating in the same “closed-doors” manner would set the port up for failure again.
Richardson also points out that Black, brown and working-class people are disproportionately affected by pollution in the area, and these communities should not have to choose between clean air and water and good jobs.
The coalition’s efforts have served as a case study for the Environmental Protection Agency, outlining “how one community group is empowering, organizing, and working to ensure local environmental protections as part of plans for the Port of Wilmington expansion.”