NEWS FROM THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL

Jan. 21, 2009
Vol. 39, No. 18

Contact: Kevin Coyle, Principal Planner, Delaware Coastal Zone Act Program, 302-739-9071; or Melanie Rapp, Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.

                                  Kaneka Heavy Industrial Site Declared Abandoned
                                           Coastal Zone Act Permits and Status Decisions Voided

Dover, DE – The heavy industrial site in Delaware’s Coastal Zone formerly owned and operated by Kaneka Delaware Corporation has been declared abandoned by Acting DNREC Secretary David S. Small. All Coastal Zone Act permits and status decisions received since 1971 for the site, located at 1685 River Road in New Castle, Del., are now void.

The decision by the Acting Secretary, under authority of the Delaware Coastal Zone Act and the regulations governing Delaware’s Coastal Zone, prohibits any future heavy industry activity at the site by Kaneka Delaware or any subsequent owners of the site.

Kaneka Delaware Corporation owned the 24-acre site in New Castle from 1996 until 2004 and operated as a manufacturer of polyvinyl chloride. The site lies within Delaware’s Coastal Zone; however, the site’s “heavy industrial use” status pre-dates the signing of the 1971 Coastal Zone Act. Therefore, Kaneka was permitted to operate as a legal, non-conforming heavy industrial use facility in the Coastal Zone.

The following events led to the Acting Secretary’s decision to declare the site abandoned:

• Kaneka entered DNREC’s Voluntary Cleanup Program under the provisions of the Delaware Hazardous Substance Cleanup Act with the intention to close the plant at the end of fiscal 2003.

• Kaneka remediated the site as per DNREC’s Program and cited the lack of profitability as the reason to close the facility.

• Air emissions credits from the Kaneka site were divided among Delaware City Industries, the Delaware Economic Development Office and DNREC.

• Delaware City Industries purchased the property on or about Jan. 15, 2004, with the intention of creating an industrial park on the site.

• In 2007, the property was purchased by Tri Supply & Equipment, which presently sells and rents construction equipment and supplies on the site – activities which are not regulated by the Delaware Coastal Zone Act.

A letter declaring the site abandoned with no further legal, non-conforming heavy industrial use in Delaware’s Coastal Zone was sent to Kaneka America LLC after the company responded to a Nov. 12, 2008 letter from DNREC Secretary John A. Hughes that it had no interest in resuming the non-conforming use and that Kaneka Delaware Corporation which operated at the site was dissolved in 2004.

Appeals to this decision must be submitted to the State’s Coastal Zone Industrial Control Board within 14 days of the public notice of this decision published Jan. 21. The appeal application fee is $100. Appeal forms may be acquired by calling the Department at 739-9000.