Emergency crews responded to kayakers who were in need of help along the Delaware River on Tuesday.

According to the New Hope Eagle Volunteer Fire Company, on Tuesday, March 10, at 3:33 p.m., crews were alerted about a report of at least two kayakers in distress in the area of the Delaware River wing dam.

Officials said that while crews responded, additional calls came in that one person had reached shore, but the second person had drifted downstream and was out of sight in the fast-moving water.

Based on that information, officials said some crews headed for the ramp at Fireman’s Eddy off of Route 29 in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, while another set of crews went to the park near Bowman’s Tower on River Road.

Officials said one person was found with both kayaks on the New Jersey shoreline, and he did not require any help.

The other person was found by crews near a boat ramp, after officials said he had swam to shore.

“With this quick burst of spring-like weather, never underestimate the power of moving water,” officials wrote. “With the recent rain and snowmelt, the river is running high and fast. And the water is still cold! Being in the water draws heat from your body about twenty-five times faster than air of the same temperature. Hypothermia only adds to the dangers this time of year.”

• New Castle County approved data center rules that will not apply to Project Washington.
• It came after hours of public comment and council compromise.
• The ordinance restricts water usage and creates buffers between data centers and residential areas.

New Castle County Council approved regulations on the development of data centers Tuesday night.

They won’t apply to the massive proposed data center complex of Project Washington, which continues to fight through state-level objections.

The County Council meeting was standing room only. The crowd of both construction workers supporting the legislation and community members opposing it spread into the lobby of the Louis Redding City/County Building.

The ordinance requires data centers to have a closed-loop water cooling system to limit its water use and creates a 1,000-foot buffer between data centers and residential areas, with an exception for 500-foot buffers if a development can follow noise regulations. It also defaults to existing county limits on noise and lighting levels.

A unanimously approved amendment from Pike Creek representative Timothy Sheldon clarified that these new regulations count for applications submitted after this gets adopted and approved by County Executive Marcus Henry, unless an existing applicant requests to follow these new regulations.

It passed with 12 ‘yes’ votes, with Councilmember Jea P. Street absent from the vote itself.

This was the only amendment left standing. An amendment from Janet Kilpatrick, representing Hockessin, would have grandfathered existing data centers from the ordinance, clarifying that any pending proposal in the county wouldn’t be affected. Another amendment, from Claymont representative John Cartier, would’ve made the ordinance retroactive to count for Project Washington and others. Both were withdrawn at the meeting in a council compromise.

Project Washington’s plans north of Delaware City kicked local data center dialogue into high gear in 2025. The data center project would include 11 two-story data center buildings surrounded by electrical fields on two large land parcels accessible by Hamburg Road, Governor Lea Road and River Road.

It would be 6 million square feet of data center running 24 hours a day, seven days week.

The project’s developer, Starwood Digital Ventures, pledges job creation and and a colossal injection of tax revenue into the coffers of the county and Colonial School District. They said this will bring about 3,500 construction jobs and retain 700 permanent jobs to keep the facility up and running.

County Council member Dave Carter has spent months drafting the regulations that were voted on during this meeting. This is substitute number three on the original bill from August 2025, including compromises on noise and lighting restrictions. Carter wants sensible data center regulation in the county, and he told Delaware Online/The News Journal in March he thinks Project Washington is a “bad deal” for the state.

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He thinks the potential demand on the state’s already strained electrical bid will hurt residents’ bills. He also disputes the developers’ promises on permanent jobs and tax revenue.

“We just have to really be cognizant and thoughtful and make sure that we are ensuring that we protect our communities, and that we manage these things well if they are coming,” Carter said at the meeting.

It hasn’t been an easy sell to the rest of County Council. Council member Janet Kilpatrick, who represents Hockessin, wanted consistent regulations on lighting and noise levels to avoid scaring off potential business. Data centers have sprung up across the country as the highly demanding AI industry exploded in popularity.

“If we don’t have some stability, these people are not going to be able to go through a lender to get money, and so that means that they leave, and I’m sure that there’s a group of people in this room that would love to see them leave, but that’s not how we build economic development,” she said at the meeting. “Part of what we need, in my mind, in economic development is that we have a stable land use code.”

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Although this doesn’t apply to the controversial Project Washington, County Council will still have a say on the re-zoning of half of the project’s land. The County Board of Adjustment will also have to approve its electrical switch station, Culver said.

At the meeting, residents showed up with mainly negative comments for Project Washington. But, members of trade unions showed up in support of the project’s potential to create construction jobs.

Starwood Digital Ventures will continue to move through the approval process with no changes to Project Washington, according to Jim Lamb, who is handling media for the project.

“We’re really happy there’s a consensus within the council and it’s a really great opportunity for the residents of New Castle County,” Lamb said Tuesday night.

Now this goes to County Executive Marcus Henry’s office, who can sign or veto these regulations.

Half of Project Washington’s proposed land still needs a re-zone, which requires council approval. The project was stifled by DNREC, who ruled the proposal’s size, use and backup diesel generators violate the decades-old Coastal Zone Act.

The U.S. Coast Guard and multiple partner agencies are responding to a barge fire in Delaware Bay on Tuesday after a tug reported that the vessel it was towing had caught fire.

According to the Coast Guard, watchstanders at Sector Delaware Bay received a call at approximately 8:20 a.m. from the tug Douglas J, reporting that the barge under tow was on fire. The barge was reportedly carrying scrap metal.

Authorities are towing the burning barge to a position about two miles off Maurice River Cove, New Jersey, in an effort to move the incident away from the main shipping channel while firefighting operations continue.

The Coast Guard has established a safety zone and issued a Broadcast Notice to Mariners as crews work to contain the fire and reduce potential hazards to vessel traffic in the busy port complex. Multiple fire departments have deployed fireboats to assist with suppression efforts.

No injuries have been reported and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Responders from Coast Guard Station Philadelphia, Coast Guard Station Cape May, and Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City have been deployed to assist. Partner agencies on scene include the Wilmington Fire Department, Delaware City Fire Department, Philadelphia Fire Department, New Jersey Office of Emergency Management, and Delaware Emergency Management.

The incident follows another major barge fire in the Delaware Bay region in 2022, when a barge carrying scrap household appliances burned for approximately 26 hours in what officials described as the largest firefighting operation in Delaware state history.

Response operations for the current fire remain ongoing.

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