Delaware

Indian River Power Plant to shut down two years ahead of schedule. Here are the details

Published

1 year ago

December 28, 2024

Indian River Power Plant to shut down two years ahead of schedule. Here are the details

The only operational unit of Delaware’s sole coal-fired power plant will shut down in February, nearly two years ahead of schedule.

Indian River Unit 4 near Dagsboro originally was scheduled to shut down in 2026 while electrical grids were upgraded to ensure reliability, but regional grid manager PJM announced on Monday, Dec. 23, that the power plant’s unit can shut down 22 months early without causing adverse impacts on the grid’s reliability.

The company has stated that this early shutdown will save consumers nearly $100 million and will soon make Delaware the sixth state in the country with no coal-fired power plants in operation.

Here are the details.

Why is the plant shutting down?

The Indian River station, located near Dagsboro, is Delaware’s only remaining coal-fired power plant and one of the state’s top air polluters. It consists of four units, three of which have been retired for at least 11 years.

PJM announced on Monday, Dec. 23, that the Indian River Unit 4, which is owned by NRG, could retire by February 2025, two years ahead of its scheduled deactivation date.

Delmarva Power, which owns the transmission lines in the region, has reportedly completed the required transmission upgrades that would enable the power plant to shut down without negatively impacting electrical reliability. PJM says this shutdown will save wholesale electricity customers around $93 million.

As of Wednesday, Dec. 18, Delmarva Power completed its final stage of transmission upgrades that would allow the power plant unit to shut down.

“Delmarva’s good work to complete this project far ahead of schedule is a win for our customers, both from a reliability and affordability perspective,” said Mike Bryson, senior vice president – operations at PJM. “PJM regards RMR arrangements as a last resort to keep units temporarily operational to maintain system reliability while we make transmission improvements to balance the system, so the sooner we can get the work done, the better.”

In June of 2021, NRG notified PJM of its intent to shut down the unit in 2022, but after PJM conducted a reliability analysis, it was concluded that this shutdown date would cause adverse impacts on electric customers, and the unit’s life was extended until December 2026 to give Delmarva Power time to upgrade the electric grid.

At the time of the announced extension, customers were expected to bear the brunt of the cost, with an estimated average monthly bill increase of around $6.45.

Indian River power plant’s dirty history

The Indian River plant has been a subject of environmental and public health scrutiny for decades.

In August of 2007, the Delaware Division of Public Health confirmed the presence of a “cancer cluster” in the area immediately surrounding the Indian River Power Plant, with a cancer rate 17% higher than the national average at the time.

The 2007 toxic release inventory, released in 2009, listed the Indian River Power Plant as the top emitter of toxic releases, with 88% of the emissions being acid gasses known to have harmful effects on human health and safety.

In March of 2009, the grassroots environmentalist organization Citizens for Clean Power sued the Indian River Power Plant for committing over 6,000 violations of state and federal air pollution regulations.

However, in 2011, the Delaware Cancer Consortium, the Department of Health and Social Services and the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control commissioned a study on the potential link between toxin exposure in nearby residents. It concluded that the power plant was not responsible for the impact on people’s health.

In 2019, the Environmental Integrity Project confirmed that the Indian River Power Plant was contaminating groundwater with unsafe levels of toxic pollutants found in coal ash including arsenic, lithium and mercury among others.

In 2023, the EPA acknowledged that coal ash is more dangerous than previously believed, due to levels of arsenic and radiation that pose cancer risks, while also noting widespread noncompliance with federal safeguards.

EarthJustice calculated in May 202, that the power plant contains nearly 1.5 million cubic yards of coal ash and toxic waste, which has contaminated the area’s groundwater.

More recently, the site adjacent to the Indian River plant has been targeted as a potential area for offshore wind cables to connect on-shore. This permit was rejected by Sussex County Council this month.

Molly McVety covers community and environmental issues around Delaware. Contact her at mmcvety@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @mollymcvety.

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Delaware

Delaware Supreme Court upholds reforms to curb ‘DExit’ concerns

Published

5 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Delaware Supreme Court upholds reforms to curb ‘DExit’ concerns

Karl Baker
| Spotlight Delaware

This story was produced by Spotlight Delaware as part of a partnership with Delaware Online/The News Journal. For more about Spotlight Delaware, visit www.spotlightdelaware.org.

A Delaware law passed last year in the wake of escalating assaults on the state’s corporate brand shielded powerful company leaders from facing certain lawsuits brought by smaller investors.

What it didn’t do was violate the Delaware Constitution, the state Supreme Court ruled on Friday, Feb. 27.

More than three months after hearing arguments, the justices ruled that the corporate law reform – known as Senate Bill 21 – did not strip Delaware’s prominent Court of Chancery of its constitutional authority to decide when a business deal is fair.

“The General Assembly’s enactment of SB 21 falls within the ‘broad and ample sweep’ of its legislative power,” the justices stated.

The ruling ends a bruising fight in Delaware over when the state’s business court should allow small-time investors to interrogate insider deals struck within companies by founders or other business leaders.

The ruling also averts what could have been an embarrassment for the state’s legal and political establishment had the high court overturned the law.

More than a year ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk — the world’s richest person — was calling on business leaders to move their companies’ legal homes out of Delaware. Musk had launched the campaign, which became known as “DExit,” after a Delaware Chancery Court judge ruled that he could not accept a multibillion-dollar pay package from Tesla.

Just as the campaign appeared to be gaining a foothold, Gov. Matt Meyer, legislative leaders, and Delaware attorneys who represent corporations threw their collective heft behind SB 21.

They argued then that the legislation amounted to a “course correction” that would bring the state’s business courts back into alignment with rulings from a decade ago. Many also said the bill was needed to pacify executives who were considering following Musk’s calls to move their companies’ legal homes out of Delaware.

In response, a cadre of critics — which included national law professors, pension fund attorneys, and a handful of progressives within the Delaware legislature — derided SB 21 as a “billionaires bill.”

Some also argued that the legislation was the latest in a string of recent changes to Delaware corporate law that have shifted the state away from protecting shareholder rights and toward giving greater deference to powerful executives.

Meyer and others SB 21 supporters rejected those characterizations last year. And on Friday, he celebrated the Supreme Court’s ruling.

In a statement, he said the decision affirms that “Delaware is the gold standard locale for global companies to do business.” He also stated that the number of companies that maintain their legal home in Delaware had increased throughout 2025 despite the DExit campaign.

“In short, SB 21 is working, and I’m glad it will continue to be the law,” Meyer said.

The legal arguments for SB 21

When arguing against SB 21 in front of the Supreme Court last fall, one attorney asserted that the new law removed the Chancery Court’s time-honored and constitutional duty to say what is fair – or equitable – in a business dispute.

The attorney, Gregory Varallo, argued that by removing a shareholders’ ability to sue their company, the law reduced what he described as the immutable power of the Court of Chancery to oversee a “complete system of equity.”

During his arguments, Varallo also offered the justices an unusual acknowledgement, stating that he knew that his stance was unpopular — and that he understood “well the pressures on this court.”

The comments were a likely reference to the consensus of big business groups and the state’s political establishment that believed SB 21 was necessary for Delaware to remain the world’s preeminent corporate domicile.

Following Varallo, Washington, D.C.-based attorney Jonathan C. Bond defended SB 21, in part, by characterizing his opponents arguments as unprecedented. If adopted, he said they would imperil several existing Delaware laws that go back decades.

He also argued that changing the rules of corporate law – as SB 21 did – “is the same as wiping out jurisdiction merely because it makes some plaintiff’s claims harder.”

Also arguing in favor of SB 21 during the hearing was William Savitt, an attorney with the Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz – among the most prominent corporate law firms in the country.

Last spring, Meyer hired Savitt’s firm to represent the state in the legal defense of SB 21 for a budget rate of $100,000. By comparison, Wachtell Lipton charged Twitter $90 million in 2022 to ferry that company through its arduous, four-month-long acquisition by Elon Musk.

Wachtell’s client list also includes Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta executives and board members, who last summer settled a seven-year-long, multibillion-dollar shareholder lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court.

During his arguments on SB 21, Savitt said equity as determined by judges must follow the statutes created by the legislature, and “not displace the law.”

“No natural reading of the words (of the Delaware Constitution) support plaintiff’s position,” he said.

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Delaware

Police identify victim of Wilmington motorcycle crash

Published

17 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Police identify victim of Wilmington motorcycle crash

State police identified 29-year-old Brian Silva of New Castle as the victim of a fatal motorcycle crash in Wilmington.

Silva was riding a Harley-Davidson northbound on Dupont Highway approaching Millside Drive in Wilmington around 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 27 when it collided with the rear of a stopped Lexus at that intersection, police said. Silva was ejected from the motorcycle. He was taken to the hospital, where he died.

Delaware State Police are still investigating this incident, and anyone with information is encouraged to reach out to them or to Delaware Crime Stoppers.

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Delaware

When will Delaware warm up? After snow, ice Tuesday, temps will rise

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

When will Delaware warm up? After snow, ice Tuesday, temps will rise

Meteorological winter has ended and we’ve entered spring.

However, there’s still a last winter blast hitting Delaware early this week before a spring warm up hits at the end of the week.

Here’s a look at the Delaware forecast.

Will Delaware see more snow?

After a brisk Monday, March 2 with sunny skies and highs only reaching 35 degrees, there’s a chance of snow after 1 a.m. Tuesday, March 3 with freezing rain after 4 a.m. in New Castle County. Snow and freezing rain are expected before noon Tuesday, March 3. The county may receive less than a half inch of accumulation.

In Kent County and Sussex County, there’s a chance of snow and freezing rain after 1 a.m. Tuesday, March 3.

When will it warm up in Delaware?

It will start feeling like spring as warmer air moves into the First State on Tuesday evening, March 3, but wet weather is coming as well.

Rain is predicted from Tuesday, March 3 through Friday, March 5, but spring-like temperatures will make it bearable. In New Castle County temperatures will range from the mid-50s on Wednesday, March 3 to the 60s on Thursday, March 4 and Friday, March 5. Kent County should see temperatures in the 60s and Sussex County will see 70s during the mid- to later part of the week

What’s the weekend forecast?

Remember when you were daydreaming about warm weather during the polar vortex or blizzard? Well, it is coming next weekend.

The forecast is calling for sunny to partly sunny skies throughout Delaware on Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8. Highs will reach the upper 60s in the north to the low 70s in the south.

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