Project Washington data center, New Castle, Delaware

The thing that killed this project was not the data halls. It was 516 diesel generators. Starwood Digital Ventures proposed Project Washington, a data center at Delaware City, in New Castle County: 11 two storey buildings, 6 million square feet, 1.2 gigawatts. The backup power was to be 516 generators, against a maximum of eight used by any single entity in the state at the time, served by a fuel tank farm of more than 5 acres holding 2.5 million gallons.

Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control refused the permit, citing the Coastal Zone Act, a 1971 law that keeps heavy industry off the state's shoreline. The department said the smokestacks serving the diesel generators would be "the largest source of nitrogen oxide emissions in the entire state, with the sole exception of the Delaware City refinery". Dustyn Thompson of the Sierra Club said "The Coastal Zone Act is a recognition that our coastal ecologies, and the tourism and benefits of resiliency that they provide to the state, is well worth protecting and preserving." County Councilman Kevin Caneco called the decision a victory for his constituents and the environment. Starwood said the project "is proud to have the support of the Delaware unions and trades, the business community, and hundreds of New Castle County residents".

Starwood appealed, and lost again. On 26 March 2026 the Delaware Coastal Zone Industrial Control Board unanimously upheld the secretary's refusal. Board member Willie Scott said the generators were emission points collectively large enough to count as a major source of pollution. Starwood's attorney Katharine Mowery argued that "The Secretary has distorted what Project Washington is, and ignored binding case law in order to find a way to prohibit this project."

Lawyers following the case expect appeals to the Delaware Superior Court and then the state Supreme Court, which could take between 18 months and three years to work through. The company could also redesign the project to comply.