Port of Wilmington

Yesterday evening there was a Wilmington City Council joint committee hearing -- the Economic Development Committee and the Public Works Committee -- to gather viewpoints and input on the proposed privatization of the Port of Wilmington to be run by Kinder Morgan. While invited, no one from the Governor's office spoke on this project, but there were a number of businesses from outside of the Port fence who did speak on the potential conflicts and downside that this deal presents for them. I think that this may have been the first public forum that provided these businessmen (as well as the ILA) a chance to make their concerns heard. Senator Bobby Marshall was also in the audience, but did not speak.

It started at 10AM in Dover and it doesn't look like it is being live streamed anywhere -- which is a pity. I'm hoping to hear from those of you who did go in the comments below. But in the meantime, I want to repeat what I think is one of the two most compelling reasons why the port shouldn't be privatized -- having over a monopoly for the running for the ONLY port shipping terminal that Delaware has to a private entity is not a business decision that is in the best interests of taxpayers.

Kinder Morgan had their public presentation on Monday accompanied with the requisite PowerPoint deck to highlight main points. I've embedded a copy of that presentation below -- it is a black and white copy, so some of the graphics are hard to read. I hope you'll take a look at these slides (some of them you might need to print) and let us know what you think of this deal so far. But here are some of my thoughts on what is here: