DL Open Thread: Thursday, July 16, 2026

And The Litigation Goes On…:

The long awaited Port of Wilmington expansion faces a new legal challenge after receiving $110 million in funding approved through the FY 2027 Bond Bill to help get the project started.

At recent meetings, according to officials in charge of the $670 million expansion to the port, construction for the project is imminent. Leading legislators are pushing for a groundbreaking and “minor” activity is already underway.

But echoes of past legal troubles resurfaced this month as a large Philadelphia port terminal operator filed a new complaint, contesting permits the project needs to continue.

It said that said the United States Army Corps of Engineers should not have reissued permits that allowed for the Port of Wilmington expansion’s development to restart earlier this year. The permits were initially issued in 2022, but got revoked in 2024 based on similar complaints to the July filing.

The complaint, filed by Holt-affiliated groups and the Port of Philadelphia’s main container terminal operator, said the Army corps “arbitrarily and capriciously” reissued permits.

U.S. District Judge Mark A. Kearney sided with the argument that the Army Corp’s administrative process was flawed in 2024, setting the expansion back by more than a year. The permits were vacated over concerns that the Port of Wilmington expansion’s effects on the Delaware River were not fully understood.

The complaint filed this month repeats those concerns. The Philadelphia Port operators’ filings argued that the Wilmington port expansion would affect vessels coming to and from the Philadelphia port, 30 miles upstream. And to move forward, more information was needed from Delaware’s body in charge of the port expansion’s planning.

Delaware’s public private partnership, the Diamond State Port Corporation, updated its application in 2025 and 2026. The Army Corps of engineers reissued the permits in April 2026. And the DSPC Board, picked up with an adjusted timeline and new cost projections this spring.

But the complaint filed this month said that new studies added to the Port of Wilmington expansion’s permit applications still lack reliable analysis of the project’s effect on navigation and safety for vessels on the Delaware River.

A whole lot of people want that photo op before the election.  We’ll see if they get it.

Meyer On Delmarva: ‘I Think We’re Being Lied To’:

The Delaware Public Service Commission punted on officially approving Delmarva Power’s interim rate increase Wednesday, after a commissioner and the group’s counsel said they disagreed on whether state law allows them to revise or even refuse rate increases.

Commissioners capped the interim rate increase to 50% of Delmarva Power’s total rate increase on July 1, consistent with Senate Bill 326, which was passed by state lawmakers the day before. The rate hike took effect July 9.

Using the legislation as a guide, the 50% cap limited the interim rate to $34.3 million, adding about 67 cents to the average utility bill. The total rate hike requested from Delmarva Power was about $68 million.

Gov. Matt Meyer recently appointed four new members to the PSC, including Iorii. He has been calling for the commission to reject Delmarva Power’s rate increase all year. Delaware’s Public Advocate Jameson Tweedie has argued to the commission that it has the legal authority to review and adjust utility rates.

“Certainly, in the past, when a utility has sought an interim rate application, it’s generally been approved,” David Crumplar, attorney for the Delaware public advocate, said during the July 1 meeting. “But what we are saying in our papers, and I think what the governor’s office has also said, is that you’re not required to do that.”

Delmarva Power argues that the supply price hikes are responsible for customers’ higher costs, not the delivery fee. Beal said they are “literally trying to do everything” to try to keep prices low.

“We absolutely understand that every dollar matters to our customers and we’re offering as many programs as we can to help offset those higher costs when we have increased usage,” he said.

But Meyer said he isn’t buying that argument.

“I think we’re being lied to by Delmarva, our utility company,” he said. “Every time I talk to them, they mention affordability. But if you look at what they’re actually doing, it doesn’t speak to the affordability crisis that Delawareans are facing.”

Sarah McBride Votes To End Aid To Israel–I think.  I finally found a site listing, at least, those who voted for continued aid and those who voted present.  By process of elimination, that would make Sarah a yes, assuming she was there.

Trump’s Gonna Talk About–Election Fraud–Tonight?  Uh, why?:

President Donald Trump is promising to reveal “really big news” on election security. Many Republicans wish he wouldn’t.

The president’s speech, expected to be delivered in prime time Thursday from the White House, comes amid renewed hostilities with Iran, which are once again driving up fuel prices ahead of an election that most strategists still expect to turn on cost-of-living issues.

“The people I talk to are scared shitless,” said a former Trump administration official, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “It’s not scared shitless about the text of what he’s going to say, it’s, what does he add to the text?”

Republican operatives, including those in Trump’s inner circle, have pleaded for months for an unrelenting focus on the economy. And while the president has talked up his tax cuts and Trump Accounts during campaign stops, his decision to use a rare prime time address to focus on election integrity is a missed opportunity, the former official said.

How Bizarre Is Pete Hegseth (he asked rhetorically)?:

Pete Hegseth wants a manly military. And he really, really wants you to know how badly he wants a manly military. In his 2024 book, The War on Warriors, Hegseth worried that the military risked becoming “effeminate, and apologetic”; he insisted that what liberals really want is “soft men, and a weak military,” and he scolded “Pentagon pussies” who refuse to stand up for soldiers on the battlefield. As secretary of defense, Hegseth has blocked the promotion of female military officers, removed the first woman to lead the Navy, and ordered a review of women’s “effectiveness” in ground-combat roles. He has also used the Defense Department’s social-media channels to post a steady stream of tougher-than-thou videos.

The latest entry in this genre came earlier today, when Hegseth announced that he is requiring every service member over 30 to have their testosterone tested annually. He let this be known in a video posted on X captioned “The High-T Department of War.” In the video, he tells soldiers that if they’re found to have low testosterone, they might be recommended for testosterone-replacement therapy but that it won’t be mandatory. Then again, given what he then says about testosterone “restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities,” it sure seems like he believes that everyone should partake. How much this new initiative will cost taxpayers, and the question of whether the military health system’s labs even have the capacity for such testing, is unclear. But the bigger question is whether this is in any way a good idea.

Ho-kay.

What do you want to talk about?