Part of the Delaware River Port Authority's multifaceted port development plan is new- facility development adjacent to DuPont's Chambers Works site at Carneys Point.

   Shoulders are just loosening up at the Delaware River Port Authority, which in mid- January 2006 unveiled a $5- billion master plan to develop a string of port, industrial and residential projects along a 50- mile (80- km.) stretch of the river from Philadelphia/Camden down to Salem, just before the river is bisected by the New Jersey- Delaware state line. The plan is being offered as an alternative to the dredging backed by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, chair of the DRPA, and many area shippers and unions.
   The dredging would cost between $300 million and $500 million, an amount New Jersey elected officials have declared wasteful. The DRPA plan calls for $365 million for industrial and distribution park development and $650 million in terminal development.
   That includes up to five expanded terminal complexes. It also includes a substantial development adjacent to DuPont's Chambers Works facility at Carneys Point and the redevelopment of a 190- acre (77- hectare) former oil and chemical bulk storage facility at the BP/Dow complex in Paulsboro Borough.
   While debate may continue, so does some project work: Three weeks after the master plan announcement, the South Jersey Port Corp. (SJPC) signed an agreement with Gloucester County officials to redevelop that BP/Dow site. The $250- million project is expected to be funded by two bond issues. Paulsboro, which had a long- term lease with BP, will now lease the property to SJPC. BP meanwhile will remediate the property's former refinery site. An added bonus is a $16-million overpass that will connect the new port directly to I-295.