It remains unclear what caused flammable toxic gas to seep into the air from Croda Inc.’s bio-ethanol plant north of New Castle Sunday night, but experts say the decision to close the Delaware Memorial Bridge was the safest bet.
The incident shut down traffic on the bridge for eight and a half hours, the end of the busy Thanksgiving travel weekend.
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Shawn Garvin said there were two threats: There were people nearby who could have inhaled the carcinogenic gas, called ethylene oxide, and, it simply could have caught on fire and spread to the cars on the nearby interstate."The flammability of it was an issue with it being that close to the bridge and to (Interstate) 295,” he said. ‘It’s more flammable than combustible."
The structure of the bridge did not appear to be at risk, he said.