The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced an agreement with Croda Inc. that fines the company $300,0000 and mandates changes for its ethylene oxide plant.
Croda plans to restart the plant on March 3.
The plant has been closed since November 2019 after a release of ethylene oxide, a deadly gas. Ethylene oxide is used in chemicals produced at Atlas Point that go into a variety of products.
The release was confined to Croda’s Atlas Point plant near the Delaware Memorial Bridge but snarled traffic on I-295 on the busy Sunday night after Thanksgiving.
In November 2020, DNREC announced violations at the ethylene oxide plant during a test.
While testing showed that the company complied with the ethylene oxide emissions, it revealed nitrogen oxide violations.
Further violations were detected related to carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and particulate matter.
Additionally, the agreement with DNREC addresses violations at the Atlas Point facility that Croda disclosed in its July 2020 semiannual report.
Croda will pay a penalty of $300,000 and install a community alarm system to the north of Interstate-295, expanding the environmental emergency notification range should the facility see future releases.
The agreement between DNREC and Croda can be found here.
A virtual public information session will be held on March 3 by DNREC to answer questions and take community comments about Croda’s operations and the agreement with DNREC.
Questions from the public can be emailed in advance to daqpermittinginfo@delaware.gov. Registration for the public information session can be done on the DNREC website.
DNREC previously posted a list of questions/answers following a November 2020 public information session – they are available on the DNREC website, as is the Nov. 11, 2020 Notice of Violation issued to Croda.
