The News Journal: Carper asks EPA to better police facilities emitting gas that closed Delaware bridge

Three Democratic U.S. senators are asking the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate allegations it isn’t properly inspecting facilities that emit the cancer-causing gas ethylene oxide, the substance that leaked from Croda Inc. near New Castle Nov. 25, shutting down traffic on the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and U.S. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware on Friday asked the EPA’s inspector general to launch an independent investigation. The senators say EPA senior political appointees have instructed workers to avoid inspecting facilities that emit the gas.