A southern Indiana chemical plant released an orangish cloud of nitrogen oxide Tuesday, prompting officials to close nearby roads and issue shelter-in-place orders until the cloud dissipated. Floyd County Emergency Management Agency spokesman Kent Barrow says authorities responded about 10:15 a.m. to reports about an “orange plume” in the air near the Blue Grass Chemical Specialties plant in New Albany. Mayor Jeff Gahan said at 12:30 p.m. that the plume had dissipated, affected roads had reopened and the shelter-in-place orders were lifted in the Ohio River city just north of Louisville, Kentucky. Blue Grass Chemical Specialties CEO Paul McCauley says the release occurred after a reactor acted at a faster than normal rate.
