Texas fertilizer plant was fined for poor safety,
but owner claimed fire could never happen http://bit.ly/XTI0cE
"Company fined in 2006 for failing to have proper risk management plan
West Fertilizer Co. told federal agency there was 'no' risk of a fire
Nearby school evacuated in February after a fire at the plant
Company is owned by Donald Adair who said he was stunned by the fire
The fertilizer plant which exploded in Texas on Wednesday, claiming as many as 15 lives and injuring nearly 180 more, was previously fined for failing to have a proper risk management plan, it has emerged.
West Fertilizer Co., a family-run business that employs a dozen people in West, was fined in 2006 by the Environmental Protection Agency for failing to have safety systems that met federal standards.
After implementing the plan, the company told the agency that, even though they held 54,000 of ammonia at the plant, it was 'no' risk of a fire or an explosion occurring there.
The company said the 'worst possible scenario... would be a 10-minute release of ammonia gas that would or injure no one', an EPA report reveals.
With their claim now proved tragically wrong, questions are emerging over exactly what caused the deadly blast - and what the owner, Donald Adair, and his employees could have done to avoid it."
