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Texas fertilizer facility was a retail outlet for the farmers of the area not a factory.
This puts a slightly different slant on it about the zoning and regulations but it had been fined in 2006 by the EPA for not having a risk management program in place.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/18/the-texas-fertilizer-plant-explosion-is-horrific-but-how-common-is-this/
The Washington Post
The Texas fertilizer plant explosion is horrific. But how common is this?
By Brad Plumer, Updated: April 18, 2013
Yet another bit of awful news to add to this week: A massive explosion at a fertilizer retail facility in central Texas on Wednesday killed as many as 15 people and left more than 160 wounded.
Investigators are still trying to determine the exact cause of the blast. But the explosion does call attention to the $10-billion dollar U.S. fertilizer industry, which underpins our agricultural system and has been expanding of late.
Fertilizer production and storage comes with some risks. The West, Texas plant stored and blended anhydrous ammonia — a pungent gas with suffocating fumes used as a fertilizer. Meanwhile, a different type of fertilizer, ammonium nitrate, can explode if mixed with fuel and ignited. That’s fairly rare, but it does happen — there have been at least 16 major explosions worldwide since 1921. (It’s unknown if ammonium nitrate was present at the West facility, too.)
So here’s a basic overview of the fertilizer industry — how big it is, how common explosions are, how often these facilities are inspected:
How big is the U.S. fertilizer industry?
In 2011, the U.S. fertilizer industry reported some $10 billion in revenues. The United States as a whole shipped about $4.5 billion worth of fertilizer overseas and imported another $13 billion worth. We still import about half the synthetic nitrogen fertilizer we use.
Most of our imported nitrogen fertilizer come from Canada, Russia and Trinidad and Tobago — all places with plenty of natural gas to make the stuff. (More on that in a sec.)
Is the U.S. fertilizer industry growing?
Yes, and fast. Mainly because the United States is now awash in cheap natural gas. A great deal of fertilizer is synthesized from atmospheric nitrogen and natural gas — that was likely the case with the ammonia stored in the retail facility in West, Texas.
During the early 2000s, the fertilizer industry had been moving abroad to places with natural gas — like Trinidad and Tobago. But the fracking boom has given the United States its own cheap shale gas, and producers are now returning home. One Egyptian company, for example, is investing $1.4 billion in a fertilizer plant in Iowa near a gas pipeline.
Meanwhile, the global demand for fertilizer keeps growing, particularly after widespread shortages and food price spikes in 2007 and 2008. As the chart below shows, the world’s appetite for nitrogen, phosphate and potash has been rising quickly since then:
more at link
The Texas fertilizer plant explosion is horrific. But how common is this?
By Brad Plumer, Updated: April 18, 2013
Yet another bit of awful news to add to this week: A massive explosion at a fertilizer retail facility in central Texas on Wednesday killed as many as 15 people and left more than 160 wounded.
Investigators are still trying to determine the exact cause of the blast. But the explosion does call attention to the $10-billion dollar U.S. fertilizer industry, which underpins our agricultural system and has been expanding of late.
Fertilizer production and storage comes with some risks. The West, Texas plant stored and blended anhydrous ammonia — a pungent gas with suffocating fumes used as a fertilizer. Meanwhile, a different type of fertilizer, ammonium nitrate, can explode if mixed with fuel and ignited. That’s fairly rare, but it does happen — there have been at least 16 major explosions worldwide since 1921. (It’s unknown if ammonium nitrate was present at the West facility, too.)
So here’s a basic overview of the fertilizer industry — how big it is, how common explosions are, how often these facilities are inspected:
How big is the U.S. fertilizer industry?
In 2011, the U.S. fertilizer industry reported some $10 billion in revenues. The United States as a whole shipped about $4.5 billion worth of fertilizer overseas and imported another $13 billion worth. We still import about half the synthetic nitrogen fertilizer we use.
Most of our imported nitrogen fertilizer come from Canada, Russia and Trinidad and Tobago — all places with plenty of natural gas to make the stuff. (More on that in a sec.)
Is the U.S. fertilizer industry growing?
Yes, and fast. Mainly because the United States is now awash in cheap natural gas. A great deal of fertilizer is synthesized from atmospheric nitrogen and natural gas — that was likely the case with the ammonia stored in the retail facility in West, Texas.
During the early 2000s, the fertilizer industry had been moving abroad to places with natural gas — like Trinidad and Tobago. But the fracking boom has given the United States its own cheap shale gas, and producers are now returning home. One Egyptian company, for example, is investing $1.4 billion in a fertilizer plant in Iowa near a gas pipeline.
Meanwhile, the global demand for fertilizer keeps growing, particularly after widespread shortages and food price spikes in 2007 and 2008. As the chart below shows, the world’s appetite for nitrogen, phosphate and potash has been rising quickly since then:
So this is kind of an interesting read all about the chemical fertilizer business.
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