"Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion - Firm Cited Minimal Risks in Regulatory Filings"

[applegrove]

Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion - Firm Cited Minimal Risks in Regulatory Filings

http://stream.wsj.com/story/texas-fertilizer-plant-explosion/SS-2-214602/SS-2-215087/?mod=wsj_streaming_texas-fertilizer-plant-explosion

"SNIP..........................................


The operators of the Texas fertilizer plant where at least five people died in a blast Wednesday told government regulators there wasn’t a major risk of a fire or explosion from ammonia stored at the plant.

West Fertilizer Co. told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2011 that it was storing up to 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia at the plant, north of Waco, as part of a required “risk-management plan.” The plan said that neither fire nor explosion has been identified as a significant hazard, according to a summary of the plan on the website of the Center for Effective Government, a nonprofit group that posts the EPA data.

Companies that handle specified toxic chemicals must file the plans with EPA and local emergency officials. West Fertilizer said there had been no accidents involving ammonia at the plant in the prior five years.

The plant appears to have been primarily a distribution center. In the risk-management plan, the company described the plant’s primary activity as “the storage of fertilizers for sale to farmers.”


..........................................SNIP"

[applegrove]

1. Companies should never be allowed to regulate themselves. They are machines with no humanity

in the profit motive. For this reason they are morally/emotionally blind. They should not be allowed to influence policy.

[freshwest]

2. +1,000. Another remnant of the Bush era. Oops, it's not over. His lapdog Perry is worse.