"Texas fertilizer company didn't heed disclosure rules before blast"

[applegrove]

Texas fertilizer company didn't heed disclosure rules before blast

By Joshua Schneyer, Ryan McNeill and Janet Roberts at Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/20/us-usa-explosion-regulation-idUSBRE93J09N20130420

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

(Reuters) - The fertilizer plant that exploded on Wednesday, obliterating part of a small Texas town and killing at least 14 people, had last year been storing 1,350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that would normally trigger safety oversight by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Yet a person familiar with DHS operations said the company that owns the plant, West Fertilizer, did not tell the agency about the potentially explosive fertilizer as it is required to do, leaving one of the principal regulators of ammonium nitrate - which can also be used in bomb making - unaware of any danger there.

Fertilizer plants and depots must report to the DHS when they hold 400 lb (180 kg) or more of the substance. Filings this year with the Texas Department of State Health Services, which weren't shared with DHS, show the plant had 270 tons of it on hand last year.

A U.S. congressman and several safety experts called into question on Friday whether incomplete disclosure or regulatory gridlock may have contributed to the disaster.


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

[rehabiti]

1. usa

usa under attack hhhh

[DevonRex]

2. Wait, wut?

[Dustlawyer]

3. In today's climate, companies do what they want

and pay the fine if caught. No one but little people go to jail. Watch and see!

[northoftheborder]

4. I wonder who their congressional rep is. could it be Gohmert by any chance?