Last year, West plant kept 270 tons of potentially explosive fertilizer
Source: Dallas Morning News
WEST, TEXAS The fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday had at least 540,000 pounds of potentially dangerous ammonium nitrate in a storage building, a 2012 company filing with the state health department shows.
Thats more than 100 times the weight of the ammonium nitrate and fuel oil mix that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh used to destroy the Murrah Federal Building 18 years ago Friday.
The size of the explosive fertilizer stockpile on the property of West Fertilizer Co. and Adair Grain became clear Friday as an army of federal, state and local investigators picked through acres of shredded metal and the debris from blasted homes and schools close to the site.
The number of deaths rose to 14 with the discovery of two more bodies Friday. More than 200 people were injured.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/west-explosion/headlines/20130419-last-year-west-plant-kept-270-tons-of-potentially-explosive-fertilizer.ece
Ash_F
(5,861 posts)TexasTowelie
(111,314 posts)Warning, I do not normally engage in conspiracy theories and I'm reporting what I read in the link. I do have 30 hours of chemistry from college so I'll try to relay the essentials below.
I read the article and it indicates that it is being treated as a crime scene because they do not know how the ammonium nitrate (fertilizer) was secured. Therefore, it is possible that someone deliberately set a fire for reasons such as retaliation, murder or terrorism. None of the nine employees were at the plant that evening although one returned in the capacity of a volunteer fire fighter.
They still haven't determined whether it was the anhydrous ammonia (concentrated ammonia) or the ammonium nitrate (fertilizer) exploded. I know that mixing water with anhydrous ammonia creates an exothermic reaction, but never thought of it being so dangerous because of the small quantities that I used in the lab. However, it is possible that the firefighters weren't aware and with the quantities of both liquids anything is possible. The ammonium nitrate seems a more likely cause in my opinion.
The Office of the Texas State Chemist at Texas A&M University asked the Texas attorney generals office to rule on whether it must release fertilizer inventories to The Dallas Morning News in light of the West explosion. The chemists office said such information might help those wishing to build a bomb.
The plant opened in 1962 and was a mile north of town. The nursing home opened in 1966 and apparently housing developments and the apartment occurred around the same time frame.
glowing
(12,233 posts)the internet. Its more likely they don't want to give out a lot of info... God forbid the people of West have a suitable complaint or the owner face jail time.
Jerry442
(1,265 posts)Over at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Disaster
There, a fire was followed by a massive ammonium nitrate explosion.
valerief
(53,235 posts)kentauros
(29,414 posts)was pretty much vaporized by that blast. Consider, too, that 600 people died instantly. Most of those were the crowds that had gathered to watch the fire.
PADemD
(4,482 posts)Locals also said the plant had been a nuisance recently by burning wood pallets outside the facility. In February, the West Intermediate School, adjacent to the plant, was temporarily evacuated during a burn outside the facility.
Theyve been starting fires over there, trying to burn [the wood pallets] up to dispose of them, longtime resident Darryl Garrick told StateImpact Texas. Garrick says the explosion knocked him four feet in the air of his couch. He lives about a mile away from the plant.
http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2013/04/19/west-texas-up-to-15-fatalities-estimated-fire-under-control/
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)which is farm fertiliser ?
joshcryer
(62,265 posts)That's OSHA answering a question about storage requirements.
29 CFR 1910.119 says you can only store 10k lbs of stuff: http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=86cd6288b1f55f724c1615e9165d1957&rgn=div8&view=text&node=29:5.1.1.1.8.8.33.13&idno=29
But if you read the original document the OSHA guy says that you're exempt if you follow the guidelines in 29 CFR 1910.111: http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=9757
I have my doubts that this storage facility was even remotely following those guidelines. Especially since their last inspection was 1985: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/texas-fertilizer-plant-ha_n_3113117.html
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)What the hell do they matter...
If they had gotten caught it probably would have been a $1,000 fine and a slap on the wrist. That's how bad enforcement is.
WRH2
(87 posts)a-oh, please send federal money
valerief
(53,235 posts)Ilsa
(61,675 posts)Said they had 54,000 lbs on site. I wonder if they deliberately said one-tenth of what was on hand, or if they had cleared out the other 90% since last year's report of 540,000.
Either way, it is far too much to have.
The city and the company should have worked together on keeping the plant a minimum distance from residences and schools. They should have established a perimeter fence and "no building" zone. They also should have established a warning system, alarms, reverse callback, etc. It's explosive stuff. It was bound to happen eventually given the routine negligence found by inspectors.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)insurance for the damages it suffers, whether its insurance will at least compensate the many people who have lost loved ones and everything they own in this explosion and whether West will try to deduct its losses from its taxes.
I know it is crass to think about so much loss of human life and so many serious injuries in terms of money, but I would like to see West rather than the taxpayers pay for the losses that victims of the explosion have suffered -- including medical care and physical injuries.
And I would not like to see a company such as West enrich itself from a situation like this unless it too is a victim, say of sabotage.
Storing that much of a substance that is extremely explosive should require adequate safety measures.
Obama has already offered help from the federal government. West should be required to pay first. Taxpayers should only pay what West absolutely cannot cover. West should have had adequate insurance for this. It is a man-made disaster, not a natural disaster. Sandy Hook, tornadoes and earthquakes are natural disasters. This was not.
I don't want to see the victims left without help. I just want to see West exhaust all of its resources before the government money is used.
postulater
(5,075 posts)That company is not too big to fail. The town is though, no matter how small.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)and take care of everyone (including the employees) and their damages. In terms of the company, screw'em. Let them file for bankruptcy. It was the capitalist regulation system that let them get away with gross violations, make file Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
TexasTowelie
(111,314 posts)The school building alone is probably $10 million in property damage. Add in similar amounts for the nursing home and apartment complex. Probably about the same for the residence damage and they are at $40 million. That hasn't even touched the injuries or fatalities.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)Those people need to be taken care of. What sickens me most is the nursing home.
You are probably right though, they'd have to have liability coverage in the range of $100-200 million.
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)Medical supplies and equipment at that nursing facility before you add in the building and typical contents.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)He can afford to pay for everything.
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)Blown away a huge chunk of Interstate-35 nearby. That would certainly affect Rick Perry's business plans.
Did no one there think anything about the danger of storing so much?
TxTow, maybe your true gift is in Chemistry field?
TexasTowelie
(111,314 posts)I was a chemistry lab assistant for three years in college and that was enough. I didn't have steady hands and had a few lab experiences that took me away from that field.
1) Brushing the bottom of my corduroy pants against a bottle of hydrobromic acid in the stockroom.
2) Leaning against the vent hood mixing some reagents, some hydrochloric acid didn't get cleaned up and it got on my pants a couple of inches shy of the most vital parts of TexasTowelie. Everyone laughed out loud when I had to run across the room to the sink so I could grab one hose to spray so that the other hose wouldn't get burnt.
3) A couple of pyromaniacs in my labs that turned the Bunsen burners on about 15 feet high.
Crowman1979
(3,844 posts)efhmc
(14,709 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)madrchsod
(58,162 posts)ya all come on down to texas where you don`t have to worry about regulations to hurt your bottom line!
marble falls
(56,359 posts)Ilsa
(61,675 posts)I wonder if it was a combination of heat, water vapor, or if the fire reached it, or something else?
marble falls
(56,359 posts)oil and a blasting cap is needed to generate the bang. If you put a match to it, it won't burn. AN is pretty darn stable in when its by itself. Now natural gas is used in making fertilizer......
octothorpe
(962 posts)heh, the conspiracy nuts jumped right on that saying that someone wanted to blow it up with a missile, and the video shows one coming in from the left corner. Which like so totally makes sense.... Someone who had access to cruise missiles wanted to blow up a fertilizer storage plant in some unknown little texas town.
marble falls
(56,359 posts)isn't controlled, anhydrous tanks will blow if they're warmed too quick or someone hits a valve. An ammonia plant in South Sioux City blew up killing several guys and we smelled it across the river in Nebraska 35 miles away and heard the blast, too. Dint need no missiles. Agriculture is a dangerous industry/
Response to TexasTowelie (Original post)
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gristy
(10,667 posts)Nothing potential about it.