Regulatory gap inhibits inquiry into West explosion
By The Associated Press
HOUSTON — Federal and state officials investigating last week's deadly blast at a Central Texas fertilizer company are trying to determine whether a fire at the plant could have ignited a supply of ammonium nitrate. But how much of the highly explosive fertilizer was stored at the site is unclear because of a gap in federal regulations.
The gap indicates that measures taken after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the Sept. 11, 2001, attack to monitor potentially dangerous substances have been less effective than anticipated. The investigation of the blast at the West Fertilizer Co., which killed at least 14 people, has focused new attention on the regulation of chemicals that pose safety or terrorism concerns.
"We don't know what chemicals were there, we don't know what chemicals are there, and at this point, we do not know the quantities that were on hand at the time of the incident," Kelly Kistner, Texas assistant state fire marshal, told reporters.
After the 2001 attacks, the Department of Homeland Security began requiring all companies with more than 400 pounds of ammonium nitrate to register with the agency. The fertilizer was used in the bomb that destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, killing 168 people.
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Why didn't 2,400 tons of ammonium nitrate at West plant raise concerns?
Texas’ environmental agency knew in 2006 that West Fertilizer Co. was handling 2,400 tons a year of potentially explosive ammonium nitrate in a warehouse near schools, houses and a nursing home, documents show.
The notation in a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality permit form apparently raised no concerns, either internally or with other agencies, about explosion risks or the proper management of a chemical already notorious in Texas history for its deadly qualities when heated to extreme temperatures or exposed to shock.
Other agencies that knew about the dangerous stockpile also failed to pose such questions to their peers, records and interviews indicate. The explosion April 17 in the Central Texas town of West killed 14 people, including 10 volunteer firefighters, burned a school and destroyed or damaged buildings over a 35-block area.
Perry's deregulated Texas is working exactly as it should. There are no rules. It costs to much money too inspect businesses so we have to trust them to do the right thing.
