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spanone

(135,633 posts)
14. texas also has regulatory agencies.....
Sat Apr 27, 2013, 02:09 PM
Apr 2013

The Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency charged with regulating the highly explosive substance ammonium nitrate, wasn't aware that West Fertilizer Co. stored 270 tons of ammonium nitrate - 1,300 times the threshold that triggers federal oversight.

But the small company did submit the information to another government agency - the Department of State Health Services.

http://www.chron.com/news/kilday-hart/article/State-regulators-focus-on-emissions-not-safety-4450243.php



Who regulates these fertilizer plants?

At least seven different state and federal agencies can regulate Texas fertilizer plants like the one in West: OSHA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service.

Some of the agencies don’t appear to have shared information before the blast.

Fertilizer plants that hold more than 400 pounds of ammonium nitrate, for instance, are required to notify the Department of Homeland Security. (Ammonium nitrate can be used to make bombs. It’s what Timothy McVeigh used to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.) The West plant held 270 tons 2014 yes, tons 2014 of the chemical last year, according to a report it filed with the Texas Department of State Health Services, but the plant didn’t tell Homeland Security.

http://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2013/04/what-went-wrong-in-west-and-where-were-the-regulators/

Just of the week? He's working on of the decade. hobbit709 Apr 2013 #1
I hadn't fully grasped the irony before. Yikes. Gov Goodhair's got balls of steel. Gidney N Cloyd Apr 2013 #2
If it wasn't for Gomer, he would own the title hands down. russspeakeasy Apr 2013 #3
not fair to sacks of shit. spanone Apr 2013 #4
True, fertilizer at least makes crops grow. nt riqster Apr 2013 #9
I wouldn't shed a tear of Texas either became a republic unto itself again, or vanished from the Nika Apr 2013 #5
I beg to differ Cirque du So-What Apr 2013 #7
I can appreciate that. Mine was a gut wrenching first reaction anyway. Nika Apr 2013 #10
Rick Perry: the man so dense that light bends around him! backscatter712 Apr 2013 #6
Physics and politics! Awesome. riqster Apr 2013 #8
DU is a shameless echo chamber where it's assumed everyone always swallows the bullshit. Buzz Clik Apr 2013 #11
Austerity, Deregulation and the Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion spanone Apr 2013 #12
Point 1. West Fertilizer Company is not a "chemical plant" by any definition. Buzz Clik Apr 2013 #13
texas also has regulatory agencies..... spanone Apr 2013 #14
All of this is quite well known. All of it. Buzz Clik Apr 2013 #16
obviously the DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES in texas dropped the ball. spanone Apr 2013 #17
Correct. Likewise, if West Fertilizer Co. had informed DHS directly, as they are required to do! nt Buzz Clik Apr 2013 #18
complicity all around.... spanone Apr 2013 #19
That is an excellent question, and it could get back to Texas bristling at the Feds. Buzz Clik Apr 2013 #20
Maybe you are aware that state employees enforce federal regulations tabasco Apr 2013 #22
In some cases. So, how is that relevant? Buzz Clik Apr 2013 #23
Tax and regulation and,...wasn't there a third thing? Spitfire of ATJ Apr 2013 #15
Juanita Jean has some good comments about Goodhair Gothmog Apr 2013 #21
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