Vol. 78/No. 20       May 26, 2014

BY STEVE WARSHELL
HOUSTON — The explosion of 30 tons of ammonium nitrate that killed 15 people, injured another 226 and devastated the town of West, Texas, on April 17 last year “was preventable. It should never have occurred,” Rafael Moure-Eraso, chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, said at a press conference in Dallas April 22, announcing the federal agency’s preliminary conclusions on the disaster.

The report confirms what many area residents know firsthand: West Fertilizer Company and government agencies put maximizing profits ahead of the lives of working people.

West Fertilizer stored highly flammable ammonium nitrate in wooden bins inside a wooden warehouse, which is common throughout the country. “The building lacked a sprinkler system or other systems to automatically detect or suppress fire,” the agency report said. The chemical was stored near “significant amounts of combustible seeds, which likely contributed to the intensity of the fire.”

Ammonium nitrate itself can be easily mixed with limestone that “practically eliminates any risk of explosion,” the agency said. This is a common practice in Europe, but not in the United States.

More than 10 years ago, the Chemical Safety Board recommended that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency issue regulations on the storage and handling of the chemical, but the two agencies have not taken any action, the report added. OSHA had not inspected the storage site since 1985.

The blast in West, a town of about 3,000 people in central Texas, occurred after workers had gone home for the day and a fire started in a warehouse.

The explosion registered 2.1 on the earthquake Richter scale and destroyed more than 150 homes, a nearby school, a nursing home and two other buildings. The area water supply was unusable for weeks. A majority of those killed were firefighters trying to put out the blaze, including one who was a worker at the plant.

Joe Pickett, chairman of the Texas House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety, told the Houston Chronicle he planned to introduce a bill on ammonium nitrate storage. He said it would not be “too onerous” and would not “step on too many toes.”
 
 
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