Ammonium Nitrate Was Cause of Texas Explosion, State Agency Says

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

Ammonium nitrate was cause of Texas explosion, state agency says

Tue May 7, 2013 8:45am EDT

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Investigators have determined that ammonium nitrate was the cause of the explosion at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant last month that left 14 people dead and some 200 injured, a spokeswoman for the Texas state fire marshal's office said on Tuesday.

"The investigators have been able to narrow down the origin to the fertilizer and seed building on site, and we also know that what caused the explosion was the ammonium nitrate," said Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Texas State Fire Marshal's Office. "What we don't know is exactly why."

The fire marshal's office has been leading the investigation of the April 17 blast, along with the federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency (ATF).

Ammonium nitrate is a dry fertilizer mixed with other fertilizers such as phosphate and applied to crops to promote growth. It can be combustible under certain conditions, and was used as an ingredient in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 that left 168 people dead.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9460GP20130507

[valerief]

1. So will the owner go to prison for leaving such huge quantities onsite? Nah, he's rich. nt

[pipoman]

4. How much was there? And how much did they need this time of year..

it is fertilizer season..

[timdog44]

10. They had as of 2012 270 tons of ammonium

nitrate in storage, which is 1350 times the amount that they were permitted to have. And the company should have reporte that thye had this much as this how it is to be done. Self reporting and no over sight.

Any farmer who has to blow up a stump or two knows that ammonium nitrate is what to use to blast the stump out of the ground. So many people know this is a very explosive chemical as it what was use in Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh.

The owner of the plant only carried a $1,000,000 liability insurance policy. http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-texas-fertilizer-plant-insurance-20130504,0,4743622.story Maybe Dick Perry should kick in the rest of the multiple hundreds of millions that this is going to eventually cost.

[pipoman]

11. lots of problems with this it seems..

[One_Life_To_Give]

17. Permited by Fire Dept? or DHS?

As Ammonium Nitrate makes up a substantial percentage of some types of fertilizer. I would think any plant using it would move considerable volumes. How much is currently in the local hardware store? A ton or more?

[timdog44]

18. I am sure it has to be

stored in some kind of volume somewhere. No doubt. The problem is that it needs to be reported and was not in this case. And if it was going to be stored in volumes of tons and tons, the city fathers there should have known so as to do some kind of zoning restrictions on home, school and hospital construction. The problem of deregulation. From what I have been able to ascertain, DHS was not even aware of the plant being there. One of the big crimes is the lack of liability insurance to cover the costs of this disaster.

[One_Life_To_Give]

19. SARA title 3 required reporting to the Fire Dept.

That is a 1986 Law. THis is the first I have heard that the company was in violation of SARA as opposed to the DHS Proposed Rule for Ammonium Nitrate Security. Title 3 is also known as the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know act. It provides Emergency Responders with information for planning purposes etc. Although it restricts who is allowed to receive this information to the emergency services.

[Javaman]

6. and probably a donor to cement head perry. nt

[heaven05]

2. duh

[LiberalEsto]

3. No shit nt

[Buzz Clik]

5. Sherlock Holmes would be proud. And it only took three weeks.

Next the investigators will be telling us that the source of the intense heat prior to the explosion was a fire.

[Brother Buzz]

16. They are still trying to connect the dots after learning about the fire on an arson hotline

The cause of the blast remains under investigation, though authorities are saying there was a fire at the plant earlier in the day based on tips received on an arson hotline.

http://security-today.com/articles/2013/05/03/west-fertilizer-plant-was-an-easy-mark.aspx

[appleannie1]

7. No shit Dick Tracy

[Jerry442]

8. Any recent word on the legal issues?

I know they failed to file a report to Homeland Security about the amount of ammonium nitrate on the premises. Were they in violation of any other restrictions?

Of course, if two same-sex employees of the fertilizer plant were getting married, Texas law enforcement would have been on them like ducks on a June bug.

[John2]

9. I see a lot

potential legal issues here, Civil and Criminal. Especially if the substance was a potential hazard and the company was reckless and negligent. There maybe the potential for a lot of law suits, especially with the Deaths that occurred.

[sofa king]

13. With virtually no liability coverage, it's a race against time.

The company itself is unlikely to survive the legal fallout, but the company is just a shield for the individuals who already got rich cutting corners.

That explosion probably blew out eardrums on the other side of town, and must have damaged dozens of homes and businesses and hundreds of cars. Probably hundreds of millions in damages, when all the suits are filed.

I'm sure the owners will find a way to liquidate most of the company's assets and drop them into a legal defense fund while giving themselves a 200% raise for the decade-long duration of the trials.

Then when the first round of decisions comes down against them, the company will declare bankruptcy and the perps will walk away richer than they would have been had the explosion not happened, while the victims get nothing. I cite generally the meat-packing, tobacco, oil, and pharmaceutical industries as prior examples of how to get rich and escape personal liability while running out the clock and waiting for the aggrieved to grow old and die.

[LeftInTX]

15. I don't know if the company or even the owner had a lot of assets

According to Manta, West has revenues of 5-10 million per year

I don't know about the owner himself. Some newspaper said he lives in a nice house. But, I didn't get the impression it was fancy.

I've read on the internet he may have owned more businesses, but I don't know if that's true. The owner is 83.

Just by the way he ran his business, I don't get the impression he had a lot of money. He didn't even bother to keep the place locked.

My hunch is, if this is the only business he owns, both his business and personal assets aren't going to be very impressive.

Damage estimates are 100 million.

[sofa king]

22. So maybe his clock will run out first.

Thanks for the information, there. I wonder what would happen if the guy died while the lawsuits were ongoing?

[bobclark86]

12. Ahh, durr...

No fucking shit, Sherlock...

[Scuba]

14. And all this time I thought it was criminal negligence.

Will they throw the ammonium nitrate in jail?

[Earth_First]

20. Best response yet. nt

[Scuba]

21. Their subtle spin tells gullible readers that a substance, not a person, was responsible.

Or am I just overly sensitive?