USA Today by
Feed and fertilizer distributors such as West Fertilizer Co. are registered with the Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service, which also inspects them. West is one of 592 such establishments registered with the agency, created in 1899, says Tim Herrman, the Texas State Chemist who directs the service based in College Station
On its web page, the Feed and Fertilizer Control Service shows 14 feed and fertilizer investigators, each responsible for certain counties in the state. Texas has 254 counties.
"It's a complex facility," Herrman said of West Fertilizer. "Each of the different types of structures could fall under a different regulatory authority. It has fertilizer and grain. And they're also licensed as a feed establishment because of the grain tanks."
According to the service's 2012 annual report on fertilizer distributors, West Fertilizer had two chemical-related violations and one registration violation, from September 2011, to September 2012.
"We are in the firms multiple times in a year. We were in this firm just recently," Herrman says, declining to elaborate on how recently. "It's very clearly defined in the law and rules what they're obliged to do, and we make sure they do all of it."
Attorney Terrence Welch of Richardson, Texas, an expert in Texas zoning laws, said it's not surprising that homes and schools would be located near industrial facilities in small towns, many of which grew up around railroad tracks.
"Even though cities have zoning powers, the houses have been there sometimes long before cities adopted zoning ordinances," he said, "I grew up in the Midwest, and it's the same way there, too."
As to why a school may have been near the fertilizer facility, spokesman DeEtta Culbertson of the Texas Education Agency in Austin says there are no state regulations about school locations.
"It's a local issue," she said.
HOWEVER
A quick look at the website for the Feed and Fertilizer Control Service (cited above) suggested that regulations is focussed on hazards to animal and human health through the use of fertilizer. There seems to be some controls on who can buy the material, but that is probably related to terrorism. There is no mention of safety at storage and distribution sites such as the West site
Feed and fertilizer distributors such as West Fertilizer Co. are registered with the Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service, which also inspects them. West is one of 592 such establishments registered with the agency, created in 1899, says Tim Herrman, the Texas State Chemist who directs the service based in College Station
On its web page, the Feed and Fertilizer Control Service shows 14 feed and fertilizer investigators, each responsible for certain counties in the state. Texas has 254 counties.
"It's a complex facility," Herrman said of West Fertilizer. "Each of the different types of structures could fall under a different regulatory authority. It has fertilizer and grain. And they're also licensed as a feed establishment because of the grain tanks."
According to the service's 2012 annual report on fertilizer distributors, West Fertilizer had two chemical-related violations and one registration violation, from September 2011, to September 2012.
"We are in the firms multiple times in a year. We were in this firm just recently," Herrman says, declining to elaborate on how recently. "It's very clearly defined in the law and rules what they're obliged to do, and we make sure they do all of it."
Attorney Terrence Welch of Richardson, Texas, an expert in Texas zoning laws, said it's not surprising that homes and schools would be located near industrial facilities in small towns, many of which grew up around railroad tracks.
"Even though cities have zoning powers, the houses have been there sometimes long before cities adopted zoning ordinances," he said, "I grew up in the Midwest, and it's the same way there, too."
As to why a school may have been near the fertilizer facility, spokesman DeEtta Culbertson of the Texas Education Agency in Austin says there are no state regulations about school locations.
"It's a local issue," she said.
HOWEVER
A quick look at the website for the Feed and Fertilizer Control Service (cited above) suggested that regulations is focussed on hazards to animal and human health through the use of fertilizer. There seems to be some controls on who can buy the material, but that is probably related to terrorism. There is no mention of safety at storage and distribution sites such as the West site
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