Dallas News by Brandon Formby 23 April 2013 at 20:42 (BST)
State and federal investigators combing through the mangled wreckage of a decimated 11-building, 10-acre fertilizer plant have already ruled out some causes of the fire and subsequent explosion that killed 14 people in this normally calm Central Texas farming community.
Assistant State Fire Marshal Kelly Kistner said Tuesday the fire that ignited an unknown chemical, triggering the massive explosion, was not started from natural causes such as lightning. That means the cause of the fire – if it can be determined – will be either deemed accidental or intentional.
Kistner also said the source of the blast that left a 93-foot wide, 10-foot deep crater at the plant was not a toppled rail car filled with ammonium nitrite.
“It is a victim of that explosion,” Kistner said.
The site of the explosion was not on the railway spur that the rail car was knocked off of. Kistner said there were no other rail cars at the site.
“The investigation has to work itself out,” said N. Alex Winslow, the executive director of the nonpartisan consumer advocacy group Texas Watch. “But I think there are a few things that are becoming apparent … among them being lax oversight and regulation for industrial plants generally.”
West Fertilizer has had problems complying with Texas environmental rules for decades, state records show.
In 1984, the company moved two large pressurized tanks of liquid anhydrous ammonia, a potentially lethal poison, from a site in nearby Hill County to its current location in West without notifying state authorities.
Seven years passed before Texas regulators took notice and told the company to fix its paperwork. The tanks had sat at their new location, near homes, schools and a nursing home, with little or no state oversight for all that time.
In 1987, the company – then known as West Chemical and Fertilizer Co. – was venting ammonia that built up in transfer pipes into the air despite explicit orders in its permit not to do so. The company apparently changed its practices.
In 2006, a West police officer called a company employee to tell him an ammonia tank valve was leaking. The employee confirmed the leak and “took the NH3 [ammonia] tank out to the country at his farm,” according to a handwritten note. “West Police followed him.”
The Office of the Texas State Chemist, a division of Texas A&M University, is fighting a Dallas Morning News request for inspection and inventory records, citing national security concerns regarding ammonium nitrate, which can be highly explosive and used in bombs.
Lawmakers have largely held off on recommending any specific safety guidelines in the aftermath of the blast, saying they’d prefer to see what investigators learn about the incident first.
State and federal investigators combing through the mangled wreckage of a decimated 11-building, 10-acre fertilizer plant have already ruled out some causes of the fire and subsequent explosion that killed 14 people in this normally calm Central Texas farming community.
Assistant State Fire Marshal Kelly Kistner said Tuesday the fire that ignited an unknown chemical, triggering the massive explosion, was not started from natural causes such as lightning. That means the cause of the fire – if it can be determined – will be either deemed accidental or intentional.
Kistner also said the source of the blast that left a 93-foot wide, 10-foot deep crater at the plant was not a toppled rail car filled with ammonium nitrite.
“It is a victim of that explosion,” Kistner said.
The site of the explosion was not on the railway spur that the rail car was knocked off of. Kistner said there were no other rail cars at the site.
“The investigation has to work itself out,” said N. Alex Winslow, the executive director of the nonpartisan consumer advocacy group Texas Watch. “But I think there are a few things that are becoming apparent … among them being lax oversight and regulation for industrial plants generally.”
West Fertilizer has had problems complying with Texas environmental rules for decades, state records show.
In 1984, the company moved two large pressurized tanks of liquid anhydrous ammonia, a potentially lethal poison, from a site in nearby Hill County to its current location in West without notifying state authorities.
Seven years passed before Texas regulators took notice and told the company to fix its paperwork. The tanks had sat at their new location, near homes, schools and a nursing home, with little or no state oversight for all that time.
In 1987, the company – then known as West Chemical and Fertilizer Co. – was venting ammonia that built up in transfer pipes into the air despite explicit orders in its permit not to do so. The company apparently changed its practices.
In 2006, a West police officer called a company employee to tell him an ammonia tank valve was leaking. The employee confirmed the leak and “took the NH3 [ammonia] tank out to the country at his farm,” according to a handwritten note. “West Police followed him.”
The Office of the Texas State Chemist, a division of Texas A&M University, is fighting a Dallas Morning News request for inspection and inventory records, citing national security concerns regarding ammonium nitrate, which can be highly explosive and used in bombs.
Lawmakers have largely held off on recommending any specific safety guidelines in the aftermath of the blast, saying they’d prefer to see what investigators learn about the incident first.
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