THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

It appears more and more as if the explosion was part of a plot by capitalist terrorists to suck the assets out of hard working people without any thought to the risk to their lives and futures. The owner(s) of the plant seem to have blatantly disregarded the few regulations that would have applied to a Texas bidness.

According to Department of Homeland Security rules, fertilizer plants and storage depots are required to report when they hold 400 pounds of ammonium nitrate because it can be used in bomb making, but filings with the Texas Department of State Health Services were not shared with DHS showing that West Fertilizer had 270 tons of ammonium nitrate last year, or 1350 times (540,000 lbs) more than the amount the company was required to report to DHS. According to pentagon explosives experts, a 270-ton ammonium nitrate blast would dwarf any non-nuclear weapon in the US arsenal, and was more than 100 times the weight of the ammonium nitrate used in the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City bombing which killed 168 and injured over 800. West Fertilizer previously convinced Texas regulators that any accident at the facility would not be large enough to cause an explosion, and a self-filed risk management plan in 2011 failed to mention the presence of ammonium nitrate at the site.

By not informing the DHS of potentially explosive fertilizer as required, the principal regulator (DHS) of a bomb making ingredient (ammonium nitrate) was unaware of any danger there. According to the ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), “This manufacturer was willfully off the grid. This facility was known to have chemicals well above the threshold amount to be regulated under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Act (CFATS), yet we understand that DHS did not even know the plant existed until it blew up.” Republicans claim regulations are unnecessary because businesses self-regulate, inspect, and report something like ammonium nitrate and other volatile chemicals to regulatory agencies and departments such as DHS, but West Fertilizer rejected DHS regulations that would have allowed Homeland Security to measure risks, and devise security and safety plans based on “self-reporting.” West Fertilizer was not regulated, or monitored, by the DHS under CFAT standards designed to prevent terrorists from sabotaging sites and to prevent explosive chemicals from falling into terrorist’s hands, but the agency never received any so-called “top-screen” report.

DHS spokesman Peter Boogaard said his agency focuses “specifically on enhancing security to reduce the risk of terrorism at certain high-risk chemical facilities, but because they failed to report the explosive chemicals, West Fertilizer facility is not regulated under the CFATS program and it shows that the enforcement routine has to be more robust, on local, state and federal levels.” Another expert, Sam Mannan, director of process safety center at Texas A&M University said “If information is not shared with agencies, which appears to have happened here, then the regulations won’t work” and it informs that Republican’s favorite policy of self-reporting and regulating does not work, and is another example that the GOP’s deregulation efforts created another devastating tragedy. For the record, the owners of West TX Fertilizer, a privately owned company, donated to Rick Perry’s campaign for governor and Perry has been a staunch advocate for deregulation to “get government out of the way” and regularly boasts Texas’ “business friendly” environment that led to the deaths of 14 and injuries to over 200 Texans.

Buildings and people can be replaced so who needs all those damn regulations to protect them.