“Proper urban zoning”??
No.
This is a small Texas town, rural in nature, touched on one side by the masses that travel north and south along the interstate.
These little towns don’t zone. They just grow (or shrink) slowly as they see fit. The fertilizer plant had been there for decades. Nobody was forced to live near the plant, nor were they prevented from doing so.
It’s called freedom. We do a lot of that in Texas. Usually it works out quite well.
The interstate and railroad, with all their hazardous cargo, also pose threats, but we live alongside them every day.
The “tax money” comment was snarky and unnecessary.
West makes more money off its heritage than it ever has off that fertilizer plant.
When Texas was an independent nation (and even before, as the nationalities of the heroes of the Alamo will attest), people came from many countries to settle here, even establish embassies and diplomatic ties. Many of them stayed. To this day, we have numerous ethnic Texas towns that integrate their original culture with our Texas independence.
West is Czech and well-known for its kolache shops and festival. We have the Germans of Boerne and Fredericksburg and the Hill Country, and Muenster and its surrounds, the Danes of Danevang, so many more.
If you want to consider West’s tax base, look at the kolache trade. It’s one of those places you simply can’t drive past.
I did not mean to be snarky and I am very grieved for this town that represents the best of America (I love Texas). However, I can’t help but wonder how much cheaper it would have been to move such a plant further away from occupied dwellings and a school just in case something horrible like this occurred.
History shows that life is not without risk, but looking at a first responders guide to hazmat incidents shows that these homes and structures were built well within the critical danger radius for much smaller amounts of the material that was present in bulk at this facility.
Risk mitigation dictates you don’t place a nursing home within 500 feet (apparently) of such a place. If we agree to disagree that is okay. Regardless, my prayers are with the people of West and those affected by this tragedy.
We had an even larger facility/chemical plant in the city where I was a first-responder and the potential for a massive disaster with hundreds or thousands of casualties was very real. An effort was made to help the company move out of the city and it was declined for financial and political reasons - seeing what happened there is very sobering. Relocating a plant like this would have been a few pennies on the dollar to what this will cost and it would have limited injuries and property damage.