Posted on 04/21/2013 11:22:36 AM PDT by OKRA2012
The West, Texas fertilizer plant where a powerful explosion killed at least 14 and injured dozens on Wednesday failed to disclose a massive ammount of ammonium nitrate ordinarily regulated by federal officials, according to Reuters.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security requires fertilizer plants and depots to disclose amounts of ammonium nitrate, which can be used to make a bomb, above 400 lbs. The West, Texas plant, West Fertilizer, reportedly held 270 tons of the substance, 1,350 times that limit.
(Excerpt) Read more at livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com ...
All roads lead to beer.
This was a Texas EPA or some such inspection and report from 2006, apparently the last major plant inspection. It's worth following the link to see this; it's way at the end of the article.
My two questions: is anhydrous ammonia the same thing as ammonium nitrate? and if NOT, did West Fertilizer for some reason acquire massive amounts of ammonium nitrate in the seven years since the report was made?
Coincidentally, seven years is the amount of time Mr. Adair has owned the plant...he is quite elderly, and may not be a "hands-on" manager. Or, the whole "ammonium nitrate" story could be wrong on what caused the explosion. OR, if there WAS an amount of ammonium nitrate there, could it have showed up there as recently as the day of the explosion??
“...is anhydrous ammonia the same thing as ammonium nitrate?...”
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no, it is not.
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=FEDERAL_REGISTER&p_id=21365
“3301.1.5 Ammonium nitate. The storage and handling of ammonium nitrate shall comply with the requirements of NFPA 490, Chapter 2 and 40. Ammonium nitrate shall be classified in accordance with Table 3301.1.5(1) and stored in accordance with Section 3301.8 when classified as an explosive material.”
I read it and that’s irrelevant to what I said.
hehehehehe! ;)
Thanks.
I like to save the beer for last. It gives me something to work toward....
irrelevant
That would be a blessing for them. :-)
LoL no.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate
anhydrous ammonia is the same as ammonium nitrate. You’re probably right in that the owner had trusted managers he let run the plant on his behalf.
I’d be interested in why the plant wad producing so much ammonium nitrate, unreported, if they are supposed to,report anything over 400 lbs.
The info provided was correct to the paperwork but not to reality. Somebody is going to jail.
I see you're stating this from Florida. West is down the road from me but you know best. Can't you even bother doing a little research? As has been reported many times, the fertilizer place was built in the country long before the town grew out toward it. The school and nursing home were built afterward. Look at a map and you'll see for yourself.
hussein can give all the speeches he wants along the east coast. We don’t need him in Texas.
The 400 lb rule doesn’t make a lot of sense for a factory that makes the stuff by the ton.
“I need to file a report if I have 400 lb?”
“Yes.”
“OK, I have 40,000 lbs. Here’s my form, now make 365 copies of it for the next year.”
This plant manufactures the stuff....That amount in tonnage is virtually nothing...
270 tons = 540,000 lbs = 5,400 bags of fertilizer.(if bagged in 100lb sacks)Or they sometimes palletize it in much larger sacks that hold on e ton each.
That is a fairly reasonable amount to fill one single order from a distributor...
Nobody is in trouble....and there is nothing unusual about the quantity.
On top of that, it was not the finished product that initiated the explosion. To set of fertilizer you need certain conditions to occur. You need heat and pressure.
The explosion, IMO was set off by a exploding tank of anhydrous ammonia, that had over heated due to a fire, most probably at the loading dock. The fertilizer was probably nearby, waiting to be shipped.
Not knowing any of the specifics directly from the investigators yet, this scenario is the first one I had and the only one I have considered. I see this as a unfortunate but explainable industrial accident that could have been much worse had the anhydrous ammonia not been mostly consumed by the explosion. Anhydrous ammonia is used in the manufacture of the nitrates needed for fertilizers...It is converted to ammonium nitrate, which is usually then mixed with additives to create the specific type of fertilizer desired. There is nothing unusual about any of this, but that will not stop anti-business interests who have been on a rolling bandwagon destroying companies from coast to coast since the Enron mess.... Have a nice day.
I think you meant to say:
"anhydrous ammonia is NOT the same as ammonium nitrate."
Gaseous ammonia is used to make ammonium nitrate, which is a fertilizer.
I looked this up...100 lbs per acre is considered a “light fertilizing,” so a tiny farm of 40 acres will use 4,000 lbs in just one light application. 400 lb is a ridiculously small amount for a fertilizer plant.
Maybe, but how big of an explosion could 400 lbs of ammonium nitrate make?
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