Texas Fertilizer Plant Failed To Disclose Massive Amount Of Ammonium Nitrate

TPM ^ | 4/20/13 | IGOR BOBIC

[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.

[Repeal The 17th]

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security requires fertilizer plants and depots to disclose amounts of ammonium nitrate...
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"... 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..."
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try to focus on this:
"...this facility was known to have chemicals well above the threshold amount to be regulated..."
"...DHS did not even know the plant existed..."
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Just catch your breath and think about it...
"...they were known to exist...but DHS did not know...?"
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NOTHING but a paperwork issue...
and nothing there that would have PREVENTED the accident.
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p.s. try to get a life.

[Red Steel]

The Texas City Disaster. - National Fire Protection Association - http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/pdf/texascity.pdf

"NFPA 490 - Code for the Storage of Ammonium Nitrate, 2002 Edition

The 2002 NFPA 490 - Code for the Storage of Ammonium Nitrate contains minimum requirements for the storage of ammonium nitrate in the form of crystals, flakes, grains, or prills. This also includes fertilizer grade as defined by Definitions and Test Procedures for Ammonium Nitrate Fertilizer, dynamite grade, nitrous oxide grade as defined by Standard for Ammonium Nitrate (Nitrous Oxide Grade), technical grade, and other mixtures containing 60 percent or more by weight of ammonium nitrate. The Standard provides users with critical requirements for storage structures, storage in containers and bulk storage, and separation from contaminants. Fire protection and general safety precautions are also included. Approx. 12 pp.

NFPA 490: Code for the Storage of Ammonium Nitrate, 2002 Edition - Table of Contents:Z
Administration
Referenced Publications
Definitions
General Provisions
Storage of Ammonium Nitrate in Bags, Drums, or Other Containers
Storage of Bulk Ammonium Nitrate
Contaminants
General Precautions
Fire Protection
Annex A Explanatory Material
Annex B Properties and Uses of Ammonium Nitrate
Annex C Suggested Fire-Fighting Procedure
Annex D Suggested Provisions for Municipal Legal Regulations Annex E Informational References
Index"

[driftdiver]

How much friggen research is required? The explosion destroyed houses, apartments, a retirement home, some schools and more.

Get over yourself. Only idiots would have allowed this situation to exist.

[Red Steel]

Follow your own advice.

[Cyber Liberty]

I don’t know. Not my specialty, I don’t know how much McVeigh used in OKC. I think he used quite a bit more. As mentioned above, it comes in 100 lb bags, and four bags is a pallet rounding error in a factory, which is my point.

Makes no sense to write up a facility for an amount the janitor sweeps up at the end of a shift, unless one is looking for a scapegoat.

[Repeal The 17th]

So does that mean you are craw fishing, now?

[Cold Heat]

Actually, anhydrous ammonia is a mixture designed to make the shipment of ammonia possible in a stable and liquid form. It is usually shipped via railcar. When heated it turns from a liquid to a gaseous ammonia, and it does not take a lot of heat to do that, if I recall. It is used in many manufacturing processes, including oil refineries.

[null and void]

Actually, anhydrous ammonia is a single component gas, NH₃, liquified by pressure for convenient shipping.

Mixed with water it forms ammonium hydroxide, NH₄OH, which is further diluted to make household ammonia.

[EBH]

I think people are misreading this information...

They have to DISCLOSE if they have more than 400lbs. The 400lbs is not a limit, it is a marker of when reporting is required.

The plant failed to report? It is a paper pushing issue...

[Red Steel]

"... 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..."

try to focus on this: "...this facility was known to have chemicals well above the threshold amount to be regulated..." "...DHS did not even know the plant existed..."

DHS?? I'm not looking at the possible terrorism aspect as you seem to be fixated on. There are other regulations at play here from OHSA, DOT, and NFPA standards that may have been violated.

See if you can fixate long enough to understand. The question here is did the fertilizer plant exceed state, federal, regulations and law by storing too much ammonium nitrate at their facility? It's a very simple question - it is either 'yes' or 'no.' The answers appears to be Yes. That's all I'm saying here.

[Repeal The 17th]

please reference the last line in this post and fess up:
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3010558/posts?page=44#44

[Red Steel]

No need to fess anything.

I gave you a link to what I was talking about is reality.

[Cold Heat]

Not a chemist.....just know about it as I ordered thousands of rail cars full of it for a refinery I worked for back in the 70s-80s....which is why I used the term “mixture”.....

I know it is used for a coolant, and hundreds of other uses in addition to the manufacture of fertilizer.

Nasty stuff, and under the right conditions.....highly explosive. This I know because we once inadvertently left a couple cars of it sitting in the hot sun over a weekend on a siding in the yard...The vents on the tank had to relieve some of the pressure and all hell broke loose with the EPA and local authorities...

Not one of my best memories of decades gone by....

[Repeal The 17th]

“This facility...
“...was known to have chemicals...
...DHS did not even know the plant existed until it blew up...”
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...was known to have chemicals...yet DHS did not even know the plant existed...
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That is what this entire article is about.

Did they send in the right paperwork to the right federal agency?
(yes/no?)
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
Try to get a grip.

[null and void]

Some people have no sense of humor...

[Red Steel]

You - No such formula exists. You don’t know what you’re talking about. ...

You- please reference the last line in this post and fess up:

Me - Explosive Quantity Distance table below from my link I posted to you at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3010558/posts?page=64#64

It is obvious I do know.

[Repeal The 17th]

Just shut up.

[Red Steel]

After you.

[Cold Heat]

Not sure you understand the basis of the argument here...

This plant makes the stuff so their storage or possession of more than 400 lbs in a given fact on any minute of any day.

Although ammonium nitrate in concentrations of more than 60% is highly regulated after the McVey bomb, ammonium nitrate is still used as the primary ingredient of fertilizer and will be into the foreseeable future.

All fertilizer plants make it....and they make it in 100% concentrations. They also can make anhydrous ammonia because it is used to create ammonium nitrate. But by the time you get it at Lowes or Home Depot, It has been watered down with various fillers and chemicals to make it inert and no longer useful as a explosive.

Pre- McVeigh, You could buy 80-85% ammonium nitrate at fertilizer stores....But you cannot anylonger, and old stocks of it have been regulated so that 400lbs or more has to be reported and if sold reported to whom it was sold...

I also believe that they put tracers in the stuff to identify the point of origin, so they pretty much have it covered in the US.

But a fertilizer plant should be expected to have quatities far above retail storage and sales regulations.

To blame this plant for not submitting storage reports on over 400lbs of nitrates would be like blaming a refinery for having more than 50 gallons of gas in storage as is law in some local jurisdictions...

So there is something totally wrong with this accusation....

[null and void]

Hmmmmm. Ammonia mixture. I wonder what it’s mixed with and why? Did a quick search in hopes of learning something but came up dry. Should you happen to remember or come across something I’d love to know!