It’s unclear yet whether any legal violation happened. That’s why the cartoon was so gratuitous.
I’m betting on lawsuits that will bankrupt the company, if the normal kinds of consequences to such a thing follow. And there is such a thing as working together to mitigate risks, like developers wanting to build nearby making an agreement to pay the company to erect blast walls.
That fertilizer company is toast — but a new company will start, I am certain, to meet the demands. Cannot stop free market.
I just hope that residential buildings do not spring up around it. I also hope that big-government-so-called-conservatives do not advocate for “sensible regulations.”
(1) The population of West has been about the same since the fertilizer plant started up in 1962. People didn't build up around the plant, the plant was built among them.
(2) West Fertlizer was authorized to store up to 27 tons of anhydrous ammonia onsite and to notify the regulator if they had more than 1 ton in storage at any time. They had 55 tons of anhydrous in storage when the plant blew, and 270 tons of ammonium nitrate. They were in flagrant violation.
(3) These substances are ones that terrorists would love to get their hands on, so the company was not only playing with the lives of their neighbors, but by concealing their true stock of goods they were also potentially playing with anyone's life. When sagar talks of "personal responsibility" he is clearly exempting the owners of West Fertilizer from this requirement.