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 ...
Billy Sol Estes
Aside from the apparent DHS violations, there are questions about procedures that lead to the initial fire and the use of water on ammonia nitrate.
Homeland security requires certain plants to comply with CFATS rules.
(CFATS = chemical facility anti terrorism)
These rules are about internal security at the plant...
controlling access...
people being on a need-to-know basis...
and the rules have NOTHING to so with safety...
I know this because I am certified for CFATS.
One thing I remember hearing is this was a volunteer fire dept. Who knows how much training they had on fighting such a fire?
Definitely big trouble. So big it will seem like a tsunami hit. I am actually shaking my head and marveling at the level of whoop @$$ that’s rushing towards whoever was responsible for that mess.
Does that make any material difference?
So?! Big Sis fails to report large amounts of cellulose nitrate too. /s
Tx. Attorney General Greg Abbot did look into it and the plant was built first and then the homes,nursing home, apartments came along later.
Not to be re-quoting Shrillary but; what difference does that make?
First rule in training for the local volunteer fire dept. here is to set back and watch the fire burn ,on the up-wind side
But the most critical point that really needs to be drummed out there is: Sometimes bad things happen. Having watched local streaming the night of the explosion, I couldn’t do anything but applaud the incredibly well executed response to a mass casualty incident.
Texas has long been a leader in examining incidents after they occur, sitting down, figuring out what worked and what didn’t, and then incorporating those results into planning and training. They will absolutely look into (as much as possible) the actions of first responders and come up with recommendations for any updating of training or changing of procedure.
While the feds send multiple agencies to strut and preen, I have every confidence that the state of Texas will learn from the incident, disseminate that learning, and put it into practice the next time something bad happens.
Maybe that will include bulldozing towns or schools or hospitals built next to a chemical plant. But this certainly was a low risk facility with minimal problems over the years.
Every fire fighting apparatus in the US is required to carry a hazmat guide. It lists what to and what not to put on different fires and safe evacuation and hot zone distances.
There clearly was some miscommunication, at best.
Listening to the scanner feed real time, the incident commander announced at about 10 pm that they had a rail car delivered that morning containing 200k plus lbs of ammonium nitrate.
If the company set up first, then it was an act of absolute stupidity to set up schools, homes, or nursing homes near it. However, if the plant was set up afterwards, the company could potentially be facing charges for setting up such a potentially dangerous plant near schools, homes, and nursing homes.
If there were any regulations about it then it was a violation of them either way. But don’t drive down the street past a skool with your legally owned pistol or dove hunting shotgun in the car.
Many times the best thing you can do is get people back and let it burn.
Large chemical fires, overturned fuel tankers are best left alone and just protect exposures. All you do throwing a bunch of water on it is spread the contamination and fire. The tanker or product is going to burn up or dump out regardless.
I compare that to people building near and existing airport and then griping about airplane noise.
“Sometimes bad things happen.”
And most often those bad things are caused by the mistakes of others.
The West Disaster could have been caused by human error or perhaps is was something like a lightning strike.
But, if humans working at the plant violated industry standards, the owners of the plant will have some serious liability issues to contend with.
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