The fertilizer plant that exploded in West, Texas this past week was a tragic event that killed 14 people, but apparently could have been prevented.
According to the Huffington Post, the plant stored 1,350 times the amount of explosive substances in the plant, and didn’t disclose that piece of information.
DETAILS: West, Texas Fertilizer Plant Last Inspected In 1985
The site reports:
Yet a person familiar with DHS operations said the company that owns the plant, West Fertilizer, did not tell the agency about the potentially explosive fertilizer as it is required to do, leaving one of the principal regulators of ammonium nitrate – which can also be used in bomb making – unaware of any danger there.
Fertilizer plants and depots must report to the DHS when they hold 400 lb (180 kg) or more of the substance. Filings this year with the Texas Department of State Health Services, which weren’t shared with DHS, show the plant had 270 tons of it on hand last year.
DETAILS: WE PRAY: Death Toll Of Texas Plant Explosion Rises To 14 & Obama Takes Action!
Representative Bennie Thompson said in a statement on Friday:
“It seems this manufacturer was willfully off the grid. 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.”
If someone had disclosed the amount of ammonium nitrate used, then the plant could have been shut down before the explosion occurred.
We pray for the victims and their families of this plant explosion.
