State officials claim "system worked" in West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion
By Marty Schladen / Austin Bureau Posted: 05/01/2013 11:15:06 PM MDT
Brian Kaska walks through the remains of his home in one of the most devastated the areas of West, Texas, Monday, April 29, 2013. The fertilizer plant explosion killed 14 people and injured over 200 people. Local residents were allowed to return to their homes over the weekend and contractors were allowed in Monday. (AP Photo/Waco Tribune Herald, Jerry Larson)
AUSTIN -- Two state officials said on Wednesday that the system worked when a massive explosion devastated the small town of West, Texas, earlier this month.
They made their statements despite numerous regulatory gaps that had just been identified.
Among the gaps is that the state does not require evacuation plans for neighborhoods near fertilizer plants and other facilities that might explode.
In addition, the Texas Department of Public Safety has done nothing since the disaster to assess what dangers might be present at 41 other Texas facilities where more than 10,000 pounds of explosive ammonium nitrate are found.
Despite those and other problems, Texas Emergency Management Chief W. Nim Kidd said, "Even in the midst of that great tragedy, the system worked."
Nim made that statement at the end of a House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee hearing to assess whether other Texans might be at risk in the wake of the West explosion, which killed 14, injured more than 150 and destroyed many buildings.
Committee Chairman Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, said he called the hearing to begin assessing what other risks exist and how to respond to them -- not to lay blame for the West disaster.
The investigation by state and federal authorities into the blast is expected to conclude May 10, said Texas State Fire Marshal Kelly Connealy.
It is already known that as of February, 270 tons of ammonium nitrate -- the substance used in 1995 to blow up a federal building in Oklahoma City -- was at the plant. In addition, 55 tons of "extremely hazardous" anhydrous ammonia was at the plant.
Kidd could not say whether an evacuation plan was in place for the area around the West plant.
That was the responsibility, Kidd said, of McLennan County's "local emergency management planning committee," but apparently only if the fertilizer plant asked for one.
"Most local emergency-management plans do require evacuation plans at the facility's request," said Kidd, who added that the plans often are developed at the request of insurers.
Texas Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman said plants such as the one in West aren't required to carry liability insurance. She said the one in West did have insurance, but "it has absolutely no relationship to the risk that was involved here."
Rep. Kyle J. Kacal, R-Pearland, who represents West, was enthusiastic in his praise of local emergency-management officials.
"Whether they had a plan or not, their response was excellent," he said.
Kacal claimed that an evacuation of the area around the plant started as soon as a fire started. The explosion occurred about 20 minutes after the first fire call.
Despite Kacal's claim, the day after the blast, the El Paso Times interviewed many people who said they were close to the fire, taking pictures and videos when the blast -- strong enough to register as a small earthquake -- took place. One 8-year-old boy was blown off his feet in a front yard a little more than a block away.
After the hearing, Kacal said that residents around the plant were aware of the danger they were in. He again credited emergency officials' work and said "it would have been a disaster" if they hadn't done it.
Later, Kacal said the explosion was a disaster that would have been worse if not for the response of emergency officials.
State emergency officials said primary responsibility for mitigating disasters like the one in West rests with local officials. They said Texas has 270 local emergency-management planning committees that were created under a 1986 federal law.
The law requires some plants with hazardous materials to report them to the local committees. In the case of ammonium nitrate, it applies only to facilities with 10,000 pounds or more.
State officials seem to have little information about the activities of local committees, and they apparently make few requirements of them.
Pickett asked Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw whether his department required the local committees to inform residents about hazards in their area.
"It's local up," McCraw said. "It's not state down."
The Department of State Health Services maintains a database of 67,000 Texas facilities with hazardous substances, but when Pickett asked whether Texans could go online to quickly find hazards in their communities, he was told they couldn't.
"There are security concerns," said Kathy Perkins, assistant director of the Department of State Health Services, although she added the information is publicly available through information requests.
It has been reported in the national press that the last state inspection of the West Fertilizer Co. Plant was in 2006. Actually, there have been more recent inspections, but neither those nor the one in 2006 was focused on preventing a disaster like the one that took place.
The Office of the Texas State Chemist last inspected the plant in 2012, but State Chemist Tim Hermann testified that his agency's main mission is to check the composition of feed and fertilizer for consumers.
None of the officials who testified Wednesday said their agencies have any responsibility to ensure that hazardous materials are stored safely.
Ben Jones, assistant director of the office of the state chemist, said his inspectors looked to see whether explosive fertilizers were behind fences and locked doors.
"It has to be secured so that no one can easily obtain the product," he said.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality inspected the plant in 2006 after receiving complaints of a bad odor. But Bryan W. Shaw, the director, said his agency's job is to make sure that gas and dust don't pollute the air and water around the plant -- not to protect against explosions.
Shaw said the commission uses a "risk-based approach" when deciding whether to inspect facilities. He added that it was "uncommon" to inspect a small plant like the one in West.
As people did immediately after the blast in West, members of the Homeland Security Committee asked Wednesday why those building schools and subdivisions weren't warned of the hazard associated with building near a facility like a fertilizer plant.
"I guess I would point back to the local city council or the local commissioners court and what their local ordinances are," said state Emergency Management Chief Kidd.
Texas law gives counties very little power to zone unincorporated areas such as the one in which the West plant was located.
Pickett said his committee's investigation will continue.
Marty Schladen may be reached at mschladen@elpasotimes.com; 512-479-6606.
.. so these places do not have to carry any liability insurance, let alone an adequate amount .. oh, here is another ..
======
Hearing On West, Texas Explosion Exposes Gaps In Local Regulatory Regime
By Bryce Covert on May 2, 2013 at 1:45 pm
Officials testified before the Texas House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday about the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people and injured more than 160. While the hearing didn’t focus on federal regulatory agencies, it did seek to uncover which local authorities are responsible for overseeing the plant. Nim Kidd, chief of emergency management for the Department of Public Safety (DPS), claimed, “Even in the midst of that great tragedy, the system worked .. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/west-explosion/headlines/20130501-hearing-on-west-explosion-reveals-hazy-lines-in-state-oversight-of-dangerous-chemicals.ece .” But other officials disagreed. The takeaway was that no one agency is tasked with ensuring the safety of such plants.
so there you go .. the best example of buck passing one could ever read .. a system of local responsibility, of responsibility 'theirs not ours' .. a situation in which companies that store dangerous materials which put the public at risk DO NOT have to carry any public liability insurance at all, let alone adequate cover .. a system which has more cracks in it it than a piece of swiss cheese, yet the business community says there is no need for more. or tighter, regulation .. that's the system wingnuts protect .. screw the concept of public danger, it's business that counts. along with an attitude that business does not require supervision to ensure a commitment to public safety and to the public good .. most of all .. the system works .. when 14 people are killed and over 200 injured .. the system works .. and, oh yeah .. mustn't lay blame ..
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
AI
