In a startling development, federal investigators have determined that the deadly and destructive 2013 fertilizer plant blast in West, Texas was no accident.
Recommends changes in hazard awareness, land use planning and regulatory oversight
February 1, 2016
The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) last week voted on its final report and safety recommendations on the April 17, 2013, West Fertilizer fire and explosion in West, Texas, which resulted in 15 fatalities, more than 260 injuries, and widespread community damage.
Investigation found lack of regulation at all levels of government
April 23, 2014
The lessons learned from the deadly 2013 West, Texas explosion and fire are not being passed along to emergency responders in other communities with facilities that store ammonium nitrate (AN), according to the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB).
With the devastating April 2013 explosion in West, Texas still fresh in the minds of Americans, OSHA is hoping that a just-initiated partnership with the Agricultural Retailers Association and The Fertilizer Institute will help prevent future tragedies involving ammonium nitrate – the culprit in the West, Texas catastrophe.
Aimed at facility owners, emergency planners, first responders
September 3, 2013
The EPA, OSHA and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) issued a chemical advisory that provides information on the hazards of ammonium nitrate (AN) storage, handling and management.
Despite urging, agency didn’t add ammonium nitrate to its oversight list
July 10, 2013
The chair of the Senate committee that investigated the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion yesterday slammed the EPA for failing to include ammonium nitrate – the substance which caused the fatal blast – in its list of hazardous chemicals that require oversight.
Nearly a month after the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas that killed 14 people and injured another 200, investigators are still unable to determine the cause of the tragedy.
Sources say an investigation into the fatal April 17 blast at a West, Texas fertilizer plant has already yielded some information, though it’s expected to continue beyond this week. The Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office has identified ammonium nitrate – a relatively inexpensive fertilizer with a high nitrogen content – as the substance that caused the explosion, killing 14 people and injuring approximately 200 more.
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer said this week that the Environment and Public Works Committee she chairs will investigate the devastating West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people – many of them first responders – on April 18th.