AUSTIN - Nearly three years after an explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco killed 15 people and injured scores of others, Texans still live with the threat posed by stores of ammonium nitrate, according to a government report issued Monday.
An analysis by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board criticized a range of local, state and federal agencies for their handling of the fire and explosion at West Fertilizer Co. on April 17, 2013. More than 160 people were injured, and hundreds of buildings were destroyed, in the city along Interstate 35 north of Waco.
The report criticized lax laws and ordinances that allowed a city to grow up around the fertilizer company. It also cited the fact that Texas has no fire code, nor has it adopted a model fire code, either of which "typically" would include provisions for storing hazardous materials and planning for emergencies involving those materials.
" … (T)he state still has no such code as of publication of this report," stated the document posted to the agency's website Monday.
The report and its wide-ranging findings precede a public meeting of the board on Thursday in Waco.
Texas is one of the top markets for ammonium nitrate in the United States, and the chemical remains the "fertilizer of choice" for crops such as coastal bermuda grass, State Chemist Tim Hermann said in an interview.
According to the Chemical Safety Board, 19 facilities in Texas store at least 10,000 pounds of fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate within a half-mile of a school, hospital or nursing home.
That raises "concerns that an incident with offsite consequences of this magnitude could happen again," the report said.
"No federal, state, or local standards have been identified that restrict the siting of ammonium nitrate storage facilities in the vicinity of homes, schools, businesses, and health care facilities," investigators found.
The report calls the lack of land-use policy around ammonium nitrate stores a state and national problem.
"Both the federal government and Texas have failed to issue regulations relating to siting facilities that store and distribute (ammonium nitrate) near communities such as West," it stated. "If a regulation had addressed issues such as buffer zones, barricades, or other techniques to mitigate consequences, the severity of the casualties and damage experienced in West could have been significantly reduced."
Sam Mannan, a Texas A&M University chemical engineering professor, said land use was one of the biggest concerns that came to light in the aftermath of the West disaster.
Mannan investigated the explosion in 2013.
The government report also noted the local volunteer fire department in West had not conducted any planning or training for an emergency at the fertilizer company.
The fire company, the report said, "was likely unaware of the potential for (ammonium nitrate) detonation," nor did it follow recommended guidelines for responding to such incidents.
Last year, lawmakers addressed the West explosion with a measure that codified certain rules and gave fire marshals greater inspection powers.
In an interview before the release of the Chemical Safety Board's report, State Fire Marshal Chris Connealy called that law a "very significant improvement."
"We are certainly reducing our risk exposure through this legislation. It is much safer," he said.
Donnie Dippell, president of the Texas Ag Industries Association, which represents chemical and fertilizer dealers and distributors, said if the legislation had been in place prior to the West disaster, "It wouldn't have happened."
But critics say lawmakers have missed opportunities to address other problems related to ammonium nitrate - such as building around ammonium nitrate storage facilities, or requiring those who store and sell the chemical to carry insurance.
West Fertilizer Co. - which stored, blended and sold ammonium nitrate - carried just $1 million in liability insurance.
Damage estimates from the fire and explosion have reached as high as $230 million in insurance-related losses. More than $16 million in federal disaster assistance flowed into the city afterward.
The fertilizer company subsequently declared bankruptcy.
Businesses that store fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate are not required to carry liability insurance under state law, said Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, who filed a measure to force them to obtain such coverage.
Though Rodriguez's bill got a hearing, it died in committee.
"We cannot afford another West," he said in an email
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