Fertilizer Plant Explosion In West, Texas
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Numerous people are dead tonight and well over 100 are injured after this massive explosion
at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas about 35 miles north of Waco. Eyewitnesses likened
the event to a nuclear bomb blast and it sent a massive fireball into the sky. The explosion
registered a 2.1 on the richter scale, instantly leveled dozens of houses in the area and shook
others as far away as 50 miles. Officials are evacuating parts of the town as the plant
contained 54,000 pounds of the chemical anhydrous ammonia, a pungent gas with suffocating fumes.
When exposed to humans, it can cause severe burns if it combines with water in the body.
And exposure to high concentrations can lead to death. This tragic event casts a massive
spotlight on concerns over the lack of funding for inspection agencies like OSHA - the Occupational
Health and Safety Administration. OSHA understaffing means they can only inspect plants like this
one once every 129 years. Just 6 fertilizer plants in the entire state of Texas were inspected
by OSHA over the last five years and, naturally, the West, Texas fertilizer plant was not one
of them. Another regulatory body that would have overseen the plant, the Chemical Safety
Board, was coincidentally criticized today in a piece by the Center for Public Integrity
which highlighted the dwindling productivity of the agency. When the West, Texas fertilizer
plant was cited for OSHA violations way back in 1985, the fine was a mere $30.
