"I can’t say what their intent was"
May 11, 2016 11:36 AM Subscribe
The 2013 explosion at the West Fertilizer Company has been ruled as arson. After 3 years and more than 400 interviews, the ATF has ruled out accidental and natural causes.
The 2013 explosion killed 15 people, including 12 first responders, and caused more than $100M in damages in the small town of only 2800 people.
(It also introduced the world to the greatness that is Czech Stop kolaches)
Google Earth image of the still damaged area
Previously on the Blue
The 2013 explosion killed 15 people, including 12 first responders, and caused more than $100M in damages in the small town of only 2800 people.
(It also introduced the world to the greatness that is Czech Stop kolaches)
Google Earth image of the still damaged area
Previously on the Blue
Forgot to mention that there currently are no suspects.
posted by LizBoBiz at 11:42 AM on May 11, 2016
posted by LizBoBiz at 11:42 AM on May 11, 2016
Google Earth image of the still damaged area
Under Hours for the google info it says "Permanently Closed", which I've seen often but never in such a terrible context. :(
posted by numaner at 11:50 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Under Hours for the google info it says "Permanently Closed", which I've seen often but never in such a terrible context. :(
posted by numaner at 11:50 AM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Since this would effectively get the company and regulators off the hook, I am massively skeptical.
posted by jamjam at 11:51 AM on May 11, 2016 [36 favorites]
posted by jamjam at 11:51 AM on May 11, 2016 [36 favorites]
This is crazy. The fact that our state Lege has steadfastly refused to increase any regulations or oversight since the explosion is crazy in a more depressing way of course.
posted by emjaybee at 11:51 AM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 11:51 AM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
So the official story isn't "An underregulated, undersupervised, profit-driven industrial facility handling massive amounts of volatile chemicals suffered a horrifying accident," but is instead "A bad guy did it and ran away."
Forgive me if I'm not entirely convinced.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:58 AM on May 11, 2016 [50 favorites]
Forgive me if I'm not entirely convinced.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:58 AM on May 11, 2016 [50 favorites]
I'm curious how they could absolutely rule out accidental causes? Given how easily ammonium nitrate destabilizes in the presence of heat or moisture, and how thoroughly the scene was destroyed.
posted by tavella at 12:01 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by tavella at 12:01 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
The West Fertilizer Co. explosion on April 17, 2013 was a “criminal act” investigators announced on Wednesday following a $2 million investigation.
Man, the ATF only has enough of a budget to crack 1.53 iPhones?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 12:03 PM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
Man, the ATF only has enough of a budget to crack 1.53 iPhones?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 12:03 PM on May 11, 2016 [3 favorites]
Witnesses described seeing a man with one arm...
posted by Badgermann at 12:12 PM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Badgermann at 12:12 PM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
Surely Bryce Reed is a leading suspect.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 12:12 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Pater Aletheias at 12:12 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
Forgive me if I'm not entirely convinced.
The takeaway should be ""An underregulated, undersupervised, profit-driven industrial facility handling massive amounts of volatile chemicals suffered arson from a bad guy who did it and ran away," seeing as how there were problems with how it was stored in the first place. Not that the glibertarian types will listen.
Also, the more conspiracy-minded have already started postulating that arson could mean that there was theft of explosive material that the fire was meant to cover up, which is pretty chilling.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:13 PM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
The takeaway should be ""An underregulated, undersupervised, profit-driven industrial facility handling massive amounts of volatile chemicals suffered arson from a bad guy who did it and ran away," seeing as how there were problems with how it was stored in the first place. Not that the glibertarian types will listen.
Also, the more conspiracy-minded have already started postulating that arson could mean that there was theft of explosive material that the fire was meant to cover up, which is pretty chilling.
posted by zombieflanders at 12:13 PM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]
Since this would effectively get the company and regulators off the hook, I am massively skeptical.
How do you figure? This development certainly complicates things, but I don't see anybody getting off the hook just yet. A revealing passage from an article in the Austin American-Statesman, published in April of 2014:
A month-long investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the State Fire Marshal’s Office didn’t uncover the cause of the initial fire at the plant, which remains undetermined. But the cause of the fire is only a small part of the puzzle: ammonium nitrate doesn’t normally explode when it catches fire; it requires additional conditions such as confinement, shock or chemical contamination to detonate.
Daniel Horowitz, managing director of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which is charged with determining the cause of the subsequent explosion, complained that by the time the scene was released to it, “there wasn’t much left to investigate.” According to the agency’s reports to Congress, the ATF removed evidence “that might show signs of how the material became sensitized to explosion.”
So the ATF's report is extremely suspect. Even if what they're saying is true, this purported finding of arson does nothing to excuse or explain the lack of appropriate federal regulations for storing and handling ammonium nitrate; from the same article:
After President Barack Obama issued an executive order in August demanding a re-examination of federal rules on ammonium nitrate, federal officials formed a working group made up of several agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, which hadn’t inspected the West facility since 1985.
The group’s most recent report however, makes no mention of adopting a 12-year-old recommendation to include ammonium nitrate, the chemical that exploded with such disastrous results in West, in the EPA’s risk management plan program, which is meant to alert residents to potential dangers...It remains difficult, for example, for the public to learn what chemicals are stored near them or what risks they could pose to their communities.
And many of the Texas counties that are home to similar fertilizer plants remain prohibited by state law from adopting fire codes that would require enhanced safety measures such as sprinkler systems or noncombustible construction...Investigators say that at the West Fertilizer Co. plant, which was built half a century ago, ammonium nitrate was stored in wooden bins near highly combustible seed in a building without sprinklers.
There seems to be a cascade of failures here, starting with utterly inadequate state and federal regulations, and an effective complacency on the part of regulatory bodies to enact rules that would prohibit something as obviously insane as storing ammonium nitrate in wooden lean-tos. Then there's the conflicting reporting on causes, the slow pace of investigation, and the state laws that fail to impose meaningful duties on businesses to ensure safety while arbitrarily excusing businesses from substantial liability in cases of disasters like this.
And finally, again, the ATF's puzzling claim that this explosion was the result of an intentional act, not a consequence of a near-literal powderkeg being housed in wildly unsafe conditions. This arson thing stinks to high heaven, but there are obvious and identifiable failures, as well.
posted by clockzero at 12:19 PM on May 11, 2016 [19 favorites]
How do you figure? This development certainly complicates things, but I don't see anybody getting off the hook just yet. A revealing passage from an article in the Austin American-Statesman, published in April of 2014:
A month-long investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the State Fire Marshal’s Office didn’t uncover the cause of the initial fire at the plant, which remains undetermined. But the cause of the fire is only a small part of the puzzle: ammonium nitrate doesn’t normally explode when it catches fire; it requires additional conditions such as confinement, shock or chemical contamination to detonate.
Daniel Horowitz, managing director of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which is charged with determining the cause of the subsequent explosion, complained that by the time the scene was released to it, “there wasn’t much left to investigate.” According to the agency’s reports to Congress, the ATF removed evidence “that might show signs of how the material became sensitized to explosion.”
So the ATF's report is extremely suspect. Even if what they're saying is true, this purported finding of arson does nothing to excuse or explain the lack of appropriate federal regulations for storing and handling ammonium nitrate; from the same article:
After President Barack Obama issued an executive order in August demanding a re-examination of federal rules on ammonium nitrate, federal officials formed a working group made up of several agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, which hadn’t inspected the West facility since 1985.
The group’s most recent report however, makes no mention of adopting a 12-year-old recommendation to include ammonium nitrate, the chemical that exploded with such disastrous results in West, in the EPA’s risk management plan program, which is meant to alert residents to potential dangers...It remains difficult, for example, for the public to learn what chemicals are stored near them or what risks they could pose to their communities.
And many of the Texas counties that are home to similar fertilizer plants remain prohibited by state law from adopting fire codes that would require enhanced safety measures such as sprinkler systems or noncombustible construction...Investigators say that at the West Fertilizer Co. plant, which was built half a century ago, ammonium nitrate was stored in wooden bins near highly combustible seed in a building without sprinklers.
There seems to be a cascade of failures here, starting with utterly inadequate state and federal regulations, and an effective complacency on the part of regulatory bodies to enact rules that would prohibit something as obviously insane as storing ammonium nitrate in wooden lean-tos. Then there's the conflicting reporting on causes, the slow pace of investigation, and the state laws that fail to impose meaningful duties on businesses to ensure safety while arbitrarily excusing businesses from substantial liability in cases of disasters like this.
And finally, again, the ATF's puzzling claim that this explosion was the result of an intentional act, not a consequence of a near-literal powderkeg being housed in wildly unsafe conditions. This arson thing stinks to high heaven, but there are obvious and identifiable failures, as well.
posted by clockzero at 12:19 PM on May 11, 2016 [19 favorites]
The Chemical Safety Board released a video about the explosion, which gives a good overview of the disaster.
posted by Small Dollar at 12:31 PM on May 11, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by Small Dollar at 12:31 PM on May 11, 2016 [9 favorites]
How do you figure?
I don't know Texas tort law, but in many states an intervening criminal action serves to break the chain of causation required to establish liability for negligence. In some states the production of certain dangerous substances imposes strict liability on the producer (that is, no need to prove negligence), but even then you sometimes still need causation. So, I will gladly defer to any Texas lawyer better-versed in the subject, but a finding that there was an arsonist probably closes down at least some avenues for recovery by plaintiffs in a civil suit.
posted by praemunire at 12:59 PM on May 11, 2016 [11 favorites]
I don't know Texas tort law, but in many states an intervening criminal action serves to break the chain of causation required to establish liability for negligence. In some states the production of certain dangerous substances imposes strict liability on the producer (that is, no need to prove negligence), but even then you sometimes still need causation. So, I will gladly defer to any Texas lawyer better-versed in the subject, but a finding that there was an arsonist probably closes down at least some avenues for recovery by plaintiffs in a civil suit.
posted by praemunire at 12:59 PM on May 11, 2016 [11 favorites]
I like how google labels it plant (closed) when the only thing you can see is stripped concrete building slabs.
posted by bukvich at 1:01 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by bukvich at 1:01 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
So-called arson "science" has been shown to be unreliable at best, so this is a pretty meaningless assertion, at least at this point.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:08 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:08 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Hey guess what? Texas is leading the way in improving forensic science (including arson). Too bad the commission found that some of the science used even by federal agencies was overstated in its accuracy.
posted by LizBoBiz at 1:13 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by LizBoBiz at 1:13 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Charlie Pierce: The Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion Should Have Never Happened in the First Place
That this is now considered a criminal act in no way mitigates the involvement of Texas' business-friendly environment in the catastrophe. The plant clearly was built much too close to residential areas. The plant was storing far too much ammonium nitrate—which, you may recall, was Timothy McVeigh's cocktail of choice—and allegedly hiding that fact from the responsible federal agencies. And the West facility is far from the only place where this dangerous combination of explosives, neglect, and duplicity come into perilous contact. It appears that somebody may have decided to touch off the explosion. It definitely was far too easy to do so.posted by zombieflanders at 1:27 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
which, you may recall, was Timothy McVeigh's cocktail of choice
His cocktail of choice was actually ammonium nitrate and nitromethane, not just ammonium nitrate.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 1:44 PM on May 11, 2016
His cocktail of choice was actually ammonium nitrate and nitromethane, not just ammonium nitrate.
posted by Confess, Fletch at 1:44 PM on May 11, 2016
My father in law (a farmer) used to keep his bags of ammonium nitrate stacked outside the barn under a raised tank to keep the weather off it.
The tank? It contained the diesel for the farm equipment.
posted by Burn_IT at 2:32 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
The tank? It contained the diesel for the farm equipment.
posted by Burn_IT at 2:32 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
I don't know Texas tort law, but in many states an intervening criminal action serves to break the chain of causation required to establish liability for negligence. In some states the production of certain dangerous substances imposes strict liability on the producer (that is, no need to prove negligence), but even then you sometimes still need causation. So, I will gladly defer to any Texas lawyer better-versed in the subject, but a finding that there was an arsonist probably closes down at least some avenues for recovery by plaintiffs in a civil suit.
That was a very informative response, thank you! In that case, this does cast the situation in a different light.
posted by clockzero at 3:27 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
That was a very informative response, thank you! In that case, this does cast the situation in a different light.
posted by clockzero at 3:27 PM on May 11, 2016 [2 favorites]
The tank? It contained the diesel for the farm equipment.
Yes, but as clockzero points out, even the fully combined ANFO set aflame shouldn't produce this kind of catastrophe. It needs to be in a contained space, and you'd still need a blasting cap or something to get it started.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 4:35 PM on May 11, 2016
Yes, but as clockzero points out, even the fully combined ANFO set aflame shouldn't produce this kind of catastrophe. It needs to be in a contained space, and you'd still need a blasting cap or something to get it started.
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 4:35 PM on May 11, 2016
you'd still need a blasting cap or something to get it started
ANFO is not sensitive enough to detonate with a blasting cap. You need something on the scale of a pound of dynamite. Ammonium nitrate is really quite safe if your dealing with less than industrial size amounts.
posted by ryanrs at 5:42 PM on May 11, 2016
ANFO is not sensitive enough to detonate with a blasting cap. You need something on the scale of a pound of dynamite. Ammonium nitrate is really quite safe if your dealing with less than industrial size amounts.
posted by ryanrs at 5:42 PM on May 11, 2016
Well, if "so-called arson science" had been reliable a couple decades go, one of my all-time least favorite politicians, Darrell Issa, would've been in a Federal Prison instead of (ironically and frighteningly) the Chairman of the House Ethics Committee. He'd collected fire insurance on TWO of his less successful businesses before he decided that Congress was a better place for him to "burn it all down" (allegedly, I have to say).
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:22 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:22 PM on May 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
I wonder if someone told them it was arson, and or lines of inquiry other than the physical evidence pointed to arson. That would explain why they released so little information and why they seem certain.
posted by fshgrl at 9:08 PM on May 11, 2016
posted by fshgrl at 9:08 PM on May 11, 2016
what exactly is being asserted in this thread? that a federal agency is trying to get a bumfuck fertilizer company off the hook because it's in the pocket of big bumfuck fertilizer?
posted by p3on at 1:00 AM on May 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by p3on at 1:00 AM on May 12, 2016 [3 favorites]
I think it's that the federal agency is running scared from the lobby that can only be described as big small government.
posted by ambrosen at 2:32 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ambrosen at 2:32 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
ANFO is not sensitive enough to detonate with a blasting cap. You need something on the scale of a pound of dynamite.
According to the article clockzero linked to above, investigators seemed at a loss as to why the ammonium nitrate in West exploded. I wonder if that led to the conclusion that there must have been something there (like a pound of dynamite) to intentionally cause the explosion.
posted by TedW at 7:55 AM on May 12, 2016
According to the article clockzero linked to above, investigators seemed at a loss as to why the ammonium nitrate in West exploded. I wonder if that led to the conclusion that there must have been something there (like a pound of dynamite) to intentionally cause the explosion.
posted by TedW at 7:55 AM on May 12, 2016
I can't get over how immediately across the street from the rubble that is the plant is a playground. *shudder*
posted by Theta States at 10:43 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Theta States at 10:43 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
what exactly is being asserted in this thread?
As praemunire helpfully pointed out, this finding by the ATF -- which the news article I linked to above seems to expose as raising more troubling questions than it answers -- does effectively excuse West Fertilizer Company from liability related to negligence. Considering how absolutely catastrophic this accident was, how lax any extant safety procedures were, and how inexplicable the industrial disaster remains in spite of the ATF's finding, people are asserting a number of things which evince skepticism that everything is on the up-and-up here.
that a federal agency is trying to get a bumfuck fertilizer company off the hook because it's in the pocket of big bumfuck fertilizer?
I don't think anyone made that specific accusation. But if that were the case that the ATF wanted to get West off the hook for some reason, this is exactly how they would do it, so it's not such an absurd suggestion.
posted by clockzero at 10:56 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
As praemunire helpfully pointed out, this finding by the ATF -- which the news article I linked to above seems to expose as raising more troubling questions than it answers -- does effectively excuse West Fertilizer Company from liability related to negligence. Considering how absolutely catastrophic this accident was, how lax any extant safety procedures were, and how inexplicable the industrial disaster remains in spite of the ATF's finding, people are asserting a number of things which evince skepticism that everything is on the up-and-up here.
that a federal agency is trying to get a bumfuck fertilizer company off the hook because it's in the pocket of big bumfuck fertilizer?
I don't think anyone made that specific accusation. But if that were the case that the ATF wanted to get West off the hook for some reason, this is exactly how they would do it, so it's not such an absurd suggestion.
posted by clockzero at 10:56 AM on May 12, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by Annika Cicada at 11:38 AM on May 11, 2016 [4 favorites]