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Fertilizer plant explosion in West, Tx.
#1
Posted 18 April 2013 - 05:55 AM
Many people died and more injured.
(Hashtag on Twitter is #PrayForTexas)
"Due to the plant's chemical stockpile, "they realized the seriousness of what they had."
http://www.huffingto...=green&ir=Green
#2
Posted 18 April 2013 - 01:24 PM
If I could rewind the clock and implement a better outcome, I would.
It is feared that there might be as many as 15 fatalities.
But I sometimes wonder about context. The explosion in the plant has made international news. Rightly so.
As did Bhopal. Several thousand fatalities at least.
Accidents. Piper Alpha, Aberfan. Accidents. Human failings. We all have them but, thankfully, for the most part, without such tragic outcomes.
But sometimes I think we get things a bit ou of proportion. Maybe we buy into media hype.
Fukushima is an example. The coverage persisted about the nuclear reactor plant. Not one fatalitity there. The estimated 20,000 fatalities resulting from the tsunami fell out of being newsworthy in a day or two. The nuclear plant story remained long after. That was the story. Presumably because it sold.
I have much the same feeling about this explosion. Nobody would wish the death and injury of those who suffered. We rightfully feel saddened by the events.
Where am I going with this?
Maybe a bit of context or proportion.
An accident resulting in fifteen fatalities and many injured is tragic, newsworthy and get aired.It's an incident.
Yet, on average, there are about ninety fatalities a day, every day, in USA as a result of road traffic accidents.
But that mostly goes under the radar.
#3
Posted 18 April 2013 - 03:38 PM
We use it.
Big ag uses it to grow the corn (among other things) on factory farms.
It gets fed to cows, pig, chickens-put into thousands of products.
High fructose corn syrup ring a bell?
We use it.
We are responsible.
#4
Posted 18 April 2013 - 04:12 PM
Over 500 deaths in the 1946 Texas City explosions. http://en.wikipedia....Germany.2C_1921
The stuff is used mainly as a fertilizer.
Most folks won't be as alarmed about a nearby fertilizer factory as they would be about a nearby explosives factory.
#7
Posted 22 April 2013 - 03:39 PM
The reason we can feed so many for such a low cost is factory farms and fertilizer. It's a shame but it's a fact. If everyone only bought organic, that would end it, however many could not afford it and quantities would be reduced causing even higher prices.
As usual, it all comes down to overpopulation. If factory farms are draining the aquifers as much as reported, the problem will sort itself out before the end of the century regardless.
#8
Posted 22 April 2013 - 03:44 PM
the feds telling them what to do.
"The fertilizer plant that exploded on Wednesday, obliterating part of a small Texas town and killing at least 14 people, had last year been storing 1,350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that would normally trigger safety oversight by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Yet a person familiar with DHS operations said the company that owns the plant, West Fertilizer, did not tell the agency about the potentially explosive fertilizer as it is required to do, leaving one of the principal regulators of ammonium nitrate - which can also be used in bomb making -
unaware of any danger there."
Article
#9
Posted 27 April 2013 - 04:27 AM
unreported, in part, because of dick chaney (and friends/relatives of his) and the laws he sneaked into bills while in office.
"The bush administration was not going to support granting regulatory authority over chemical security to the EPA."
The DHS was not given the tools to regulate these plants.
Via HP
Original broadcast on MSNBC from Chris Hayes
#10
Posted 28 April 2013 - 02:58 AM
Phil, on 22 April 2013 - 03:39 PM, said:
This
story got a lot of coverage here over the past few days.
Quote
A saying I've heard more than once:
"One death is a tragedy, 100,000 is a statistic."
#11
Posted 26 May 2013 - 02:38 PM
#12
Posted 27 May 2013 - 03:49 AM
Does everyone working for the government make $600 an hour or what? That's ridiculous.
Thanks for that follow up on the story.
#13
Posted 29 May 2013 - 02:38 AM
still learning, on 26 May 2013 - 02:38 PM, said:
No definite cause for the fire.
The explosion, while initiated by the fire, wouldn't have happened if the ammonium nitrate hadn't been there, maybe wouldn't have happened if there it was but properly stored.
Wouldn't have been so much loss of life if the firemen had had knowledge of the improperly stored ammonium nitrate.
#14
Posted 29 May 2013 - 04:28 AM
still learning, on 29 May 2013 - 02:38 AM, said:
That's the thing.
Will the owners face criminal charges over lack of disclosure, which caused their deaths?
#15
Posted 01 August 2013 - 06:08 AM
Obama issued an executive order to federal agencies to review safety regulations at chemical facilities.
Why do we always have to wait til after an event to coordinate and share information between agencies?
We had the same problem on 9/11. Firefighters couldn't communicate with the police.
EPA and OSHA were not on the same page- OSHA inspectors hadn't checked out that plant in West, Texas
since 1985. What?
Article
#17
Posted 11 May 2016 - 02:37 PM
http://www.kmbc.com/...ounced/39483806
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