DALLAS - A fertilizer-plant explosion that killed 15 people last year in a Texas town could have been prevented, even if it’s still not clear what started an initial fire that triggered the blast, federal officials said Tuesday.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board announced its findings after a year of investigating the blast in West, Texas, that also injured 200 and decimated parts of the town.
An ongoing investigation by federal and state officials has narrowed the possible causes of the fire to three things: a golf cart battery, an electrical system or a criminal act. No one has been charged.
But the safety board said the owners of West Fertilizer Co. failed to safely store hazardous chemicals or prepare for a potential disaster. The board also said several levels of federal, state and local government missed opportunities to prevent the disaster.
“It should never have occurred,” said Rafael Moure-Eraso, the chairman of the safety board, which does not have any regulatory authority.
The safety board presented its preliminary findings about the blast Tuesday evening in front of a packed room of West residents and town officials.
Investigators said the firefighters who rushed to an initial fire at the plant didn’t know enough about the dangers they faced inside: 40 to 60 tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used in fertilizer that detonated because of the blaze.
Experts on a panel convened by the safety board said Tuesday night that even if the firefighters, 11 of whom died, had known more, there still isn’t clear guidance on what to do in that kind of situation.
Glenn Corbett, a professor at the City University of New York, faulted guidelines that suggest firefighters should try to douse such a fire until it becomes “massive,” a term he said was too vague to determine in an emergency.
“It is best to simply move everyone back and let the fire burn itself out,” Corbett said.
There was also a gap between U.S. and Texas agencies on whether the fertilizer plant needed to comply with federal guidelines on disaster preparedness because of its stores of ammonium nitrate, safety board investigator Rachael Gunaratnam said. That disconnect “left emergency responders and residents unprepared,” she said.
Despite investigations that have yielded information about safety deficiencies at the plant and voluntary safety steps taken by the nation’s fertilizer industry, not a single state or federal law requiring change has been passed since the explosion on April 17, 2013.
West Mayor Tommy Muska thanked the board for holding its meeting in the still-rebuilding city but questioned whether investigators needed to focus more on the production of ammonium nitrate - a chemical that was used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing - and ways to add additives to make it safer.
Moure-Eraso said federal, state and local agencies could all do more. He said he believes that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has enough authority already to require companies to follow stricter guidelines.
But he laid the ultimate responsibility for preventing the disaster on West Fertilizer Co.
“What the regulators do is basically monitor what is happening, but the primary responsibility has to be for whoever is putting this chemical in commerce,” Moure-Eraso said.
A spokesman for the owners of the plant did not respond to a message. The owners have denied allegations that the plant was negligent in how it handled and stored ammonium nitrate.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 04/23/2014