Remember that blast at the West fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people and injured another 200 in April 2013?
When ammonium nitrate caused the massive and deadly fireball?
A bill drafted by Texas lawmakers written to prevent another fertilizer plant explosion giving the state fire marshal more inspection authority and requiring ammonium nitrate to be stored in non-combustible containers or to install a sprinkler system was immediately pushed back by State Republican leaders who said the tougher proposed regulations would overburden storage facilities with complexities and cost. They called this 'overkill' and a 'power grab".
Additionally, Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott defended a recent ruling he made that allows the state to withhold the exact location of facilities storing potentially dangerous chemicals like ammonium nitrate. Previously, Texans wanting to know about companies keeping such chemicals could find out from the Department of State Health Services. Now they can't.
Abbott sad official confidentiality can help stop potential terrorists. But he also called the ruling a "win-win" since "every single person in the state" can learn about "chemicals stored in any plant."
"You know where they are if you drive around," Abbott said of chemical facilities. "You can ask every facility whether or not they have chemicals."
Davis spokesman Zac Petkanas said, "The only thing more outrageous than Greg Abbott keeping the location of chemical facilities secret is telling Texas parents they literally need to go door to door in order to find out if their child's school is in the blast radius of dangerous explosives."
Note: In the West explosion, the ammonium nitrate was stored in flammable wooden containers and the blast killed mostly first responders among them West volunteer firefighters who were unaware of the ammonium nitrate stored there.
Raising their ire were proposals to require facilities to be open to inspection by all certified firefighters as well as a requirement for all storage facilities to meet standards formulated by a national group, the National Fire Protection Association.
Any regulation to insure the safety of people is too much for Texas Republicans. They could have West style blast every year, the GOP would insist that businesses be protected. They broadly called the first draft "overkill" and openly wondered how small fertilizer plant operators could afford to meet new regulations.
It is my view that if If small fertilizer operators can't afford safety requirements, then they should not be in business. And I think it's the State's responsibility to warn residents when their homes and schools are in danger zones.
1st bill reacting to West blast meets GOP pushback