Survivor of Texas fertilizer plant explosion recalls horror; cause of blast remains unknown (GRAPHIC IMAGE)
Misty Lambert, a mom of five, said she was watching the plant engulfed in flames April 17 when she was hit by the blast. She suffered wounds across her body and required 1,000 stitches.
By Erik Ortiz / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, April 23, 2013, 9:55 AM
Misty Lambert, 37, was injured in the West Fertilizer Co. plant explosion near Waco, Texas. She lived in the apartment complex that sits directly behind the plant.
A powerful blast at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant left survivor Misty Lambert with 1,000 stitches across her body. But one thing it couldn’t damage was her fighting spirit.
While the 37-year-old mom underwent 20 hours of surgery following last Wednesday’s explosion — the worst U.S. industrial disaster in three years — her outlook remains hopeful.
“It’s another bump in the road for me,” Lambert told ABC affiliate KVUE-TV. “I’m saddened by the fact that people lost their lives, but I’m grateful that I still have my life.”
The blast at the West Fertilizer Co. near Waco killed at least 14 people, injured more than 200 and flattened the surrounding residential area into rubble and ash.
Emergency crews worked frantically to sift through ruins for survivors. Six firefighters and four emergency medics are among the dead.
PHOTOS: WEST, TEXAS FERTILIZER PLANT EXPLOSION
KWTX
Misty Lambert, 37, suffered cuts to her face, chest and arms when a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, exploded and the blast blew in windows and flattened homes in the area, including hers.
Nearly 70 federal and state investigators are still trying to determine what caused the inferno that set off the explosion, said assistant state fire marshal Kelly Kistner. Authorities say there are no signs of criminal intent.
Victims are left to relive the terrifying moment in their minds.
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Tue Apr 23, 2013 at 11:36 AM PDT
Cable news and Rick Perry sweep Texas fertilizer plant’s poor regulatory record under the rug
by Laura ClawsonFollow for Daily Kos Labor
If you’ve been reading reporting on the fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 in West, Texas, late last week, you know about safety and environmental compliance problems at the plant, going back decades. If you’re relying on cable news as a source of information, you probably don’t know quite as much. West Fertilizer Co. had not followed disclosure rules about the massive amount of ammonium nitrate it had been storing over the past year, but cable news isn’t reporting on that:
A Media Matters study found that following the Reuters report, CNN’s coverage of the explosion never mentioned that West Fertilizer violated federal regulations by failing to disclose their storage of 270 tons of ammonium nitrate, and MSNBC and Fox News rarely mentioned the violation.Between 8:38 am on April 20, when Reuters’ story was published, and 9:00 am on April 23, CNN featured 24 segments on the story, many of which mentioned that ammonium nitrate was stored at the plant, but failed to note the DHS reporting violation.
MSNBC featured 16 segments on the story in that time frame, 15 of which did not mention Reuters’ report; in one segment on April 21, NBC’s Charles Hadlock noted that the plant had “several tons of ammonium nitrate” but then wondered out loud, “What is the limit of the amount of ammonium nitrate fertilizer that one company can store without notifying federal authorities? That’s an unknown question right now.” However, on his April 22 show, host Chris Hayes devoted several minutes to covering the Reuters report and concluded, “If the Department of Homeland Security didn’t know about the West Fertilizer plant, what other plants does it not know about?”
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West Fertilizer Co. had spotty regulatory history, records show
The West, Texas, fertilizer facility where an explosion occurred Wednesday had several regulatory violations, records show. Above, mangled metal and crushed vehicles at West Fertilizer Co. (Paul Moseley / Associated Press / April 18, 2013) |
The West, Texas, fertilizer plant destroyed by a massive explosion has paid nearly $8,000 to at least two regulatory agencies for safety and transportation violations, records show.
West Fertilizer Co. paid $5,250 last year to the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration over violations discovered in 2011, according to records reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.
A federal inspector found three violations at the fertilizer facility that included transporting anhydrous ammonia without a security plan and carrying it in tanks that were improperly labeled, records show.
PHOTOS: Fertilizer plant explodes in West, Texas
The agency fined the company $10,100 – reducing the fine by $1,400 for corrective actions taken by the fertilizer facility’s manager. In the end, the company paid the $5,250 after taking further corrective actions.
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West Fertilizer Co. fined in 2006 by EPA
Credit: WFAA
Fire burns unchecked at a residence near the site of a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas on April 17, 2013.
by MATT GOODMAN
WFAA
Posted on April 18, 2013 at 3:05 AM
Updated Thursday, Apr 18 at 10:14 AM
The fertilizer plant that exploded in West, Texas on Wednesday night was fined by the Environmental Protection agency in 2006 for failing to have a risk management plan that met federal standards, an EPA report shows.
The $2,300 penalty was issued on August 14, 2006, records show. According to the EPA, a risk management plan is designed to ensure chemical accidents don’t happen by having safeguards in place to prevent them.
Quoting from its website, a risk management plan “includes an executive summary, registration information, off-site consequence analysis, five-year accident history, prevention program and emergency response program.”
The plant was not fined again by the EPA after that incident.
According to construction permits submitted in November of that year, West Fertilizer Co. vowed to meet all standards expected for anhydrous ammonia storage tanks. The odorless gas would be stored in two 12,000 gallon permanent storage tanks.
Related:
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West Fertilizer was pillar of community
Google earth
Satellite view showing location of West Fertilizer Company in West, Texas.
UPDATED, 8:20 a.m. EDT: Until late Wednesday, when a massive explosion ripped through its facility in Texas, West Fertilizer Co. was a small firm that attracted little criticism from regulators but plenty of respect from its neighbors.
The company, owned by Adair Grain Inc., now finds itself at the center of one of the largest U.S. industrial disasters this decade, after the blast flattened part of the small town of West, Texas. On Friday, local authorities put the number of dead at 12, with at least 200 wounded.
In 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency fined the company $2,300 for failing to update its risk management plan in a timely manner. It had been due in 2004. The EPA said it had poor employee training records, failed to document hazards and didn’t have a written maintenance program.
The EPA said the company corrected the deficiencies and filed an updated plan in 2011. It said it now complies with EPA regulations.
The company’s 2011 safety plan said the facility posed no fire or explosive risk, according to the Dallas Morning News. Even if there were a 10-minute release of ammonia, the worst-envisioned scenario, no injuries could be expected.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said the facility has been subject to routine oversight and complaint-driven investigations, but no major problems were found besides the missing permit in 2006. It had issued permits for two 12,000-gallon anhydrous ammonia storage tanks and for the material loading and storage operations of dry fertilizer materials.
The company declined to comment when reached by phone by NBC News.
Late Thursday it was learned that West Fertilizer told the Texas Department of Health Services on Feb. 26 that it was storing up to 540,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, along with up to 110,000 pounds of the liquid ammonia, according to the disclosure report. Ammonium nitrate is the highly explosive chemical compound used in Oklahoma City federal building bombing April 19, 1995.
It was also reported that U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration last summer fined West Fertilizer $10,000 for safety violations, including planning to transport anhydrous ammonia without adequate security and failing to properly label ammonia tanks. The company paid a reduced fine of $5,250 after agreeing to take corrective action.
“I know they were up to date on safety issues and the regulation sides,” said Shane McLellan, an agent with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, a Texas A&M education-based partnership with federal, state, and county governments that works with farmers and their suppliers.
A fire at the facility earlier this year caused officials to evacuate a nearby middle school, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald, but it turned out to be a controlled burn of brush and pallets.
Read Full Article and Watch Video Here
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Searchers in protective suits walk through the blast zone of the fertilizer plant that exploded in West, Texas. Photograph: Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT via Getty Images
Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), assisted by the US Chemical Safety Board, have begun their inquiry into the cause of the blast, which sent a fireball almost 100 metres into the air and left a giant crater where the plant had once been. The inquiry could take six months, an ATF spokeswoman said. Investigators will focus on which chemicals were stored at the plant. The West Fertilizer Company was licensed for 54,000lbs of anhydrous ammonia, a liquid nitrogen agricultural fertilizer that is stored in large reinforced steel tanks.
Officials at first suggested the explosion was caused by the anhydrous ammonia igniting, but it was revealed Thursday through Texas state records that the plant also possessed 270 tons of ammonium nitrate, a much more volatile, dry solid, at the end of 2012. Records also suggested that in 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a $2,300 fine for deficiencies in the plant’s risk management plan.
According to data from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the EPA, the last documented regulatory visit to the plant took place in late 2007, as a follow-up to a complaint of an odor coming from the site. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration – a body tasked with making sure America’s 7 million workplaces are safe for employees – has not made a site visit since 1985.
Greg Abbott, the Texas state attorney, said on Thursday it was too early to say if anybody might be held criminally negligent. The owner of West Fertilizer, Don Adair, has not spoken publicly since the incident, although officials say he is co-operating with inquiries.
Related articles
- Expert: Ammonium nitrate dangers in West should have been told (khou.com)
- Reuters: West Fertilizer plant didn’t disclose ammonium nitrate stores (hotair.com)
- Before Texas plant exploded: What did regulators know? (reuters.com)
- Rail car with ammonium nitrate didn’t cause Texas blast – fire official (firstpost.com)
- Last year, West plant kept 270 tons of potentially explosive fertilizer (democraticunderground.com)
- Under Sequestration, We’re All Living in West, Texas (bilerico.com)
- Fertilizer Plant Didn’t Report 270 Tons of Ammonium Nitrate (newser.com)
