What’s Important?
McClatchy carried a story from the Austin American-Statesman: Officials investigating Texas blast looking to see what was missed
When the West Fertilizer Co. blew up earlier this month, it killed 15 and injured another 200, shattering the all-American town of only 2,800. The Insurance Council of Texas estimates insured losses could reach $100 million.
Now, as state and federal officials sort through the rubble left behind to determine a cause, they have begun looking at what they themselves missed.
On Monday, officials with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers arrived in West to assist investigators in assessing the crater – 93 feet wide and 10 feet deep – at the explosion site.
As a result of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing anyone who has more than 400 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer on site is supposed to file a report with the Department of Homeland Security. In 2012 the company told the state of Texas that it had 270 tons of the chemical at the plant, but didn’t tell the DHS anything. In the company’s Federal Risk Management Plan, they only address the dangers of corrosion and toxic release, ignoring the sections on fires and explosions.
So long as the worst that can happen is a fine, these disasters will continue to happen. If CEOs and directors start going to jail, things will get better.
2 comments
Meanwhile, the guy who owned the building in Bangladesh that collapsed and killed hundreds is likely going to be hung. That’s the difference between a 3rd world country and civilization, I guess.
Actually, that’s real capitalism because there are real risks involved, none of this ‘limited liability’ dodge that the governments in the ‘civilized world’ have created for their ‘friends’.