For the record, the Texas fertilizer plant was NOT built "so close to people".

[dixiegrrrrl]

I have been seeing a LOT of comments following the explosion of the West, Texas fertilizer plant,
DU-ers expressing outrage that the plant "had been built so close to people".

The REALITY is that the "people" built so close to the older plant:

West Fertilizer began as Texas Grain and was founded in 1958 by the Plasek family, according to court documents in a civil case brought by Adair against the Monsanto Co. in 2007. In 1960, the fledgling company “built a small fertilizer blend plant for farmers in the area and started selling fertilizer and grain storage services for other farmers in Texas,” according to the records.

“The town grew up and around that fertilizer plant,” Payne said. “It’s a staple. That’s how agriculture works.”

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/fertilizer-plant-owner-longtime-fixtures-in-a-smal/nXRh2/

[dipsydoodle]

1. Bit like

people who buys houses near music pubs here in the UK, years after the venue opened, and then complain about the noise.

[premium]

5. Same thing in NV.

People living next to Nellis AFB complain about the noise and yet, the AFB was there long before there were neighborhoods. They buy a house close to an AFB, and then complain about the noise of the jets.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. There are people who build on sandspits and then complain when a storm comes in

and blows their houses away.
strangely, not enough people complain when the sand spits are used as building lots.

[premium]

10. Or build their house on the edge of a forest

and then complain when it burns down.
We used to have a saying in the Forest Service, What do you call a home built on the edge of a forest?
Kindling wood.

[littlewolf]

14. same thing in Virginia Beach with the Naval Air Station.

the city let them build closer to the base all the time, now their is noise issues.
The Navy kept telling the city that this would be a problem, city did not care
wanted the Tax money.

[premium]

15. That's what it usually is

all about the money.

[ChazII]

23. Similar scenario in Scottsdale.

The city built the small airport on way north of the city back in the late 50's. Developers and folks chose to live and build closer and closer to the airport not the other way around. We even have idiots who complain about the older houses in that area having horses in the back 'yard'. The homes were designed to have horses so the lots are big enough to accommodate riding.

[progressoid]

24. Or around here, they move to the country and bitch about the smell of cow shit.

[kestrel91316]

2. The fertilizer plant apparently failed to inform the appropriate authorities that they

stockpiled massive quantities of explosive ammonium nitrate on the premises. Every third grader these days knows how explosive that stuff is. They knew, and were probably criminally negligent in trying to hide the fact of its presence.

FWIW.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. True, but not germane to my point about when it was built.

[ProSense]

12. What if

"True, but not germane to my point about when it was built."

...people weren't aware of the true danger, and it's germane to ensuring public safety inspections.

Texas Fertilizer Plant Failed To Disclose Massive Amount Of Ammonium Nitrate
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022722205

[NutmegYankee]

11. I read that state officials knew.

And it would seem obvious that a fertilizer plant would have large stockpiles of ammonium nitrate.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

28. They had over a thousand times the limit.

Over a certain amount, they have to notify the Department of Homeland Security. They apparently had about 1300 times the reportable amount, but didn't report it.

[rightsideout]

3. But what allowed them to build so close to the plant?

It was lack of comprehensive zoning laws.

Some red states, with their anti-govt and anti-regulation mindsets, have lax zoning laws.

Zoning laws should have been in place to keep homes, schools, apartments and nursing homes (dwellings) a safe distance away.

They may still have had to evacuate because of fumes. But your dwelling shouldn't be so close that it becomes leveled.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. I checked the CAD property search in that county.

The homes in the neighborhood adjacent to the plant were built in the mid 1960's. I can't speak for the rest of the development there, since I only checked out the homes in the area which was destroyed. My guess is they had no concept of zoning back then. A lot of rural Texas didn't get full utilities until in the 1960's. Let alone have any sort of zoning regulations in place.

I've wondered if in part they developed around something which at the time wasn't as large or as dangerous as it became overtime. That's pure speculation on my part, however.

[sharp_stick]

19. The high school was

built in 1987, I think even Texas had heard of zoning and the explosive potential of ammonium nitrate by that point.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Many many many small towns have few zoning laws. Blue or red state,don't matter.

I suspect that a lot of peope who are so upet by the presence of the fertilizer plant are not from small farming towns,
which see the issue much differently.

And, until the plant violated Federal laws on how much fertilizer it could stockpile, there was no problem, as far as people could see.

[sharp_stick]

21. Not really

I grew up on a farm in the 70's and 80's and we kind of knew that ammonium nitrate isn't supposed to be next to a school. Our fertilizer distributor was on the train tracks about 5 miles outside of town and nobody was dumb enough to build in that direction. The same place is still there and it's still about 5 miles outside of town.

[frogmarch]

4. I'd wondered about that.

In Torrington WY there's a feedlot in the middle of town. The feedlot was there first, and the town grew around it. From a distance of 10 miles or more the green cloud hanging over the town is visible.

I lived in Torrington for a few years and was never able to open windows in my house. The ammonia smell was awful, and when the sugar factory started up, it was hell trying to breathe.

[bowens43]

13. So? That's basically the same thing. They should not have been allowed to build that close.

still a a major failure of government oversight

[JaneyVee]

16. For the record, this isn't just a rural problem. Plenty of urbanized poor people live

in areas where dangerous & hazardous industrialism is right next door. Literally.

[truedelphi]

20. And ain't it entertaining how the

Big industries are smart enough to know that there are so few people caring about those in working class neighborhoods? Suggest building an industrial strength incinerator in Homewood/Flossmoor outside Chicago or Marin County outside San Francisco and every news media outlet within three hundred miles would be offering support against it happening. Why? Well, the 1 percent has access to those sources.

But suggest that the same incinerator get placed in a working class neighborhood of people of color, and the measure to do that will sail right on through.

[louis-t]

17. I'm going to go out on a limb here...

It's possible that the "small fertilizer blend plant" was not nearly as large in the '60s as it is now.

[dixiegrrrrl]

26. You are exactly correct.

West Fertilizer began as Texas Grain and was founded in 1958 by the Plasek family, according to court documents in a civil case brought by Adair against the Monsanto Co. in 2007. In 1960, the fledgling company “built a small fertilizer blend plant for farmers in the area and started selling fertilizer and grain storage services for other farmers in Texas,” according to the records.

http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/fertilizer-plant-owner-longtime-fixtures-in-a-smal/nXRh2/

[tjwash]

18. Wow. Only 13 employees worked at a chemical factory that produced thousands of tons a year?

That's sickening - just the safety staff of that plant should have been twice that number, especially considering that an OSHA inspection was done 5 years ago and there were a number of violations that needed fixed.

[sharp_stick]

22. They never produced anything

it's not a factory it's more or less a distributor of fertilizer to the local farmers. The fact that they had that much ammonium nitrate on hand isn't as surprising as the fact that they were able to get away without oversight for so long.

[moondust]

25. Somebody call Ron Paul.

Tell him to stop letting Texans build in disaster areas so that we can get rid of FEMA (and stop paying taxes).

[TwilightZone]

27. Not only that - he's also Mr. Let The Market Decide.

Great idea, isn't it?

This situation is the perfect example of why he's a complete moron.

Well, he did get one part of it right. "The market" is going to sue this company into the ground.

At which time they'll file bankruptcy.