Business-Friendly, People-Deadly

Raise your hand if you thought Texas cares about regulating fertilizer plants with hundreds of tons of potentially explosive chemicals, which are placed near schools and nursing homes.  If your hand is still raised, put it the hell down.

West Fertilizer Co.’s problems complying with Texas environmental rules go back decades, state records show.

In 1984, the company moved two large pressurized tanks of liquid anyhydrous ammonia, a potentially lethal poison, from a site in nearby Hill County to its current location in West without notifying state authorities.

Seven years passed before Texas regulators took notice and told the company to fix its paperwork. The tanks had sat at their new location, near homes, schools and a nursing home, with little or no state oversight for all that time.

The company’s regulatory history going back to 1976 comes to light as investigators seek the cause of last week’s fertilizer explosion that killed at least 14 people.

For example, in 1987, the company — then known as West Chemical and Fertilizer Co. — was venting ammonia that built up in transfer pipes into the air despite explicit orders in its permit not to do so. The company apparently changed its practices.

And in 2006, a West police officer called a company employee to tell him an ammonia tank valve was leaking. The employee confirmed the leak and “took the NH3 [ammonia] tank out to the country at his farm,” according to a handwritten note. “West Police followed him.”

That employee, Cody Dragoo, was killed in last week’s explosion.

Seven years.  But government doesn't work, so let's cut spending on regulation and give more tax cuts to companies that break the law and then kill 14 people.  Government small enough that you can drown it in a bathtub isn't going to be able to protect you from companies that murder a dozen folks and go "oops."