Testimony of Chemical Safety Board, Chairperson on West TX and Williams Olefins explosions

CLICK HERE to view the written statement

 

CLICK HERE to view the CSB’s preliminary findings 

 

BEGIN TESTIMONY

Chairman Boxer, Senator Vitter, and distinguished Committee members – thank you for inviting me today.  I am CSB Chairperson Rafael Moure-Eraso.

 

The two explosions we are discussing today – West Fertilizer and Williams Olefins – are tragedies of the kind that should be prevented.  

 

The destruction I personally saw in West – the obliteration of homes, schools, and businesses by an ammonium nitrate explosion – was almost beyond imagination.  The loss of life was horrible.

 

The CSB has determined that ammonium nitrate fertilizer storage falls under a patchwork of U.S. safety standards and guidance – a patchwork that has many large holes.  

 

These holes include: the use of combustible wooden buildings and wooden storage bins, sprinklers generally not required, and no federal, state, or local rules restricting the storage of large amounts of ammonium nitrate near homes, schools and hospitals. 

 

Voluntary fire codes have some useful provisions for ammonium nitrate.  But Texas and most of its counties have no fire code.  So at West, these fire code provisions were strictly voluntary, and West Fertilizer had not volunteered.  Our investigators learned that combustible seeds were stored near the ammonium nitrate, not separated by any fire-resistant partition.

 

OSHA has some similar provisions for ammonium nitrate fertilizer in its Explosives standard, 1910.109.  However, OSHA has not focused extensively on ammonium nitrate storage and hadn’t inspected West since 1985.

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