The Texas Department of State Health Services requires companies to file an annual inventory of all chemicals being stored at a facility. The inventories are called Tier Two reports and are required so that fire departments and emergency management officials will know what they are dealing with when there is a problem at a particular facility.
Local 2 Investigates obtained seven years worth of these reports filed by West with the state. The reports show West never reported it was storing ammonium nitrate at the plant until 2012. That report showed it was certified by a plant official in February of 2013 and indicated West was storing 270 tons, or 540,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate in "Container Type: R." According to state codes of container types "R" is the designation for "other."
Department officials told Local 2 they have no record of an on-site audit being conducted of the Tier Two reports filed by West or any record of violations against the company.
"While we don’t have authority over the types, amounts or locations of chemicals, in some cases we audit the report and go on-site to ensure that what the facility reported is accurate," Department spokesperson Carrie Williams wrote in an email to Local 2. "Our priority, however, is on facilities that don’t report and getting them into compliance with the reporting requirement."
Yet, Local 2 uncovered a 2006 application for a permit filed with a different agency, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, in which West did list ammonium nitrate as one of several fertilizers it handled on the property.
West's application to the TCEQ, dated October 31 2006, listed it had a "maximum annual through put" of 2400 tons, or 4.8 million pounds of ammonium nitrate. The application was filed by West when officials with TCEQ discovered the company was operating without a permit after it's "grandfather" exemption lapsed. TCEQ officials reported finding this problem after receiving a citizen complaint about a strong smell of ammonia.
TCEQ records show at that time West applied for and was eventually granted two air permits; one for anhydrous ammonia tanks and one for the "material loading and storage of dry fertilizer materials."
The records provided to Local 2 by the TCEQ relating to the permitting process outlined conditions the company must follow to comply with state air emission standards. The TCEQ records provided to Local 2 did not address any potential fire or explosive hazards at the plant.
What is unclear from the documents filed with both the TCEQ and DSHS is whether West stopped handling ammonium nitrate for a period time and then resumed.
However, in 2006 West did not list ammonium nitrate on its Tier Two report, even though it did list the company handled this chemical on its permit application to the TCEQ that same year.
The Office of the Texas State Chemist does issue permits to companies handling ammonium nitrate. The head of the Office, Dr. Tim Herman, told Local 2 those permits are issued after a facility is checked to ensure it meets the requirements "relating to security and sale of ammonium nitrate as well as requirements that records of sale be maintained."
Herman said a check of whether facilities are meeting these requirements is conducted annually.
However, Herman said state law prohibits him from publicly disclosing whether West, or other similar facilities, passed this safety check and received a permit.
Herman added that his Office does not have the training nor regulatory oversight to pursue potential fire or other explosive safety concerns at a facility handling ammonium nitrate. Herman said his office is mainly tasked with checking that a facility is selling fertilizer with the proper amount of nutrients.
Have they said yet what happened or if an inspection would have helped?
