Fertilizer plant securityAmmonium nitrate fertilizers are inherently risky, but the benefits are many
The deadly explosion has brought the $10 billion U.S. fertilizer industry to the attention of the mainstream media, but the risks inherent in fertilizer production and storage are not a secret to people close to the industry. Ammonium nitrate may be dangerous, but its benefits cannot be ignored.
Investigators are still trying to determine exactly what caused the explosion at the fertilizer facility in Texas, which killed fifteen people and injured more than 100 more. The deadly explosion has brought the $10 billion U.S. fertilizer industry to the attention of the mainstream media..
The risks inherent in fertilizer production and storage are not a secret to people close to the industry. The Texas plant stored and blended anhydrous ammonia, a pungent gas with suffocating fumes which is used as a fertilizer. Storage tanks on the site contained almost 270 tons of ammonium nitrate, which can explode when mixed with fuel and ignited.
The Washington Post reports that in 2006, the facility, located in the tiny town of West, Texas, was fined $2,300 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because it did not have a risk-management plan meeting federal safety codes. After the fine, the West Fertilizer Company committed to meeting standards for its ammonia storage tanks.
The facility’s operators say they did not think an explosion could take place. The Dallas Morning News obtained a copy of the of the facility’s internal review for fire or explosive risks. “The worst possible scenario, the report stated, would be a 10-minute release of ammonia gas that would kill or injure no one,” The document said
Ammonium nitrate may be dangerous, but its benefits cannot be ignored. Brendan Koerner writes in Slate that “[A]mmonium nitrate is in many ways one of the best (and certainly one of the cheapest) sources of crop-nourishing nitrogen available. For starters, ammonium nitrate is inexpensive to manufacture. … Ammonium nitrate is also well-suited to bolstering certain types of crops. It’s quite effective with fruit trees, for example, providing more efficient nitrogen delivery than ammonium sulfate.”
Critics say that oversight for the industry has been lacking because Occupational Safety and Health Administration is understaffed and inspections are infrequent.
Fertilizer facilities in Texas have, on average, been inspected only six times in the last five years. The West Texas Fertilizer Company facility in West was not one of them.
The United States has a significant amount of natural gas, and a large amount of fertilizer is synthesized from atmospheric nitrogen and natural gas, which is likely the way ammonia was stored in the retail facility.
Currently there are forty-four fertilizer production plants in the United States, and thirty of them are nitrogen plants. Retail facilities, like the one in West, Texas, which sell directly to farmers are more numerous, and even less supervised.
“There is no national list of retail facilities, but each state registers and regulates them,” Kathy Mathers, VP of Public Affairs at the Fertilizer Institute told the Washington Post.
Explosions at retail facilities and plants are uncommon, but there have been sixteen documented explosions in fertilizer production plant around the world since 1921. The deadliest blast came in 1947, when a fire on a French vessel which was docked in the Port of Texas City set off more than 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate. The blast killed 581 people and is still the deadliest U.S. industrial accident.
