The deadly ammonium-nitrate blast that claimed 14 lives, injured more than 200, and caused more than $100 million in property damage at the West Fertilizer plant in Texas is a terrible tragedy that many might think could never happen to them. But the Reuters news service found that at least 800,000 Americans live within one mile of hundreds of storage sites for the potentially explosive chemical, Ryan McNeill and M.B. Pell report.
The Reuters analysis found that sitting within close proximity to the ammonium nitrate are hundreds of schools, 20 hospitals and 13 churches, and 10,000 or more people live within one mile of at least 12 of these facilities. Many of the sites are in rural areas. The data were incomplete, because reporting ammonium-nitrate incidents is voluntary, and some states failed to respond to the news organization's request for data.
"Among those that withheld data was Missouri, which The Fertilizer Institute, an industry association, said is the No. 1 user of ammonium-nitrate fertilizer in the United States. The group said Missouri accounts for 20 percent of the nation's use of the product." (Read more) An interactive map of known facilities with ammonium nitrate can be viewed here; below is a screen shot of the map focused on the Arkansas-Tennesee border, with Missouri's omission indicated:
We wrote about West Fertilizer here and about how ammonium nitrate is banned in some countries here.
The Reuters analysis found that sitting within close proximity to the ammonium nitrate are hundreds of schools, 20 hospitals and 13 churches, and 10,000 or more people live within one mile of at least 12 of these facilities. Many of the sites are in rural areas. The data were incomplete, because reporting ammonium-nitrate incidents is voluntary, and some states failed to respond to the news organization's request for data.
"Among those that withheld data was Missouri, which The Fertilizer Institute, an industry association, said is the No. 1 user of ammonium-nitrate fertilizer in the United States. The group said Missouri accounts for 20 percent of the nation's use of the product." (Read more) An interactive map of known facilities with ammonium nitrate can be viewed here; below is a screen shot of the map focused on the Arkansas-Tennesee border, with Missouri's omission indicated:
