West Fertilizer Co., West, TX Explosion-15 Dead, Over 200 Wounded

[MuffyBee]

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/west-explosion/headlines/20130518-in-west-investigators-focus-shifts-from-explosions-cause-to-closing-safety-gaps.ece
In West, investigators’ focus shifts from explosion’s cause to closing safety gaps
May 18, 2013

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/greater_waco/west/west-blast-reveals-emergency-planning-weaknesses/article_d9156421-3533-560f-b60c-caca21a77db6.html
West blast reveals emergency planning weaknesses
May 19, 2013


http://www.wacotrib.com/mclennan-county-emergency-planning-map/pdf_c0d48630-c078-11e2-9d86-0019bb2963f4.html

McLennan County emergency planning map
A countywide map of major chemical hazards included in an appendix to the 2012 McLennan County Emergency Plan doesn’t include West Fertilizer at all.

[MuffyBee]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/safety-board-atf-blocking-plant-blast-probe-19229612
Safety Board: ATF Blocking Plant Blast Probe
May 22, 2013

Federal agents and the state fire marshal have effectively barred a federal safety panel from the site of a Texas fertilizer plant blast that killed 15 people and injured about 200 others, hampering its investigation, the panel's chairman said.

In a May 17 letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, U.S. Chemical Safety Board Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso asked the California Democrat to help the board obtain evidence under control of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that he contends is essential to the board's investigation, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Austin American-Statesman reported.

"To date, the CSB has experienced significant obstacles that potentially compromise and delay our ability to complete the 'comprehensive investigation' that you have rightly demanded, and that we would very much like to produce," he wrote to Boxer. The chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works has said she planned to hold hearings into the April 17 West Fertilizer explosion.

A criminal investigation "comes with certain sensitivities. You need to keep it to law enforcement only," Robert Champion, ATF special agent in charge of the investigation told the American-Statesman. He also said the decision to bar the CSB from the site was made by the State Fire Marshal's Office.

Fire Marshal's Office spokeswoman Rachel Moreno said the CSB was kept out because criminal investigators were executing search warrants. "We have to protect evidence," she told the American-Statesman. "We need to have one report, one set of interviews; it all has to be clear cut."
 
In his letter, Moure-Eraso said the board sent 18 investigators and other experts to West within 24 hours of the blast. At the same time, ATF "assumed essential exclusive control of the incident site" with the State Fire Marshal's Office, he wrote.

"These criminal investigators have exercised exclusive control of the site for a full one-month period ... and have altered or removed almost all relevant physical evidence at the site," he wrote.

ATF and the State Fire Marshal's Office "consistently expressed the position that CSB was not permitted to conduct separate interviews, prepare expert analysis or author its own independent report," he wrote. ATF and the state fire marshal "state that because in their view this was exclusively a criminal investigation, there could be only one version of what occurred and one report."

On May 16, representatives of the State Fire Marshal's Office announced that the joint criminal investigation left the cause of a fire precipitating the blast as "undetermined."
More...

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http://www.yourglenrosetx.com/news/community/article_63518547-fa86-5485-9fdd-0d6d4b98ef91.html
BENEFIT
Rallying behind West explosion victims
GR fundraiser set for Sunday to support family blinded by incident
May 22, 2013


Contributed
Matus
Three members of the Matus family, residents of the city of West, were seriously injured in the April explosion at West Fertilizer Company

 
Deidre and Steve Matus and their six-year-old grandson, Brayden, were seriously injured and their home was destroyed. The family was inside their home, a short distance from West Fertilizer Company, when the plant exploded, devastating the city.
Deidre is the daughter of Charline Griffith, who is employed at GRMC.
The family was standing at a window inside their home, observing the fire at the fertilizer plant when the distaster occurred.
“They were looking out the window when it exploded,” Michael Honea, GRMC chief financial officer, said, adding shards of glass and debris impacted with each of their faces.
Deidra has gone through several surgeries and remains under medical care at a rehabilitation facility in the Waco area. She lost vision in both eyes and has undergone extensive cosmetic surgery to repair damage to her face.
Her husband and grandson have been released from inpatient care, but both are expected to undergo additional surgeries. Steve was left with partial sight in one eye and is blind in the other. Brayden has undergone five surgeries and has partial sight in both eyes, according to Honea.
This weekend’s benefit — organized by Griffith’s friends and co-workers — will be held 2-8 p.m. in the medical center parking lot. The event will feature three live bands, a hamburger cookout, a bounce house for children and more in an effort to raise funds.
More...

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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fire-marshals-office-panel-blast-site-access-19238651
Fire Marshal's Office: Panel Had Blast Site Access
May 22, 2013

The State Fire Marshal's Office says a federal safety panel's investigators had access to the site of a Texas fertilizer plant blast that killed 15 people and injured about 200 others.

The chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board had asked for congressional help in obtaining evidence under the control of the state agency and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

However, in a statement issued Wednesday, the state agency said the CSB was given access to the scene, worked with other agencies during excavations and neighborhood surveys, and collected its own chemical samples with ATF assistance.

 

In a statement Wednesday, CSB spokeswoman Hillary Cohen said the board has been denied access to the site since May 13.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/greater_waco/west/state-fire-marshal-s-office-says-csb-had-access-to/article_565cbf66-d44e-51bd-b5dd-0f26aec72a50.html
State Fire Marshal’s Office says CSB had access to West explosion site
May 22, 2013

The 30 agencies that responded to the West explosion agreed to abide by a protocol before the investigation began, and only the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board did not comply, a spokeswoman for the State Fire Marshal’s Office said Wednesday.
Responding to criticism from CSB chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso about how officials from the SFMO and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives controlled access to the site, the SFMO said their investigators tried to “fully cooperate” with the CSB despite their breach of protocol.
Moure-Eraso complained in a May 17 letter to U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., that his agency’s investigation into the April 17 explosion was potentially compromised and delayed because the ATF and SFMO virtually shut out his investigators, at least initially, from the blast site.
Moure-Eraso’s letter to Boxer, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, made public the apparent rift between CSB investigators and those from the SFMO and the ATF, who jointly led the investigation.
In a statement released Wednesday, SFMO officials say the investigation has, and continues to be, an active criminal investigation, which they said takes priority over all other investigations.
“The multiple agencies involved in the investigation all agreed upon a single protocol prior to the beginning of the investigation,” the fire marshal’s statement said. “All agencies, except CSB, operated within the protocol. Nevertheless, the SFMO and ATF attempted to fully cooperate with CSB.”
The fire marshal’s office said CSB officials were provided access to the scene, contrary to Moure-Eraso’s complaints to Boxer. CSB investigators worked with SFMO and ATF agents during excavation operations and neighborhood documentation activities, the statement says.
CSB officials also collected their own chemical samples, according to SFMO officials.
“No evidence was destroyed or compromised. A personal tour of the scene was also provided by SFMO and ATF to CSB Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso,” the statement said.
The ATF, meanwhile, released a statement late Wednesday stating, “ATF and the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) are working in concert on the investigation of the explosion and fire that occurred on April 17, 2013, at the West Fertilizer Plant in Texas. ATF’s National Response Team’s primary goal when called upon by a state or local agency for assistance is to determine the origin and cause of a fire or explosion.” The statement continued to say multiple state and agencies are investigating “the incident as a potential crime, and are processing the scene accordingly. The investigation at the West Fertilizer Plant continues to be an active criminal investigation, which takes priority over all other investigations.”
Maure-Eraso, though, previously said ATF agents restricted CSB access to the scene and prohibited CSB investigators from interviewing witnesses for three weeks, calling it “an unprecedented and harmful delay.”
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2013/05/22/atf-accused-of-blocking-investigation-of-west-explosion/
ATF Accused Of Blocking Investigation Of West Explosion
May 22, 2013

WEST (CBSDFW.COM) – The ATF is under fire.

It’s among the lead agencies investigating the fire and explosion at the West Fertilizer Company plant that killed 15 people last month.

Agents from another organization looking into the blast accuse the ATF of interfering and delaying their investigation.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is required by federal statute to conduct investigations into chemical industrial accidents.

Now, the board is asking for the Senate’s help in doing its job after what it describes as the ATF’s intimidation and delay tactics. The Board hopes to prevent what happened in West from ever happening again. But the Board chairman, Rafael Moure-Eraso tells me his team has been blocked from doing its work by another federal agency, the ATF, which headed the primary criminal investigation into the blast. “It’s going to be harder, it’s going to be a lot harder, and it didn’t need to be that way, that’s the problem.”

Moure-Eraso sent this strongly worded letter to U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee which may hold hearings on the explosion.

Moure-Eraso says the ATF actually turned away two board members, Presidential appointees, from the scene.

In his letter, he called it “an unprecedented and harmful delay”.

Moure-Eraso says, “We are especially interested in this place because the size of destruction that happened in a community is unprecedented.”

In fact, Moure-Eraso claims the Chemical Safety Board wasn’t allowed to conduct its first interview with a plant employee until nearly three weeks after the blast. And he says even that was interrupted by more overreach on the part of ATF. “There were three armed guards who decended over him, and said you have to come with us, we still need to talk to you, and we never saw this person again until four hours later.”

During a news conference last week, the ATF and State Fire Marshal were asked if they would turn over their findings and evidence to the Chemical Safety Board.

Assistant state fire marshal Kelly Kistner said, “We will not at this time. This is an on-going criminal investigation, and that information will remain protected under the applicable laws.” When asked if he tried calling the ATF to try to resolve this, Moure-Eraso said, “We did try to get into contact with the director of the ATF, here in Washington, but unfortunately, we didn’t get an answer from them.”

So what does the ATF say about all this? The agency declined comment.
More...

[MuffyBee]

It's really a shame and one heck of a waste to see agencies fight.   

[MuffyBee]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/24/us-usa-explosion-texas-agencies-idUSBRE94N00X20130524
Row between U.S. agencies over Texas plant explosion deepens
May 23, 2013

(Reuters) - A dispute between government agencies over the investigation into the deadly explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant intensified on Thursday when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives hit back after being criticized by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB).

The board's allegations that its investigation into the causes of the April 17 tragedy was hindered by the ATF or the Texas State Fire Marshal's Office is a misrepresentation of what actually occurred, the ATF said.

The CSB was not barred by the ATF from the explosion scene in the town of West, and the ATF did not destroy evidence, as CSB officials suggested, said Rich Marianos, assistant director of the ATF's office of public and governmental affairs.

Earlier in the week, the CSB said the ATF and the State Fire Marshal's Office were preventing the CSB from discovering what caused the explosion that killed 14 people. The Texas agency shot back the next day, accusing the CSB of not being a team player and reminding the CSB that the fire marshal's criminal investigation takes priority over all other probes.

"For them to inaccurately report the facts that transpired is extremely disappointing and disrespectful," the ATF's Marianos said. "We believe the unified command structure and all the investigators did an extremely professional job."

At its heart, the dispute pivots on the friction that can be created when an agency charged with finding the cause of an explosion needs to work alongside investigators pursuing possible criminal wrong-doing.

The CSB is an independent federal agency responsible for investigating industrial-chemical accidents. The ATF is a criminal investigative federal agency under the Department of Justice.

FAMILIAR BATTLE

The dispute is hardly unique. For decades various federal and state agencies have competed with each other for supremacy over the investigations into transportation and industrial disasters.
 
The State Fire Marshal's Office released a statement Wednesday saying the CSB refused to join an agreement that 30 other state and federal agencies investigating the West explosion all agreed to.

Officials at the Fire Marshal's Office did not return calls over the past three days to answer additional questions.

Daniel Horowitz, the CSB's managing director, said his agency could not accept the terms of the agreement because it prohibited the CSB from releasing an independent report detailing the cause of the accident.

Additionally, witnesses are more likely to talk to CSB investigators, who are prohibited from pursuing a criminal investigation, unlike the ATF, Horowitz told Reuters on Thursday by telephone.

The State Fire Marshal's Office said that while its criminal investigation takes precedence over all other investigations, the CSB was not denied access to the scene or to witnesses.

CURSORY ACCESS ALLEGED

Horowitz said access was little more than an hour-long "ceremonial" tour of the site.

"This was not comparable to in-depth site access and evidence collection for our investigators and experts, which would be a multi-week or month process," he said.

CSB could have had access to the investigative materials put together by the joint investigative team, including the ATF and CSB, ATF's Mariano said.

The ATF investigators assigned to West are among the most experienced in the world, and have investigated hundreds of explosions, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta in 1996, Marianos said. Even though the CSB disagreed with some techniques, like the ATF's use of heavy equipment, Mariano said the investigation was methodical.

"The ATF is correct," said U.S. Representative Bill Flores, of Texas. "I don't know what the deal is with the CSB."

CSB is the only agency involved that has not played with the rest of the team, Flores said.

"I would like for the CSB to adjust its request so it can work with everyone else," he said. "Why does the CSB have to have their own interviews?"

The investigative approach of an independent agency like the CSB and the NTSB are different than criminal investigators, Hall said.

But investigative agencies should never be in a position where they are stepping on one another, he said.

"They've got to sit down and work this out," Hall said.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/greater_waco/west/former-west-emt-reed-will-undergo-mental-health-evaluation/article_601d2f51-41e1-5b5f-a5a4-9a9c3f05c450.html
Former West EMT Reed will undergo mental health evaluation
May 22, 2013

A judge Tuesday ordered the former West paramedic indicted on charges he possessed bomb-making components to undergo a mental health evaluation at a federal prison medical facility.
Bryce Ashley Reed, 31, will remain in the McLennan County Jail until the federal Bureau of Prisons makes arrangements for him to be transferred to a facility, probably one in Springfield, Mo., for psychiatric review, a source with knowledge of the situation said Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Jeffrey C. Manske signed a sealed order Tuesday directing Reed to be evaluated for competency, sanity and overall mental condition, the source said.
Reed, who has said he helped evacuate West residents near the West Fertilizer Co. plant before the April 17 explosion, has been in federal custody since his May 9 arrest by ATF agents on a charge of possession of an unregistered explosive device.
He waived a detention hearing scheduled for last week after his attorney, Jonathan Sibley, and federal prosecutors reached what Sibley described as “some middle ground.”
Sibley declined comment Tuesday about Reed’s impending psychological evaluation.
 
County records indicate Reed has had jail visits from his mother, his father, his wife and a mental health caseworker.
Reed’s arrest for possession of what federal authorities described as the makings for a small pipe bomb sparked widespread speculation that he might be involved in the tragedy at West.
Sibley has said Reed had nothing to do with setting the fire or causing the explosion that killed 15 and injured 200 and has challenged federal authorities to set the record straight about whether they have evidence to link Reed to the explosion.
 
Frazier said last week that federal authorities “would not speculate” if there is evidence to connect Reed to the explosion.
He is charged only with possession of an unregistered firearm and faces up to 10 years in federal prison, if convicted.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/Tenth-Lawsuit-Filed-Over-West-Fertilizer-Plant-Explosion-208833701.html
Tenth Lawsuit Filed Over West Fertilizer Plant Explosion
May 24, 2013

WACO (May 24, 2013)--A tenth lawsuit was filed Wednesday in a state district court naming West Fertilizer Company and its owner in connection with the April 17 fire and explosion that left 15 dead, more than 200 injured and scores of homes destroyed.

McLennan County District Clerk's Office records show Jaquelina S. Rivera, et al, has filed a lawsuit in 170th District Court against Adair Grain Company and its owner.

Rivera joins nine other suits that seek damages against the fertilizer company and its owner in the wake of the deadly explosion.
More...

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http://watchdogblog.dallasnews.com/2013/05/chemical-safety-board-says-we-are-not-backing-away-from-west-investigation-plans-to-survey-explosion-scene-next-week.html/
Chemical Safety Board says ‘we are not backing away’ from West investigation, plans to survey explosion scene next week
May 25, 2013


A federal safety agency will access the West Fertilizer Co. plant property next week, as it continues investigating what breakdowns may have contributed to the explosion that killed 15 people and flattened hundreds of structures in the tiny farm town.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board’s managing director, Daniel Horowitz, said it is pulling away some staff from the blast scene, because that’s typical at this stage of any investigation and the remains have “limited or no evidentiary value” after four weeks of excavation by other agencies. Law enforcement officials said last week they were making similar on-site adjustments.

“But we are not backing away from the case as a whole,” Horowitz told The Dallas Morning News.
More....

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http://www.dallasnews.com/news/west-explosion/headlines/20130525-mclennan-county-could-have-adopted-fire-code-before-west-explosion-but-may-not-have-known.ece
McLennan County could have adopted fire code before West explosion but may not have known
May 25, 2013, Updated May 26, 2013

WEST — McLennan County could have implemented a fire code that some experts say may have prevented the fatal explosions at the West Fertilizer Co.
Although Texas law prohibits many small counties from adopting such codes, McLennan is not among them. The county became eligible, according to the State Fire Marshal’s Office, after the 2010 census when the population of an adjacent county, Bell, exceeded 250,000.
But McLennan County didn’t act, perhaps because officials didn’t know they had the option.

 
Much more...

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ww.wfaa.com/news/texas-news/Starting-over-in-West-209424471.html
West begins demolishing homes too damaged to repair
May 29, 2013

Video at Link

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http://www.policymic.com/articles/44945/west-fertilizer-plant-explosion-even-after-tragedy-texas-still-bans-fire-codes-in-70-of-its-counties
West Fertilizer Plant Explosion: Even After Tragedy, Texas Still Bans Fire Codes in 70% of its Counties
May 30, 2013

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http://www.dallasnews.com/news/west-explosion/headlines/20130529-bill-providing-tax-relief-on-homes-destroyed-in-west-blast-awaits-perry-s-signature.ece
Bill providing tax relief on homes destroyed in West blast awaits Perry's signature
Published May 29, 2013, Updated May 30, 2013

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http://www.khou.com/news/texas-news/209500521.html
EPA: Chemical at center of West blast not 'extremely hazardous'
May 30, 2013

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http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Terror-fears-keep-toxic-plants-hidden-from-public-209497821.html
Terror fears keep toxic plants hidden from public
May 30, 2013

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http://www.news-journal.com/news/nation/report-finds-some-facilities-keep-explosive-chemicals-secret/article_3a4a0bf6-b473-580c-8d1e-6da823d4fdd0.html
Report finds some facilities keep explosive chemicals secret
May 31, 2013

WASHINGTON — Fears of terrorism have made it harder than ever for citizens to find out what dangerous chemicals lurk in their backyards, The Associated Press has found. Secrecy and shoddy record-keeping have kept the public and emergency workers in the dark about stockpiles of explosive material.
A monthlong reporting effort by the AP, drawing upon public records in 28 states, found more than 120 facilities within a potentially devastating blast zone of schoolchildren, the elderly and the sick. But how many others exist nationwide is a mystery, as other states refused to provide data.
More...

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http://www.wacotrib.com/news/greater_waco/west/damaged-west-homes-could-get-tax-relief/article_b17f139a-7a8b-53e0-94ef-e4e95499649f.html
Damaged West homes could get tax relief
Posted May 31, 2013, Updated June 1, 2013