Editorial Board
Texas Blast Reveals the Holes in Chemical Oversight
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Six weeks after a fertilizer center near West, Texas, blew up, killing 15 people, it has become clear that none of the half-dozen state and federal agencies overseeing the place regulated the safe storage of the chemical that exploded.
Investigators have concluded that a fire at West Fertilizer Co. -- perhaps caused by arson, an electrical short or a spark from a golf cart -- detonated large stores of ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound used as both a fertilizer and a commercial explosive. The blast devastated a 37-block area.