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Chemical industry representatives are using unproven allegations that a criminal act caused the catastrophic 2013 West Texas explosion to try to kill an important chemical safety rule.<\/p>\nChemical industry representatives are using unproven allegations that a criminal act caused the catastrophic 2013 West Texas explosion to try to kill an important chemical safety rule.<\/p>\n
Millions of people live and work in the shadow of high-risk chemical plants that store and use highly hazardous chemicals. \u00a0The House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on a Congressional Review Action resolution to repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently announced Risk Management Program (RMP) update<\/a>. EPA’s RMP regulation, originally issued in 1992, is designed to protect communities surrounding chemical facilities from harmful explosions and chemical releases. \u00a0EPA had updated these protections in response to President Barack Obama’s 2013 Executive Order<\/a> on “Improving Chemical Facility Safety and Security”\u00a0following the catastrophic\u00a0explosion at West Fertilizer that killed 15 people and wiped out part of the city of West, Texas.<\/p>\n The vote this week follows EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s announcement on March 13 that he had decided to\u00a0grant an industry petition<\/a> to extend the effective date of the new rule for 90 days.<\/p>\n One of the main arguments of the industry petition (and an argument that will undoubtedly\u00a0be heard on the House floor) is that,instead of the West explosion being “a terrible accident caused by carelessness and improperly managed hazardous materials,” the fire that led to the West explosion was actually\u00a0“an intentional criminal act of arson,” this based on a\u00a0Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announcement<\/a>\u00a0last year. The industry petition stated that\u00a0“EPA’s proposed regulatory revisions were based on the mistaken understanding that West, Texas, incident was a preventable accident.”<\/p>\n First the facts:<\/p>\n The only “evidence” presented that the fire at the West fertilizer facility was a criminal act came from a short press conference that the ATF held in Texas on May 11, 2016. \u00a0You can watch the ATF Press Conference below. \u00a0Note that they never actually say they had evidence that the fire was started intentionally. After three years and $2 million investigating the incident, all they say\u00a0is that they were not able to find an ignition source and, after ruling\u00a0out all other possible ignition sources, a criminal act was the only thing they had left.<\/p>\n The ATF did not argue at the press conference that they had evidence, but could not release it because release of evidence may impede the case. Instead, in response to reporters’ questions (1:40) about evidence, the ATF only responds that “We have eliminated all reasonable accidental and natural causes and that includes smoking.” And\u00a0“Well, we came to the conclusion after we ruled out all reasonable accidental and and natural causes. And, after the extensive testing we conducted.”<\/p>\n ATF\u00a0never issued a written report, and never held\u00a0briefing for any government agencies or anyone else. \u00a0They even refused a request from the White House for a briefing. (Something I never even knew was possible.)Background<\/h2>\n
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What is the truth?<\/h2>\n
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There is no evidence that the West explosion or the fire that led to the explosion was an intentional Act of arson.<\/h2>\n
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