Vegas Free-for-All - Huge Explosion At Texas Fertilizer Plant

CowboyKell

Apr 18, 2013
5:05am

We have spent most of last night conversing with and extending our prayers and best wishes to our friends and family back in Texas.
My wife grew up in a small town fairly near West. In my younger days I would travel to a dance hall there. We still have friends that live about 10 miles outside of West. My in-laws are friends with the family that sold the company to it's current owners. I have extended in-law family that buy their addatives from the West Fertilizer co. for their farm and pasture land. I have been to the sight on more than one occasion.
All of our family is safe and unhurt however a tragedy such as this effects evryone in the community to one degree or another.

So now I will feed the troll a little.
Despite what the media says, it's not a plant. No manufacturing takes place there. The company buys and stores base fertilizer chemicals that are stored on sight and then blended to customer specifications. Every agricultural community in America has a sight like this.
The apartment complex that you are so adamant about is also section 8 housing. The highschool football field is named after the original owners of the fertilizer yard. Adair grain is the biggest recipient of USDA subsidies in the county. The people of West are refered to as Bohunks.
Run with it Chili.

pearlguy

Apr 18, 2013
5:19am

Block User

Quote

Originally posted by: Chilcoot
The most important time to be concerned about victims is before they become victims.

Then how come YOU didn't mention this BEFORE it happened ?? (seeing you've played Sim City and all !)

Even a moron can have 20/20 "HINDSIGHT" .... big deal !!

clcjim

Apr 18, 2013
5:26am

Block User

How revealing that Chilcoot sees no difference between George Bush promising a full investigation to assign blame for a tragedy, and Chilcoot’s first post above, in which all the answers are preordained.

Thanks to Chilcoot’s extraordinary insight, we already know that this incident was the result of:

pro-business policies

negligible government oversight

tort reform

a governor who waves handguns around, or something

We’ve learned that for thoughtful, compassionate, even-handed and objective analysis, we can always rely on Chilcoot. No cheap partisan, he.

drmilled

Apr 18, 2013
5:38am

Block User

I am surprised that Chilcoot has not been given the post as hindsight soothsayer in the current administration.

rdwoodpecker

Apr 18, 2013
5:56am

Block User

Believe it or not some smaller towns (villages) have no "zoning regulations" or they have just been instituted in the past 10-15 years or so. Just maybe the "fertilizer facility" was up and in business long before any zoning was in place. Maybe even the nursing facility and school were built after the fertilizer plant was built.
I don't know the facts. So, I think it best not indulge blame on someone for "building" in a neighborhood and residential area just yet! Heck, for all we know they were the first ones on the "block" and these others infringed upon "there" site.

Dan Svatass

Apr 18, 2013
6:06am

Block User

Quote

Originally posted by: Roulette Man
Does Chilcoot know for sure that the plant was built after the houses and buildings were built?

I do not. The problem's the same either way.

If the fertilizer plant was there first, the developers should not have been permitted to build homes so close. If the homes were there first, the plant owner should not have been permitted to build to close.

This is blindingly obvious, and was just as obvious before yesterday's explosion.

Quote
Originally posted by: Roulette Man
That was actually a situation where Bush shined and helped to heal. To imply it was purely political once again shows us the sad thinking of some on this board.

I agree that Bush's speech on the rubble was entirely appropriate. I was responding to another poster who claimed that it is inappropriate to speculate about a tragedy's cause while the smoke is still rising. That poster is wrong, as Bush's 9/11 example shows.

Quote
Originally posted by: CowboyKell
Despite what the media says, it's not a plant. No manufacturing takes place there. The company buys and stores base fertilizer chemicals that are stored on sight and then blended to customer specifications. Every agricultural community in America has a sight like this.

You are right that media reports all describe the facility as a "plant". Seems to me that a place that mixes up fertilizer components could fairly be called a "plant", but that word's not crucial to any point I'm making.

From today's New York Times:

Because it was built in 1962, the facility was grandfathered into state regulations, Mr. Covar said. The company was supposed to get reauthorized in 2004, but failed to do so. Mr. Covar would not speculate on the reason they failed to do it.

Gee, whaddya know. An old fertilizer plant in Texas ignored for years by state regulators. Who could have predicted that in an internet forum just last night?

Quote
Originally posted by: CowboyKell
The apartment complex that you are so adamant about is also section 8 housing.

I am not adamant about an apartment complex. I haven't even mentioned an apartment complex. You are confusing me with someone else.

But so what? Are we not to care about people who live in Section 8 housing for some reason?

Quote
Originally posted by: pearlguy
Quote
Originally posted by: Chilcoot
The most important time to be concerned about victims is before they become victims.
Then how come YOU didn't mention this BEFORE it happened ??

Just so I can understand, you are upset that I didn't object to a zoning decision in West, Texas before yesterday's explosion? This is a question you wonder about?

You must have many questions.

jatki

Apr 18, 2013
6:21am

Block User

Really giuys, quit rsponding to people you feel are complete idiots and it'll soon end up only two or three idiots talking amongst themselves(or circle-jerking, whichever).

J

Dan Svatass

Apr 18, 2013
6:35am

Block User

Quote

Originally posted by: clcjim
How revealing that Chilcoot sees no difference between George Bush promising a full investigation to assign blame for a tragedy, and Chilcoot’s first post above, in which all the answers are preordained.

One would have to be very stupid to not recognize a massive land-use planning failure like this one.

It's not uncommon for fertilizer plants to explode. This apparently is the seventh fatal plant explosion in this country alone.

Hell, the deadliest industrial accident in this country's history was a fertilizer explosion. IN TEXAS! Killed over 500 people, including the entire fire department!

But why learn from the past.

"So, you want to build some homes, maybe even an old folks home, right by the old fertilizer plant in this here podunk Texas town? Sure, go to it! What could possibly go wrong?"

clcjim

Apr 18, 2013
6:36am

Block User

Your posts are getting longer, Chilcoot.

I believe it was forkush who recently said, “Truth never needs such a tortured explanation.”

I wonder if that might apply here.

Tutontow

Apr 18, 2013
6:38am

Block User

Quote

Originally posted by: jatki99
Really giuys, quit rsponding to people you feel are complete idiots and it'll soon end up only two or three idiots talking amongst themselves(or circle-jerking, whichever).

J

It reminds me of a photography forum I used to be active in. There were a couple of prople who always seemed to annoy everyone else, after a while we just decided to ignore them. Eventually they would leave.

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