TX Investigating Possibility Of Maybe Compiling Potential Database Of Hazmat, Explosive Sites
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State Fire Marshal Chris Connealy told lawmakers that his office would collect information on best practices to properly handle and store ammonium nitrate, and then give that information to companies similar to West Fertilizer that aren’t covered by a fire code. The potentially volatile chemical was stored at West in wooden bins in a building that lacked fire sprinklers. McLennan County doesn’t have a fire code.
Pickett also suggested that the state ask the companies that are in counties without fire codes if they want to be inspected, and if they would put up signs saying they handle dangerous chemicals.
But Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, questioned how many tasks the committee should give state agencies in the aftermath of the West explosion. “You can paperwork a company to death. List after list and signs, and all this kind of stuff. I think we need to kind of keep it in perspective. It was a major problem and it was an accident, and it was a disaster,” he said.
Flynn said rural residents have told him they’re worried the state will put additional regulations on chemical fertilizers or even try to ban them. “I want to be sure as we go forward — recognizing these are dangerous and we’ve had some problems — but it’s also very important to the agricultural industry, and I don’t want us to forget that,” he said. “And the petrochemical community is important to our economy,” said McCraw, the DPS director.
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http://www.dallasnews.com/news/west-explosion/headlines/20130617-after-west-explosion-texas-may-compile-public-database-of-hazardous-chemical-sites.ece
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