When the Wake Forest University emergency communications systems called me at 12:01 am on Tuesday, February 1, I could not have guessed that it was about a chemical bomb capable of wiping out blocks and blocks of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The call warned university students to heed the city’s voluntary evacuation of the 6,500 people living within in a one-mile radius of the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant that was on fire — and in danger of exploding.
Thankfully, the fire did not injure anyone, and the bomb did not ignite.
Yet it is a wakeup call — in my case, literally — not only to those of us here in Winston-Salem but across our nation: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is supposed to protect the public from exploding fertilizer plants, but it has left them unregulated.
These last few days have been harrowing, to say the least, especially for those forced to evacuate or shelter in place under threat of incineration. But we were lucky. Others haven’t been.
Nearly 600 residents were killed by a massive fertilizer explosion in Texas City, Texas, in 1947. In 2013, a fire at the West Fertilizer plant, located in West, Texas, a town of approximately 2,900 north of Waco, triggered a blast which killed 12 emergency responders and three members of the public, injured 260 people, and caused insurance-related losses of about $230 million. The detonation left a crater 90 feet wide and 10 feet deep — and was felt as far as 142 miles away.
A similar disaster could have easily played out here. When a fire breaks out and the ammonium nitrate stored at fertilizer plants is compacted because a building collapses on top of it or it is stored in a rail car, the heat of the fire can trigger a dangerous explosion. I shudder at the thought of what might have been. There are 500 tons of ammonium nitrate at the fertilizer plant, including 100 tons stored in a nearby parked rail car. As William “Trey” Mayo, our local fire chief, warned, “The fact of the matter is that at the beginning of this incident, there was enough ammonium nitrate on hand for this to be one of the worst explosions in U.S. history.”
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board concluded that the lack of an automatic sprinkler system and the method of storing ammonium nitrate “plausibly contributed” to West, Texas explosion. Like that plant, the Winston-Salem facility did not have a sprinkler system or a fire alarm. The city requires sprinklers and fire alarms for facilities like this one, but the requirement did not apply to the 80-year-old Weaver facility because it was built before the mandate was adopted. The American Chemistry Council warns that “strict fire protections are necessary” at plants storing ammonium nitrate.
While cities can do better, the real problem is that the fertilizer plant was also exempt from regulation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Clean Air Act requires EPA to regulate industrial facilities that store highly hazardous chemicals, but it has inexplicably exempted ammonium nitrate from the safety requirements of its Accidental Release Prevention/Risk Management Plan (RMP) rule that addresses hazards at the local level. The RMP rule is woefully inadequate in other ways too, the Center for Progressive Reform documented in a recent report.
The only feasible way to protect people is to regulate this hazard. Once the Weaver plant caught fire, Winston-Salem’s only option was a voluntary evaluation because the city was unable to implement and enforce a mandatory evaluation. The city did not have sufficient emergency personnel to ensure people left their homes and businesses and did not return. It also decided not to block off roads near the burning factory because of the disruption and the lack of alternative routes.
At President Biden’s direction, the EPA is currently undertaking a review of RMP rules. Communities that host chemical plants, environmental groups, scientists and health experts, workers, national security experts, and many members of the public have urged EPA to strengthen RMP regulations; include ammonium nitrate facilities under an expanded coverage of the chemical disaster prevention program; and carefully evaluate requiring fertilizer plants to use the safer alternatives that are available.
People living near fertilizer plants should not have to depend on luck to protect themselves and their property. EPA must act now.
Showing 2,818 results
Sidney A. Shapiro | February 14, 2022
When the Wake Forest University emergency communications systems called me at 12:01 am on Tuesday, February 1, I could not have guessed that it was about a chemical bomb capable of wiping out blocks and blocks of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The call warned university students to heed the city’s voluntary evacuation of the 6,500 people living within in a one-mile radius of the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant that was on fire — and in danger of exploding. Thankfully, the fire did not injure anyone, and the bomb did not ignite.
James Goodwin | February 10, 2022
The regulatory system is quite literally democracy in action, as it invites and empowers members of the public to work with their government to implement policies to keep our drinking water free of contaminants, ensure that the food on store shelves is safe to eat, prevent crooked banks from cheating customers, and much, much more.
Marcha Chaudry | February 9, 2022
A few years ago, Roschelle Powers took a routine trip to visit her mom, Roberta, at her nursing home in Birmingham, Alabama. When Roschelle opened the door, she found her mother vomiting, disoriented -- and clutching a handful of pills. Roberta’s son, Larry, visited a few days later and found his mom alone and unresponsive. She died soon after – with 20 times the recommended dose of her diabetes medication in her blood. The Powers family charged the nursing home with misconduct, but the company denied responsibility -- and the family couldn’t take their case to court because they had signed a contract that robbed them of their right to a free and fair trial. Instead, contractual legalese forced them to settle their dispute in a rigged system of arbitration rather than in an impartial court of law. My colleagues and I share this story, chronicled in a New York Times investigation of forced arbitration, in the opening pages of our new report about the disproportionate toll this widespread practice has on marginalized and vulnerable groups.
Darya Minovi | February 8, 2022
Last week, my colleagues and I advocated for a pair of clean water bills in Maryland and Virginia, which were spurred by research completed by the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR). This two-part blog series explains why. Part I, which ran yesterday, explores our collaborative work to protect clean drinking water in Maryland. Today, we look at our efforts to protect Virginia’s health and environment from toxic chemical spills.
Darya Minovi | February 7, 2022
Last week, my colleagues and I advocated for a pair of clean water bills in Maryland and Virginia, which were spurred by research completed by the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR). One would create a Private Well Safety Program in Maryland, and the other would create an aboveground chemical storage tank registration program in Virginia. Both laws are sorely needed. This two-part blog series explains why. Today’s piece looks at our efforts to protect clean drinking water in Maryland; check back tomorrow for Part II, which explores our collaborative efforts to protect Virginians from toxic chemical spills.
Daniel Farber | February 3, 2022
In recent decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has become increasingly interventionist on issues relating to the appointment and removal of officials. Nondelegation arguments have also escalated and even non-constitutional doctrines such as Chevron are debated in constitutional terms. But according to originalist scholars, who say that the Constitution should be understood based on its meaning at the time of drafting, these are necessary developments. Although I am not an originalist, I had assumed that the originalist case must be a powerful one to justify such a forceful effort to overturn existing precedent. That turns out to have been a mistake on my part. Writing a book on presidential power led me to take a much closer look at the historical record and the recent scholarship on these questions. The work of scholars such as Nicholas Bagley, Daniel Birk, Julian Mortensen, Nicolas Parrillo, and Jed Shugerman, as well as that of their critics, have made me realize that originalist arguments for presidential appointments and removal power and nondelegation positions are not only debatable, but in some cases really shaky.
Robert L. Glicksman | February 2, 2022
During the Trump administration, the U.S. Department of the Interior undermined its statutory obligations to protect lands and natural resources managed by the federal government. It also accelerated the extraction of fossil fuels from federal lands and constructed barriers to a shift to renewable energy, hindering efforts to abate climate disruption. On March 15, 2021, the Senate confirmed Deb Haaland as new secretary of the department, which houses the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) -- three agencies that together are responsible for managing millions of acres of some of the nation's most precious terrain. Before Haaland's confirmation, the Center for Progressive Reform identified five priorities for the department. Here is an update on progress so far.
Jake Moore | February 1, 2022
Virginia's recent environmental and climate laws have been heralded as among the nation's most progressive. In recent years, Virginia passed landmark laws supporting renewable energy and environmental justice and joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, priming it to address the challenges posed by growing flood risks, climate-related disasters, and industry-related public health crises. However, Gov. Glenn Youngkin's election has shrouded Virginia's green future in gray.
Darya Minovi | February 1, 2022
Climate change is quickly evolving into climate catastrophe, and there’s a narrow window of time to do something about it. While the world works on solutions, there’s surprisingly little focus on the chemical industry, which accounts for roughly 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions -- as well as other environmental harms.