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Tragedy in Texas: Still More Questions than Answers

So far, the fertilizer explosion in West, TX has more questions than answers. But that won't last forever.

By Bill Coffin | Updated on May 02, 2013
An investigator looks over a destroyed fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2013. (AP)

It has been several weeks since the deadly explosion at the West Fertilizer plant in West, Texas that killed 15, injured some 200, and destroyed a sizeable portion of the town, including a retirement center, a middle school and an apartment complex. Since then, my colleague Chad Hemenway has been at the forefront of a story that so far is yielding more questions than answers. The first and most important, of course, is who insured the plant, since at the time of this writing, there appears to have been no liability insurance of any kind at West Fertlizer on what has turned out to be a $100 million property loss. The deaths and injuries of so many people—many of whom were first responders killed as they tried in vain to put out the plant fire that touched off the explosion—will undoubtedly create a significant liability scenario, whether there is coverage or not. And this gives rise to further questions.

If West was able to operate without liability coverage, who on Earth allowed that to happen? Granted, liability coverage is the kind of thing that many will do without unless they are pressed to buy it. After all, there is a reason why auto liability coverage is mandated, and why banks require us to buy homeowners coverage in order to secure a home loan. One would think that the operator of a fertilizer plant, of all things, would think differently. Apparently not. Whatever business acumen the owners had, it surely did not extend to having an appropriate impulse toward procuring appropriate levels of risk financing. They obtained property insurance, PC360 has learned, and there another question arises…was the coverage obtained through an intermediary?

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