(Bloomberg) — National regulations on the handling and storage of ammonium nitrate fertilizer are needed to avoid the type of massive explosion that last year killed 14 people in West, Texas, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board said.
The April 17 explosion was "preventable," Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso told reporters today. The 40 tons to 60 tons of ammonium nitrate that ignited were stored in a wooden building and bins, rather than concrete, with no modern fire suppression equipment, he said.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration need to regulate fertilizer- grade ammonium nitrate as an explosive, Moure-Eraso said. The EPA can use its authority to require safer blends and technologies, he said. Another 1,351 U.S. facilities store the material.
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