The picture is of a small fertilizer plant explosion in Texas that pretty much was buried in the news under the Boston bombings. Coincidentally, the explosion was caused by some "off the grid" storage of ammonium nitrate (think OK City bombing of some time back) The fertilizer plant that exploded had last year been storing 1,350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that would normally trigger safety oversight by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Fertilizer plants and depots must report to the DHS when they hold 400 lb (180 kg) or more of the substance. Filings this year with the Texas Department of State Health Services, which weren't shared with DHS, show the plant had 270 tons of it on hand last year.
Ahh those nasty regulations. Too many regulations. Regulations are strangling businesses. Nasty nasty nasty. Here are a couple things to think about:
- It takes about 7 years, on average, for a regulation to percolate up from a brainstorm to paper. 7 years. Most of the sea of new regulations (more like a short mist) started in about 2006 and NOT under the current administration.
- The best way to avoid detection and adherence to regulations is to cut the funding on regulators. Last year there were 338 incidents (safety related) at chemical plants in the US. 14 were investigate. 14 the year before that and 12 the year before that. The number of incidents has doubled in these three years but the investigations have remained the same.
- The budget for investigations nationally is $10 million dollars and in steady decline. Starve the beast. Senate offices per senator cost about half that per office to staff and run. Just in comparison.