Good luck trying to connect state Attorney General Greg Abbott’s stunning, out-of-the-blue decision to block from communities formerly accessible information about potentially dangerous chemical facilities in their neighborhoods and The Dallas Morning News’ revelation that thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Abbott come from the famous Koch family, whose holdings include widespread chemical interests. Whatever the truth, the appearance is damning.
Granted, in Abbott’s gubernatorial race, it’s beyond belief the Koch family would ever donate to his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Wendy Davis. Then again, Abbott’s decision to yank from the public long-available information about chemical inventories and the absurdity of his suggestion that ordinary folks, if they want to know, gather such information on their own invite real skepticism about his judgment.
Consider the scenario since a fertilizer plant in West caught fire and exploded in 2013, claiming the lives of 12 first responders who, testimonials indicate, only partially understood the dangers they faced in combating a blaze in a facility storing volatile ammonium nitrate. The subsequent blast left a death toll of 15; injured some 300 other residents; and destroyed homes, schools and a nursing home in the northeastern section of the town.
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Living in ignorance
Since then, state and county officials — cognizant of the folly of a fertilizer plant storing vast piles of ammonium nitrate in a residential area and without so much as a sprinkler system for protection if the plant caught fire — have been trying to better inform firefighters, the press and the public so all can better gauge such threats in their communities. If you have a child attending school near such a plant, wouldn’t you want to know? And how about wary homebuyers?
While the state fire marshal and others such as the local emergency management office have been making this information available, living up to wise federal mandates on transparency, the state attorney general abruptly decided the Texas Department of State Health Services should withhold such information from Texans, referencing a state anti-terrorism law. His pitch is he doesn’t want terrorists to have access to a list of places where chemical stockpiles are kept. We believe he underestimates the determination and resourcefulness of terrorists.
And the loophole he offers folks borders on ludicrous: Texans concerned about such matters, he says, can visit such neighborhood plants on their own to request information about stockpiles of ammonium nitrate and other chemicals from plant officials. Right. A WFAA-TV news crew took Abbott at his word, went to two plants in Dallas and got the run-around or were told to bug off.
Huge red flag
And if Abbott’s notion of just going up to plant officials and asking them about their chemical inventories is the way to proceed, what’s to keep terrorists from simply employing this method to learn about large stockpiles of ammonium nitrate? And, frankly, do businesses need the added paperwork and pressure of providing inventory lists to all who inquire when such information is maintained by state officials?
Abbott’s siding with chemical companies against neighborhood residents raises serious questions about his candidacy. He should reconsider the entirely preventable disaster in West, figure out for whom he’s working and reverse his decision in favor of the public. If he doesn’t, state lawmakers with some guts should do so for him.
No less than West Mayor Tommy Muska, a volunteer firefighter, noted the flaws in this ruling in reflecting on what happened to his town: “If one person would have investigated the fertilizer plant five or 10 years ago, it could have brought up a huge red flag, and that could have changed the whole dynamics of last year.”