One Million Dollars
I don’t think we’re gotten near the end of the explosion in West, Texas. This explosion was not an act of God and we’d be damfools not to keep our eye on it to insure it never happens again.
If you own a home a Texas, you’re apt to have an insurance policy on that home with a one million dollar liability limit if someone gets hurt on your property. That, my friends, is the same amount of insurance that the West Fertilizer Company had.
“If you want to drive a truck down the interstate, you’ve got to have $750,000 in coverage, even if you’re just carrying eggs,” Roberts said. “But if you want to put this ammonium nitrate into this town next to that school and that nursing home and those houses, you’re not required to carry insurance.”
The property damage alone in West could reach $100 million. That’s not counting the death and injury bills.
In my mind, what happened in West and what happened in Bangladesh are different only in the the number of people killed. The owners of that plant knew – or should have known – full well that those volunteer firefighters were walking into a death trap.
The owner of the business in Bangladesh was arrested. The ones here are called job creators and given tax breaks.
The Dallas Morning News has a map of where the fertilizer plants are in Texas. See if there’s one near you.
Thanks to Ken for the heads up.
I wonder if the owner has his bankruptcy filing ready yet?
1When is the owner of West Fertilizer Company going to be charged with using weapons of mass destruction? If Dzhokhar Tsarnaev can be charged with it for killing 3 people then this guy definitely should for leveling several blocks of West and killing 14 people.
2There’s one listed right here in our county seat, nine miles away, with their poundage and daily flow “not listed by facility”. Great. I generally drive the other direction to work and shop, though.
3The owner will end up in jail. Broke and burdened with a stack lawsuits so high they disappear into outer space, but jailed. And think himself lucky to have 3 meals a day and a roof over his head plus medical care, all provided at tax payer expense. Just as you think “where’s the justice in that?” consider the afterlife.
4My sweet little niece’s house is 8 miles from one. And I agree with glf and JJ that the owner of the plant should be subject to charges of criminal negligence in the deaths of 15 people (I believe one more died in the days following the blast and coverage).
5Just got home from church and going to lunch with the Old Gal Gang for our Mexican lunch on Cinco de Mayo … decided to check out JJ’s blog and this is the first entry … it’s enough to make me throw up my green chile omelet! Such a disgusting situation this whole West, TX situation is, was, and looks to be in the future! The owner is a criminal … period!
6I have been reading they can’t find a place to bury the Boston Bomber because no place will have him. I hope the same thing happens when the owner(s) of the fertilizer plant in West dies. Before that, I want him/her or them arrested and made to do a perp walk from West to Waco. Along the way I want a shoulder to shoulder first responder line that these criminals have to walk by right up to the steps of the Waco jail.
My heart ached for the people in Boston. I lost several nights of sleep about that situation. But, the disaster in West has set off every self-righteous bone in my body. I’m looking for blood on this one. The needle is way too good for these terrorists.
7(Do you think the fact that I taught middle school for many years and had a grandmother in a nursing home like the one in West has anything to do with my wish for vengence?) My extended family is from the Grosbeck area so I’m very familiar with West, Waco, Teague, and Mexia.
Let’s just hope there’s not a government bailout in the factory owner’s future.
8Easy on the owner of the plant now…
He did say that his heart was broken over the disaster. His heart was broken! Hasn’t he suffered enough already?????
My God, we need to lighten up on the job creators. I mean, if we hound them over every little incident that happens, they might not feel like creating jobs anymore.
9I may have to rethink my position about reasons to keep Texas.
10Why should I carry an umbrella policy on my home in Texas?
11There’s an error in that map. It doesn’t show Louie’s in district office.
12@IIess: LOL!!! Right on!
13I got fed up with Obama when he called the explosion in West a “tragedy.” It bloody well wasn’t. A tragedy is something like a tornado. This was, as zyxomma says, criminally negligent homicide, and I don’t care who they gave money to.
14He won’y spend 1 day in jail. Bangladesh is trying their factory owner for murder. I never thought the day would come when Bangladesh had a govermnment that protected its citizens better than the USA. Money does all the talkin’ here.
15Holy Crap! We, (Texas) is/are the Bangladesh of the entire United States of America.
No regulations on anything.
It is obscene.
16The owners Name is Donald Adair. Why are we so reluctant to call him out, and buy into the “Hiding behind the Company thing.” what’s he gonna do, sue for Slander? Would love to get 5 minutes in front of judge with Mr. Adair….. Please, Please, Don, sue me!!!!
17“In my mind, what happened in West and what happened in Bangladesh are different only in the the number of people killed.”
Well, that and the fact that the owner of the Bangladesh factory has been arrested and charged. West Fertilizer plant owner Donald Adair and manager Ted Uptmore are walking around free. The company will declare bankruptcy, absolving itself of further obligations, and reopen in a year or two under a new name (and new corporate identity.) Freedom!
18And Perry is outraged at a cartoon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
19Well, I’ve been thinking that Ricky will be writing a letter to the editor calling for the Dallas Morning News to fire someone for printing that map of the fertilizer plants with potentially dangerous quantities of explosive material. It’s an outrage, I tell you – an outrage and positively UN-Texan! How dare they sabotage the cause of Texas economic development!
20So let’s get a motion passed to have the Governor’s mansion moved next to… oh, let’s see… Gavillion Fertilizer in Amarillo. They only have some 970 tons of ammonium nitrate on their property, and on some days it’s close to 2,000 tons. That way the Governor can really have a blast one day…
21TaIG, on the chance that happens, let’s keep a cartoonist on call.
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