On April 17, the nation was still in the grips of confusion and fear over an attack on innocent runners and bystanders at the Boston Marathon that left three dead and scores injured.

That day, however, saw an event that should raise even more warning flags for the public than the threat of a random terrorist attack.

A fertilizer plant in West, Texas, exploded, killing 15 emergency response workers and leveling a community of 3,000. Schools, nursing homes and dozens of homes were destroyed, and a crater nearly 100 feet long and 10 feet wide mars the site of the former industrial site. The cause of the explosion has not been determined, but officials have ruled out a lightning strike or the act of a terrorist.

What should give pause to the public is how a seemingly innocuous agricultural facility could wreak such havoc on a community. In a report filed with regulators, the owners of the plant told of their great fear: that the chemical anhydrous ammonia would vent into the atmosphere. Nowhere did that report indicate the more serious possibility of an explosive failure.

In industrial and commercial sites around the nation, companies are sitting on large amounts of potentially toxic or explosive chemicals that, with the wrong combination of events, could lead to a catastrophe as devastating as a tornado or wildfire. Whether the chemicals are used in processes such as the energy industry, agriculture or even the medical field, they each have a purpose and should not be targeted as inherently good or evil. However, the owners of such industrial sites must be honest with not only the state and federal regulators who try to keep track of the hazards, but also the local fire departments and medical facilities that will be called upon to help at the first sign of trouble.


The crime is not in possessing or creating such substances -- they are part of what makes modern life possible in the United States. If there is punishment to be meted out, it's to those who don't give an honest assessment of the dangers that may lie on their properties.

Local fire and medical agencies should not have to shoulder the human cost of such disregard for the truth.