Senators Balk At Rules For Ammonium Nitrate

A group of senators is urging the Obama Administration not to impose more regulatory requirements on mining companies and other industries that use ammonium nitrate, the chemical blamed for the deadly explosion at a fertilizer distribution facility in West, Texas, last year. A multiagency working group tasked with improving chemical facility safety is considering a variety of options, including adding ammonium nitrate to EPA’s risk-management program. For substances covered by the program, companies are required to take steps to prevent and mitigate accidental releases. But Sen. Joseph Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and six of his Republican colleagues argue in a letter to the working group that existing federal rules, if properly enforced, already address the risks posed by ammonium nitrate.