It’s a sad testimony of our widespread distrust of any official party line given to us by government and the Marxist State Media that some are wondering if it was a missile strike that caused yesterday’s huge explosion at the West Fertilizer plant in West, Texas.
The blast had enough energy to trip US Geological Survey seismographs as a magnitude 2.1 quake, devastating houses in a four-block radius.
We still don’t have an official figure of the number of deaths, but it’s estimated to be 60 to 70, as well as countless injuries.
Here are two videos showing what is claimed to be something (a flash of light on the left side of the screen) striking the initial fire at the fertilizer plant, which led to the massive explosion.
The first video is quick:
The second video slows it down so that the flash on the left can clearly be seen:
Is there an innocent explanation for that flash on the left?
From an article in the Christian Science Monitor, explaining why the blast was so enormous:
The plant in question, West Fertilizer Co., is said to have had some 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia on-site, a key ingredient in making ammonium nitrate, which is widely used as fertilizer. It’s also used in cold packs, as rocket fuel, and as an explosive.
[...] Typically, anhydrous ammonia, a gas, is stored in tanks with relief valves so that as hot weather heats the gas and it expands, the valves vent some of the gas to prevent it from bursting its tank, explains Matt Pearson, fertilizer containment and certification specialist with the Office of Indiana State Chemist & Seed Commissioner, based at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
The explosion could have occurred in part as heat from the fire caused the gas to expand far faster than relief valves could vent it. Direct ignition of the gas is unlikely, Mr. Pearson suggests, because the gas burns only at very high temperatures – about 1,200 degrees F.
Ammonium nitrate may be the more likely candidate in the explosion.
In small quantities, the white pellets won’t detonate, notes Ronald Willey, a chemical engineering professor at Northeastern University in Boston. [...] But the compound begins to decompose into nitrous oxide and water when heated to temperatures above 150 degrees F. – a process that itself releases heat. If temperatures rise to about 400 degrees F. or higher, as in a fire, decomposition can become explosive.
Indeed, the largest industrial accident in US history involved 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate tucked in the hold of a cargo ship in Texas City in 1947. The ship was to deliver the fertilizer to Europe. A fire broke out onboard, and after about an hour of fruitless efforts to battle the blaze, the ammonium nitrate exploded.
The blast triggered more explosions and fires, including a blast on a nearby ship that also was carrying ammonium nitrate. The death toll has been estimated at 581 or more.
[...] In the case of the explosion in the small community of West, the plant itself was destroyed, along with up to 75 homes, a middle school, and a nursing home in a four-block area nearby.
[...] Records from the US Environmental Protection Agency show that in 2006, the agency fined West Fertilizer Co. for having an inadequate plan to deal with risks at the site, according local press reports. The same year, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued a citation to the company for failing to apply for or qualify for a permit, after residents nearby complained about strong ammonia odors.
Following Wednesday’s explosion, the US Chemical Safety Board and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have sent investigators to determine a cause.
What do you think?
H/t FOTM’s CSM
~Eowyn
