A Union Pacific rail car carrying 30 tons of Ammonium Nitrate seems to have lost its cargo. The rail car was traveling for two weeks between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Saltdale, California. The seals were on when it left and were still intact when it arrived. But the 30 tons of cargo were missing.
30 tons of a chemical used as fertilizer…and explosives
Some 60,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, a chemical used as both fertilizer and a component in explosives, went missing as it was shipped by rail from Wyoming to California last month, prompting four separate investigations.
A railcar loaded with 30 tons of the chemical left Cheyenne, Wyoming, on April 12. The car was found to be empty after it arrived two weeks later at a rail stop in the Mojave Desert, according to a short incident report from the explosives firm that made the shipment.
The company, Dyno Nobel, made the report May 10 to the federal National Response Center, or NRC. The report also appeared last week in an NRC database of California incidents managed by the state Office of Emergency Services last Wednesday. KQED May 16
To provide a clearer example of the danger of the missing chemical, ammonium nitrate, used in 1995 to destroy a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, 15 of them were kids.
From a Washington Post on the bombing’s 25th anniversary.
OKLAHOMA CITY — For nearly a quarter of a century, people have gathered here on what
ishallowed ground in this city, the former site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, to remember the horror of April 19, 1995.
On that bright Wednesday morning, at 9:02 a.m., a rented Ryder truck filled with thousands of pounds of fuel and ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded along northwest 5th Street in downtown, a blast so strong it rattled windows some 20 miles away. The bomb ripped off the north face of the Murrah building, killing 168 people, including 15 children inside a day-care center on the second floor, and injuring hundreds more in a cascade of concrete and flame.
How do you lose 30 tons of cargo? According to some officials, someone likely didn’t properly secure the hopper, allowing the chemicals to leak from the railcar somewhere along its route. Did the 30 tons just slowly fall out along the railroad track for the last two weeks? We sincerely hope it was something as simple as that.
Senate members get satellite phones in a separate situation.
At least one media outlet combines the Ammonium Nitrate loss with a story about Senate members receiving satellite phones for emergency communication in case of disaster. The two incidents appear to be totally separate. However, since members of Congress are jumpy about their safety, the issuance of sat phones is likely welcome. The DHS also provided programs to assist members in upgrading their security at home. Phones are just one component of new security measures.
Senate members get satellite phones in a separate situation.
At least one media outlet combines the Ammonium Nitrate loss with a story about Senate members receiving satellite phones for emergency communication in case of disaster. The two incidents appear to be totally separate. However, since members of Congress are jumpy about their safety, the issuance of sat phones is likely welcome. The DHS also provided programs to assist members in upgrading their security at home. Phones are just one component of new security measures.
In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee last month, Senate Sergeant at Arms Karen Gibson said satellite communication is being deployed “to ensure a redundant and secure means of communication during a disruptive event.”
Gibson said the phones are a security backstop in the case of an emergency that “takes out communications” in part of America. Federal funding will pay for the satellite airtime needed to utilize the phone devices.
A Department of Homeland Security advisory said satellite phones are a tool for responding to and coordinating government services in the case of a “man-made” or natural disaster that wipes out communication. CBS, May 24
At this point, the loss of the shipment of 30 tons of Ammonium Nitrate is unrelated to the deployment of sat phones. All 100 Senators have been offered the phones, but 50 have taken the government’s offer. Fear has begun to run rampant …not just in both houses of Congress but within the US as well. And the government loves it because people replace hope and faith with fear and dependence.
Can that fear be stopped? Not if the Marxist Democrats have anything to say about it. Generating fear brings control. We can worry about the disappearance of 30 tons of explosive chemicals or Congressional members’ safety during an extreme crime.
Most of this post was first seen at Conservative Firing Line
