Tag Archives: West Explosion

Texas Politics

Davis BLASTS Abbott For Shrouding Dangerous Chemical Locales

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Texas Attorney General Greg Just “Drive Around” Abbott may have ceded some serious ground to State Senator Wendy Davis in the race for Governor, as the Fort Worth Democrat is hitting back against his seedy decision to keep dangerous chemical stockpiles secret from citizens.  Here’s the scoop from Bill Hanna of the Fort Worth Star Telegram…

FORT WORTH — Kicking off a weeklong trip around Texas on Tuesday, state Sen. Wendy Davis continued to attack her GOP opponent in the governor’s race, Attorney General Greg Abbott, for blocking release of information about where hazardous chemicals are stored.

Davis, D-Fort Worth, is criticizing an attorney general’s opinion that says the Texas Department of State Health Services doesn’t have to release information about reports that show where dangerous chemicals are stored statewide.

The public’s right to know where hazardous chemicals are stored has become an issue since the April 17, 2013, explosion that killed 15 people at the fertlizer plant in West.

“Greg Abbott is obviously doing everything he can to try to undo a mess he has made,” Davis said. “But let’s make no mistake about it: What Greg Abbott has ruled is that families do not deserve to know where these dangerous chemicals are stored.”

In a statement released before Davis’ appearance, the Abbott campaign said he was simply applying the law.

“Greg Abbott did not change any law or policy, he applied the Texas Homeland Security Act, which prevents state agencies from releasing information that could be used by terrorists to build bombs or to target certain facilities,” the Abbott campaign said.

Before the ruling, the state health agency released the information regularly. Davis noted that other states, including Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, make the information available.

If she is elected governor, Davis said, she would make the disclosure of dangerous chemicals an emergency legislative item that must be addressed in the first 60 days of the 2015 session.

“The community has a right to know about where these dangerous chemicals are stored,” Davis said. “And for decades, even after the passage of that particular law, Greg Abbott continued to stand for transparency but he has reversed course on that. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the connection between his course reversal.”

Davis was referring to donations of more than $75,000 to Abbot’s campaign from interests connected to Koch Industries.

The Koch brothers, Charles and David, have developed fundraising networks that back Republican candidates and are expected to spend millions to help Republicans reclaim control of the U.S. Senate. Koch Industries has a fertilizer division, Koch Fertilizer LLC.

“Mr. Abbott is not working for you,” Davis said.

Abbott has been under intense criticism as of late, both for the decision, and some unfortunate comments he made when questioned by the media about why Texas don’t deserve to know what dangers are in their neighborhood.  Here’s that piece of the puzzle from the Texas Tribune…

Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott, under fire for blocking public access to state records documenting the location of dangerous chemicals, said Texans still have a right to find out where the substances are stored — as long as they know which companies to ask.

“You know where they are if you drive around,” Abbott told reporters Tuesday. “You can ask every facility whether or not they have chemicals or not. You can ask them if they do, and they can tell you, well, we do have chemicals or we don’t have chemicals, and if they do, they tell which ones they have.”

No one knows for sure why Greg Just “Drive Around” Abbott suddenly became so obsessed with the Texas Homeland Security Act that he had to issue a ridiculously narrow ruling and keep millions of Texans in the dark.  But as Rachel Maddow implied last night on her program, the timing of this decision seems all too convenient to a recent meeting between Abbott and Chase Koch, heir apparent to Koch Industries.

Davis is spot on to attack Abbott for such an atrocious ruling.  With chemical and materials industries being such a huge part of the Texas economy, there’s no telling how many millions of people are potentially at risk of an explosion like the one in the town of West.  Reading directly from Greg Just “Drive Around” Abbott’s website, you’d think he shares the belief that all Texans deserve transparency in their government…

An open government is the bedrock of a free society. For decades, Texas has had some of the strongest open government laws in the nation – laws ensure that Texans can know what their government is doing and how their government makes the decisions that affect their lives.

If Abbott in fact believes it, then he better start practicing what he preaches.  Otherwise, that talking point is going to explode all over his hypocritical face.

But when it does, I’ll be happy to drive around with him and search for answers.

(photo credit:  Burnt Orange Report)

 

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/07/08/5956540/davis-attacks-abbott-for-blocking.html#storylink=cpy

 

Houston Politics

FEMA’s ‘About Face’ on the West Explosion

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Definitely better late than never.

In a surprising reversal that was cloaked by a late Friday news cycle, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)has now declared the April 17th explosion in West, Texas a major disaster. President Obama had already signed the disaster declaration when news of this change was revealed. And this is quite the surprise given what FEMA said after its June analysis. Here’s more from Matthew DeLuca of NBC News…

“The Federal Emergency Management Agency in June denied additional money to the town. In a letter to Gov. Rick Perry explaining the decision, FEMA administrator Craig Fugate said the damage from the massive explosion was “not of the severity and magnitude that warrants a major disaster declaration,” according to The Associated Press.

The town had asked for a total of about $57 million to help repair the damage, the AP reported. That number included $40 million to help rebuild a school destroyed in the explosion. In June, the Insurance Council of Texas estimated that totaled insured losses from the blast could top $100 million.

Perry, who had written a letter to Obama protesting the earlier denial of a presidential disaster declaration, said in a statement on Friday that the federal aid will help the proud town of about 2,800 people piece itself back together.

“The approval of the state’s appeal for a major disaster declaration is great and welcome news for the people of West,” Perry said in the statement. “This, along with the disaster relief funding provided by the Texas legislature, will help this community rebuild their infrastructure, school district and public works as quickly as possible.”

The White House release on Friday said that the federal funding would be “available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the explosion in McLennan County.”

A spokesman for FEMA did not immediately reply to requests for comment on Friday.”

Obviously this is very good news for the victims of such a horrific incident. In June, when FEMA first denied the disaster declaration request, I wrote in vehement opposition to that decision, so I am very glad that it no longer stands. But it’s still important to ask… why play the political games in the first place? When American citizens are in trouble from a any catastrophic event, their government should be the FIRST ones to help, not the last. Anything less than that is simply unacceptable. Our lawmakers and government officials have plenty to fight about. I hope that someday soon, we can remove catastrophic events from the ring, and just do the right thing for the people in need.

Uncategorized

FEMA Denies Aid for West Explosion Victims

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From the AP newswire…

WEST, TX — The Federal Emergency Management Agency is refusing to provide additional money to help rebuild the small Texas town where a deadly fertilizer plant explosion leveled numerous homes and a school, and killed 15 people.

According to a letter obtained by The Associated Press, FEMA said it reviewed the state’s appeal to help but decided that the explosion “is not of the severity and magnitude that warrants a major disaster declaration.”

FEMA already has provided millions of dollars in aid to the town of West and its residents, but the decision prevents them from getting some of the widespread assistance typically available to victims of tornadoes, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

It remains unclear what funds may not be available to individuals, but the decision likely means less money to pay for public repairs to roads, sewer lines, pipes and a school that was destroyed.

FEMA denied the “major disaster declaration” both for public assistance — which would give money to the city to help rebuild — and for further individual assistance.

It’s not unusual for FEMA to turn down that level of assistance for emergencies not stemming from natural disasters. In 2010, for example, officials denied a request for millions in aid after a gas pipeline explosion that consumed a Northern California neighborhood.

Some funds would be available in West through insurance pay outs and because it believes the state or the municipality has the resources to cover the costs, among other things, agency spokesman Dan Watson said in a statement.

So let’s just be clear about a few things here…

FEMA is the Federal Emergency Management Agency, not the Federal “Natural Disaster” Management Agency. Whoever has decided that what happened in West does not qualify as an emergency needs to be fired. It doesn’t matter what caused the explosion because the results are just as horrific and life-altering of a disaster as anything else. In the now famous words of Hillary Clinton, “what difference at this point does it make?”– 15 people are dead and half of a town was destroyed. This is an Emergency in every sense of the word, and these people need help putting their lives back together. They need it NOW. Who cares what the insurance companies may or may not pay? The citizens of West are Americans and taxpayers like everyone else. My tax dollars go to keep this government running, and I can think of no better use for it than to help people when they need help the most.

I live in Texas. I get that there’s a lot of political stunts that get played from a very vocal minority of Texas leaders. Rick Perry loves to throw around the ideas about Secession, and Ted Cruz just says the craziest crap he can think to say. But this isn’t about politics. This is about people that have suffered a great deal of physical, mental and emotional stress. They’re not the ones getting on TV making speeches. They are people just like you and me. And if you had suffered the loss of so much at one time, you would need help too.

For the sake of all of these people, I hope that FEMA Director Craig Fugate reconsiders this decision, and fast. The people of West don’t have time to be caught in political battles. West needs us right now.