Fertilizer and The Feds

Eight years ago, one of the worst chemical disasters in state history ripped apart a small town in Central Texas, just outside Waco. It killed 15 people. The fallout reached the highest levels of the United States government, affecting regulations for nearly every hazardous chemical facility in the country. But eight years later, many improvements have been stalled or rolled back. Ironically, some of those policy rollbacks were caused, in part, by a federal investigation into this very explosion. The story of this disaster is foundational to understanding the present-day chemical regulatory framework in the United States.