30 Tons of Missing Ammonium Nitrate

On Saturday, I briefly mentioned an article from CowboyStateDaily.com (and a similar article from KQED.org) about 30-tons of ammonium nitrate pellets that got lost somewhere between Wyoming and Southern California. The hopper railcar in which the material was switched has bottom off-loading valves, and it is currently thought that one or more of those valves leaked the material onto the railroad right-of-way somewhere in transit.

If this is part of a terrorist plot (unlikely according to both news stories) this would provide enough explosive precursor to make six truck bombs the size of the one that blew up the Murrah Building in Oklahoma city in 1995. This would definitely make a splash in the news and could better serve McVeigh’s intent of igniting a civil war. But, stealing this amount from a railcar in transit would require an organized plot to rival any IMF movie plot. It would be much easier to divert truck loads of the material destined for field fertilization across much of the American Midwest.

Having said that, this situation points out security issues with the transport of ammonium nitrate. If this had been a railcar of chlorine gas (or most other toxic inhalation hazard chemicals) rail crews would have been required to inspect the car for potential explosive devices at each location where responsibility for the railcar changed hands. During such an inspection, a leaking unloading valve would have certainly been noticed. Perhaps it is time to increase the security of other hazardous material rail shipments.

BTW: The overdue ammonium nitrate regulations mentioned in the articles would not have had any practical effect on this incident. The missing ammonium nitrate was apparently promptly reported (as a chemical spill, not a theft/diversion). I do not think that the response would be much different if it had been reported as a potential theft/diversion. But it is a solid reminder that CISA really needs to complete this rulemaking.