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Feds: New laws, oversight needed after West blast

Posted at 11:59 AM, Apr 22, 2014
and last updated 2014-04-22 13:02:44-04

By NOMAAN MERCHANT
Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) - A federal agency leading one of the investigations into last year's deadly West fertilizer plant explosion says that even if regulators don't know what started an initial fire, they know the resulting blast could have been prevented.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board on Tuesday announced its findings after a year of investigating the blast in West, that killed 15 people, injured 200 and damaged much of the tiny town.

Board chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso says that agencies at all levels must do more to monitor facilities that store ammonium nitrate, the chemical that detonated.

The board's investigation did not uncover significant new details about what happened in West, but reiterated the need for more regulation.

Multiple other investigations have yielded no cause of the fire that preceded the blast.

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