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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / “The Texas Way”: Kissing the Boot That Stomps Your Face

“The Texas Way”: Kissing the Boot That Stomps Your Face

by Anne Laurie|  May 10, 20134:10 pm| 89 Comments

This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Free Markets Solve Everything, Decline and Fall

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Because one Gilded Age just wasn’t enough for the Robber Baron Reconstructionists. From the NYTimes:

WEST, Tex. — Five days after an explosion at a fertilizer plant leveled a wide swath of this town, Gov. Rick Perry tried to woo Illinois business officials by trumpeting his state’s low taxes and limited regulations. Asked about the disaster, Mr. Perry responded that more government intervention and increased spending on safety inspections would not have prevented what has become one of the nation’s worst industrial accidents in decades.

“Through their elected officials,” he said, Texans “clearly send the message of their comfort with the amount of oversight.”

This antipathy toward regulations is shared by many residents here. Politicians and economists credit the stance with helping attract jobs and investment to Texas, which has one of the fastest-growing economies in the country, and with winning the state a year-after-year ranking as the nation’s most business friendly.

Even in West, last month’s devastating blast did little to shake local skepticism of government regulations. Tommy Muska, the mayor, echoed Governor Perry in the view that tougher zoning or fire safety rules would not have saved his town. “Monday morning quarterbacking,” he said….

Texas has always prided itself on its free-market posture. It is the only state that does not require companies to contribute to workers’ compensation coverage. It boasts the largest city in the country, Houston, with no zoning laws. It does not have a state fire code, and it prohibits smaller counties from having such codes. Some Texas counties even cite the lack of local fire codes as a reason for companies to move there.

But Texas has also had the nation’s highest number of workplace fatalities — more than 400 annually — for much of the past decade. Fires and explosions at Texas’ more than 1,300 chemical and industrial plants have cost as much in property damage as those in all the other states combined for the five years ending in May 2012. Compared with Illinois, which has the nation’s second-largest number of high-risk sites, more than 950, but tighter fire and safety rules, Texas had more than three times the number of accidents, four times the number of injuries and deaths, and 300 times the property damage costs…

It is impossible to know whether tougher regulations would have prevented the disaster near West, especially since investigators remain unsure what sparked the fire that caused the fertilizer to explode. McLennan is among the counties without a fire code.

But federal officials and fire safety experts contend that fire codes and other requirements would probably have made a difference. A fire code would have required frequent inspections by fire marshals who might have prohibited the plant’s owner from storing the fertilizer just hundreds of feet from a school, a hospital, a railroad and other public buildings, they say. A fire code also would probably have mandated sprinklers and forbidden the storage of ammonium nitrate near combustible materials. (Investigators say the fertilizer was stored in a largely wooden building near piles of seed, one possible factor in the fire.)…

In chemical fires, firefighters often bear a heavy toll. Ten of the at least 14 people who died in West were firefighters, and two more were residents helping fight the flames. This week, officials from the state firefighters’ association said the 50-foot-tall memorial to volunteers killed in the line of duty, on the Capitol grounds in Austin, had no room left for new names, not even those from West….

…[D]ays after the accident near West, state lawmakers killed a proposal to provide $60 million in training and resources for volunteer firefighters. And a lobbyist for state firefighters, who backed Mr. Price’s effort, said the bill had little chance of passing because of resistance from the real estate industry.

“Businesses can come down here and do pretty much what they want to,” Mr. Burka said. “That is the Texas way.”

It’s been widely reported that the West factory owner carried only a million dollars in liability coverage — “It’s rare for Texas to require insurance for any kind of hazardous activity… we have very little oversight of hazardous activities and even less regulation.”

The AtlanticWire says the plant was “a frequent target of theft and sabotage… from people looking to acquire one of the key ingredients for making methamphetamine.”:

After a series of break-ins a few years ago, the company installed a security system, but that wasn’t enough of a deterrent.

The last record of tampering was in October 2012, when a 911 caller reported an odor “so strong it can burn your eyes.” The firm dispatched Cody Dragoo, an employee often sent after hours to shut leaking valves and look into break-ins. That night, he shut off the valve but reported it had been tampered with.

Dragoo was killed in the explosion….

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Reader Interactions

89Comments

  1. 1.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    May 10, 2013 at 4:24 pm

    The past isn’t dead, it isn’t even past.

  2. 2.

    Trollhattan

    May 10, 2013 at 4:26 pm

    They Just. Don’t. Care. I, for one, can’t wait for Goodhair’s next bidnez harvestin’ trip to California. He’ll get a reception like he’s never received.

  3. 3.

    MattF

    May 10, 2013 at 4:27 pm

    The sales pamphlets don’t quite say “We had a huge industrial disaster and nobody got arrested,” but they might as well.

  4. 4.

    greenergood

    May 10, 2013 at 4:28 pm

    “But Texas has also had the nation’s highest number of workplace fatalities — more than 400 annually — for much of the past decade. Fires and explosions at Texas’ more than 1,300 chemical and industrial plants have cost as much in property damage as those in all the other states combined for the five years ending in May 2012.” These people need to learn how to lawyer-up, or does Texas have laws against lawyering-up for poor people, cause I bet the TX legislation is well-skilled in lawyering-up. It’ll be in their REpug DNA.

  5. 5.

    Wally Ballou

    May 10, 2013 at 4:28 pm

    McLennan is among the counties without a fire code.

    Wait…what??!

  6. 6.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    May 10, 2013 at 4:29 pm

    “Through their elected officials,” he said, Texans “clearly send the message of their comfort with the amount of oversight.”

    True. But doesn’t mean the amount of oversight is GOOD.

    Politicians and economists credit the stance with helping attract jobs and investment to Texas, which has one of the fastest-growing economies in the country…

    “Fastest growing” is a property touted by those whose ranking sucks but sucks slightly less than it did last year.

    …and with winning the state a year-after-year ranking as the nation’s most business friendly.

    Where “business friendly” is defined as “has few regulations.” Doy.

  7. 7.

    russell

    May 10, 2013 at 4:30 pm

    If that’s how they want to live, then let it be. Just keep it the hell out of my state.

  8. 8.

    gbear

    May 10, 2013 at 4:30 pm

    You know, after reading that, I can’t think of a single reason that TX should receive another FEMA dollar again ever. They want to play that game so bad, let them own it when they lose.

  9. 9.

    Trollhattan

    May 10, 2013 at 4:32 pm

    The firefighter memorial has room for no more names. Either 1. outlaw any more volunteer firefigher deaths or 2. make Texas-sized memorial, y’all.

    Which do you suppose they’ll choose?

  10. 10.

    gbear

    May 10, 2013 at 4:32 pm

    Texas, which has one of the fastest-growing economies in the country…

    You might even call the growth ‘explosive’.

  11. 11.

    tofubo

    May 10, 2013 at 4:35 pm

    with the new highs of the SAP and DOW and SNOOP, it’s the two year anniversary of this country’s financial future dying

    http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/neil-cavuto-americas-financial-future-died

    hyperbolize much neil ??

  12. 12.

    Keith G

    May 10, 2013 at 4:37 pm

    Texas, which has one of the fastest-growing economies in the country…

    Due mainly to 1) Oil etc, 2) Real estate, 3) Trade with Latin America.

  13. 13.

    BGinCHI

    May 10, 2013 at 4:38 pm

    Everything’s bigger in Texas.

    Especially the fucking stupidity.

    Hey, how about no federal assistance without proper regulation?

  14. 14.

    Chris T.

    May 10, 2013 at 4:39 pm

    New slogan: “Come build your business in Texas, where you can maim and kill with impunity! Test your luck to save a buck!”

    Edit: poll: which is better, “test your luck” or “press your luck”?

  15. 15.

    cathyx

    May 10, 2013 at 4:40 pm

    I know it’s not the easiest thing to pick up and move, but if I lived there, I would do whatever I could to move.

  16. 16.

    jl

    May 10, 2013 at 4:41 pm

    I don’t think that the picture of Texas as an unregulated wasteland is true.

    I think it probably is true for cases where all that is at stake are ordinary peoples’ lives and property and health.

    But Texas has a progressive past, and in many areas, finance being one of them, it has good and reasonable regulations. That is one of the reasons the housing bubble boom and bust, financial panic and mortgage crisis did not hit Texas as hard as other states, including other southern states. Texas has relatively strong and sound mortgage and banking regulations, at least compared to elsewhere (though, given what happened elsewhere, that is not saying much).

    Public utilities are highly regulated and that explains a lot about the economics of the Texas power grid.

    So I am curious about why Texas is the wild west in some ways, and Switzerland on the Rio Grande in others. (edit: this is interpreting Switzerland as a highly regulated private cartel with lots of social insurance. And Texas has adopted the highly regulated private cartel part)

    Did some progressive era policies survive and some did not? Or, were they enacted at time when worker safety and risks to ordinary peoples’ lives and property presented by private company operations were not on the agenda? Or were progressive ideas selectively enacted to serve big money interests and ignored where they did not?

  17. 17.

    Citizen_X

    May 10, 2013 at 4:45 pm

    Someday, I hope to be looking at Texas in my rear-view mirror.

    I think it’ll turn around eventually, but I ain’t young enough to wait that long.

  18. 18.

    Violet

    May 10, 2013 at 4:47 pm

    Related: Feds say paramedic who showed up at the explosion site had pipe bomb components. Not sure if they are implying he caused the explosion.

  19. 19.

    El Cid

    May 10, 2013 at 4:48 pm

    YEEEEEE HAWWWWWWWWWW!

    Come on down to Texas, where any business can blow the hell up as long as you want!

    Texas, we got the biggest, loudest, exploding fertilizer plants in the whole damn country!

    Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the licking flames of our latest free market freedomsplosion!

  20. 20.

    Suffern ACE

    May 10, 2013 at 4:50 pm

    @jl:

    That is one of the reasons the housing bubble boom and bust, financial panic and mortgage crisis did not hit Texas as hard as other states, including other southern states

    Well, there’s florida, which gets hit by every mortgage crisis. And Georgia has had plenty of failed banks this time (mainly because they crossed into Florida). But if I recall correctly, your mortgage and real estate banking crisis was in the 1980s and 1990s.

  21. 21.

    Trollhattan

    May 10, 2013 at 4:51 pm

    @tofubo:

    That’s classic. Explains my mysterious two-year malaise.

  22. 22.

    Ash Can

    May 10, 2013 at 4:51 pm

    No state fire code, and only some of the counties have one? Even for hotels, restaurants, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, sports stadiums, and the like? No fucking way am I ever setting foot in that state, or allowing anyone from my family to go there.

  23. 23.

    scav

    May 10, 2013 at 4:52 pm

    @Violet: That’s just a small boot-strapping start-up businessman in TX. How can an economy thrive without having to replace all the shredded contents of homes, businesses and towns on a regular basis? Why do you hate job and opportunity creators?

  24. 24.

    aimai

    May 10, 2013 at 4:52 pm

    @Chris T.: Press your luck and make a buck! Is great, but it doesn’t quite let on that the people who lose when your luck runs out are generally other people.

    Other possible new slogans for Texas:
    Without Skill you’ll make some bill.
    Down on your luck? Come get Fucked. (this one is aimed at attracting workers who don’t have other options.)
    Texas: Where there’s no Will, there’s a Way.

  25. 25.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    May 10, 2013 at 4:54 pm

    @Chris T.: Test your luck. make a buck, and if the victim is Black or Latino or hell even White Trailer Trash? WE DON’T GIVE A F*CK!!! (YEEEEHAAAWWW!!!!)

  26. 26.

    MattR

    May 10, 2013 at 4:55 pm

    Tommy Muska, the mayor, echoed Governor Perry in the view that tougher zoning or fire safety rules would not have saved his town. “Monday morning quarterbacking,” he said

    Of course he said that. What was he going to say? “This tragedy could have been prevented if only we had implemented the tougher safety regulations and inspections that I was opposed to”

  27. 27.

    Amir Khalid

    May 10, 2013 at 4:56 pm

    There are third world countries where they don’t stand for shit like this. Countries like Bangladesh — where, even though Matthew Yglesias blithely asserts that lives are cheap, they care enough to arrest and prosecute those whose greed has killed 1,000+ people.

  28. 28.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    May 10, 2013 at 4:56 pm

    @jl:

    That is one of the reasons the housing bubble boom and bust, financial panic and mortgage crisis did not hit Texas as hard as other states, including other southern states.

    Texas participated hard in the S&L crisis, which may have accounted for them not being so bitten by the mortgage crisis this time.

  29. 29.

    NotMax

    May 10, 2013 at 4:57 pm

    The skies at night
    Are big and bright
    From oil and gas explosions
    Still business booms
    We don’t presume
    To legislate demotions

    Ammonia plumes
    Are like perfume
    Deep in the heart of Texas
    About new law
    We just guffaw
    Deep in the heart of Texas

  30. 30.

    Cris (without an H)

    May 10, 2013 at 4:57 pm

    It is impossible to know whether tougher regulations would have prevented the disaster near West

    No one could have predicted.

  31. 31.

    Kyle

    May 10, 2013 at 4:59 pm

    The Texas business recruitment slogan should be:
    Race to the Bottom in America’s Bangladesh

  32. 32.

    Trollhattan

    May 10, 2013 at 4:59 pm

    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):

    Enron HQ was where, again?

  33. 33.

    jprfrog

    May 10, 2013 at 5:00 pm

    My first, second, and last thought on reading this amazing story this morning was “Go for it, Big T! The more explosions, pollution, drought, wildfire, vitamin deficiency disease (welcome back, pellagra!) and other benefits of FREEDOM the fewer Texans.” They can go to hell in their own unique way —- just don’t take me along.

  34. 34.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    May 10, 2013 at 5:00 pm

    @Ash Can: On May 18 1937, this happened at a local school and 295 children were killed.

  35. 35.

    Tokyokie

    May 10, 2013 at 5:00 pm

    McLennan is among the counties without a fire code.

    Yikes. I thought the exception was for lightly populated counties down in South Texas or out in West Texas. But McLennan County is along the I-35 corridor and has close to a quarter-million residents. Sure, it’s not as urban as Harris, Dallas or Bexar counties, but it’s sure as hell not like Deaf Smith County (population less than 20,000).

  36. 36.

    gene108

    May 10, 2013 at 5:02 pm

    Because one Gilded Age just wasn’t enough for the Robber Baron Reconstructionists.

    No it is not.

    Considering guys like Vanderbilt and Carnegie had wealth that far exceeds people like Gates, Slim and Buffet, why wouldn’t the truly rich want to return to that era?

    I’ve heard estimates that those fortunes, in today’s dollars, would be around the order of $300 billion each.

    That’s a lot better than the $50 billion guys like Gates or Buffet or the Walton spawn have to their names.

  37. 37.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    May 10, 2013 at 5:03 pm

    @Trollhattan: Yes, as was the Texas City explosion. I’m not sure exactly where jl got his “progressive policies” idea from, but I grew up in Texas and don’t really recall all those progressive policies.

  38. 38.

    scav

    May 10, 2013 at 5:04 pm

    @Kyle: TX: Better ‘n Bangladesh.

    Texans appologize to the ones that blow up in their faces. Bangladesh officials arrested people.

  39. 39.

    Trollhattan

    May 10, 2013 at 5:05 pm

    @Kyle:

    As the Bangladesh collapse deathtoll tops a thousand with more to come, one wonder what it will take to make anybody care. Not an explosion or fire, so not dramatic enough for the media?

  40. 40.

    Mnemosyne

    May 10, 2013 at 5:05 pm

    @Ash Can:

    I’m guessing that, to a certain extent, Texas is being a free rider on other states that do have building codes when it comes to things like hotel chains. If someone knows different, please pipe in, but I’m pretty sure that chains like Starwood or InterContinental (Holiday Inn) probably have corporate building standards since the last thing they want is for Starwood to be sued because a Sheraton in Texas didn’t have sprinklers and killed 200 guests.

  41. 41.

    Trollhattan

    May 10, 2013 at 5:09 pm

    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):

    Most of those killed at Texas City (the refinery, not the ship) were from my employer at the time. It resulted in a huge OSHA fine and nevertheless, the same BP refinery failed a later safety inspection.

    Their actuaries tell them what costs more–paying for safety or paying for injury and death–and that’s how they roll. Hell, after the Gulf explosion the other major oil companies were openly mocking BP’s safety culture. Have they changed one iota since?

  42. 42.

    Sly

    May 10, 2013 at 5:10 pm

    Politicians and economists credit the stance with helping attract jobs and investment to Texas, which has one of the fastest-growing economies in the country, and with winning the state a year-after-year ranking as the nation’s most business friendly.

    And below median household income. Which has been the case since forever. But I’m sure Texas’s policy of low-wage peonage will pay off eventually. Aaaaany day now.

    @Wally Ballou:
    And a zoning code, because nothing says freedom like being able to park hazardous chemicals less than 500 feet from a Middle School.

  43. 43.

    Mike G

    May 10, 2013 at 5:10 pm

    Of course he said that. What was he going to say? “This tragedy could have been prevented if only we had implemented the tougher safety regulations and inspections that I was opposed to”

    The only people they’ll blame are gays getting married in Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco who made Jesus angry.

    The mentality of magical-thinking serfs.

  44. 44.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    May 10, 2013 at 5:12 pm

    @Trollhattan: As I mentioned in the thread about this topic earlier today, while growing up I remember my parents’ windows rattling from a couple of explosions at refineries more than 10 miles away. I’m actually amazed there haven’t been *more* explosions given the number of petrochem plants along the Gulf Coast.

  45. 45.

    Citizen_X

    May 10, 2013 at 5:13 pm

    @Amir Khalid:
    Texas citizens: Hmm, people in Bangladesh seem to be investigating and prosecuting shady business owners who get people killed. Maybe we oughtta look into that.

    TX GOP: Muslim country! Sharia law!

    TC: AIIIEEEE! Run away!

  46. 46.

    Kyle

    May 10, 2013 at 5:14 pm

    @scav:

    Texans appologize to the ones that blow up in their faces.

    That lawyer Cheney shot in the face was a Texan. And the lawyer publicly apologized for the trouble he caused, while Cheney never apologized to him.

  47. 47.

    Ruckus

    May 10, 2013 at 5:16 pm

    @Ash Can:
    How many states are on that list? Not that everyone in these states is an idiot for living there, there are great people everywhere, just, would you move there, given a choice.
    Texas
    Arizona
    Mississippi
    Alabama
    South Carolina
    North Dakota
    Louisiana

  48. 48.

    jl

    May 10, 2013 at 5:17 pm

    @Suffern ACE:
    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):

    The oil boom bust in the 80s wasn’t a financial bubble and crash, it involved a crash in the price of real commodity that was an important part of the economy. So, of course Texas was hit hard, and had a mortgage crisis, but one that was caused by different explanatory factors. And it was the result of a powerful actor (Saudi Arabia) making a decision about how it wanted to manage the OPEC cartel. It wasn’t the result of natural evolution of a flawed deregulation scheme.

    So I stands my ground. And it is not just mortgage finance, but other insurance and financial product regulation, and public utilities in Texas.

  49. 49.

    The Moar You Know

    May 10, 2013 at 5:19 pm

    Feds say paramedic who showed up at the explosion site had pipe bomb components. Not sure if they are implying he caused the explosion.

    @Violet: A SCAPEGOAT APPEARS

    (aka “patsy”)

  50. 50.

    scav

    May 10, 2013 at 5:24 pm

    @Kyle: ‘zactly. That extra-special door-mattery obeisance and lowered transport costs are the advantages of TX over Bangladesh.

  51. 51.

    BobbyK

    May 10, 2013 at 5:25 pm

    If the people of this state want to live this way then they deserve NO federal money. FUCK EM, taxes are low in texas because the state relies on the federal government for money they’d otherwise have to get from state taxes. Again FUCK THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS if this is the way they want to live.

  52. 52.

    Ash Can

    May 10, 2013 at 5:28 pm

    @Mnemosyne: That would make sense, but from a visitor/tourist’s standpoint, it’s not nearly good enough. If we were going to a larger metropolitan area, maybe the big hotel chains would be OK, but what about the restaurants, museums, and other attractions? And no zoning regs for Houston? So much for going there to see a ballgame. Moreover, if something as basic as fire safety isn’t regulated in TX, what else isn’t regulated? Building codes? Structural soundness? Food handling and preparation?

    That’s too much gambling with my and my family’s safety and health. Best to avoid the state altogether.

  53. 53.

    Baud

    May 10, 2013 at 5:29 pm

    Have they determined the cause of the explosion yet?

  54. 54.

    Riley's Enabler

    May 10, 2013 at 5:31 pm

    The overexaggeration of Texas’ lack of code oversight is making me grouchy.

    The State uses the NFPA code as a baseline. Most of the cities have even more restrictive fire codes (see; Houston, Dallas) that are highly regulated. I deal with these codes every day in the course of my work.

    Houston is based on both NFPA and the IFC. Most counties follow suit, to different degrees. Smaller counties tend to have less oversight due to smaller budgets/staffing (I’ve never worked in West, btw).

    We’re not complete drooling savages (Crux and Gohmert excepted).

    Take a breath. We have fire and building and ADA codes. And there are plenty of good people here who know how to implement them.

  55. 55.

    Cris (without an H)

    May 10, 2013 at 5:32 pm

    @Baud: Obama

  56. 56.

    Violet

    May 10, 2013 at 5:32 pm

    @The Moar You Know: Maybe. Here’s what they are saying so far:

    “No evidence has been uncovered to indicate any connection to the events surrounding the fire and subsequent explosion at the West fertilizer plant and the arrest,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

    A statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said: “Authorities will not speculate whether the possession of the unregistered destructive device has any connection to the West fertilizer plant explosion on April 17.”

    The guy lost his house in the explosion.

  57. 57.

    Punchy

    May 10, 2013 at 5:33 pm

    @Baud: Oxygen mixed with a fuel to quickly yield carbon dioxide, water, and likely a thousand trace gaseous carcinogens. ;)

  58. 58.

    schrodinger's cat

    May 10, 2013 at 5:34 pm

    I have an extremely serious post on my blog for this Friday evening, the day before the most important day of the week, Caturday.

  59. 59.

    Suffern ACE

    May 10, 2013 at 5:35 pm

    @Violet: I would assume that if he used a device in the explosion, he would no longer have a device. Although after Boston, I guess if you’ve made one, you might as well make a half dozen…

  60. 60.

    Tokyokie

    May 10, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    @Riley’s Enabler: Houston’s lack of zoning laws is a bit misleading because much of the effect of zoning ordinances has been accomplished through the use of restrictive deed covenants. Still, the city’s a mess, inasmuch as there’s no logical organization to how businesses are situated, and, combined with a lack of public transportation, it is, IMHO, as bad if not worse than L.A. for getting around.

  61. 61.

    Mnemosyne

    May 10, 2013 at 5:39 pm

    @Ash Can:

    If Riley’s Enabler is correct (and s/he sounds like a pretty reliable source), it’s closer to what I was saying — Texas doesn’t have many of their own codes but does use the same basic code as every other state in the US, so you’re not going to necessarily be at any additional risk that you would not be at in a small town in a blue state that doesn’t get inspected very often.

  62. 62.

    Baud

    May 10, 2013 at 5:40 pm

    @Cris (without an H):

    I know that. I was asking what particular agent Obama used this time.

    @Punchy:

    That seems a little too sciencey for Rick Perry’s Texas.

  63. 63.

    waratah

    May 10, 2013 at 5:41 pm

    Not all Texans voted for them, I think there are quite a few just not
    enough for the majority vote.

    Homesteading our homes is what saved a lot of Texans on losing their homes.
    I think they tried to remove it but was evidently too tough to do.

  64. 64.

    Violet

    May 10, 2013 at 5:42 pm

    @Suffern ACE: Yeah. Why have one at all? Maybe he made more than one and this one is leftover. Or maybe it’s totally unrelated.

    Apparently he has done a lot of interviews and been in the media a lot since the explosion. Could just be unrelated or maybe he’s a firebug who wanted to stay close to the damage he caused. That kind of thing has happened before.

    Hopefully it’s unrelated, but why does he have pipe bomb materials anyway?

  65. 65.

    Cacti

    May 10, 2013 at 5:43 pm

    I was reading OSHA data earlier, and Texas has topped 400 workplace fatalities every year since 1995.

    They also regularly beat out California for the top spot, despite having 12 million fewer people.

  66. 66.

    PeorgieTirebiter

    May 10, 2013 at 5:46 pm

    @Riley’s Enabler: According to the good folks over at LG&M we’re all suffering from superiority complexes. I assume that includes half the population of the rust belt that moved down here in the 70’s and 80’s. Me, I moved from CA in the 90’s.
    God knows our policies can suck ass but the ignorant, self congratulatory cheap shots get tiresome.
    Same team in a different location and all that.

  67. 67.

    PeorgieTirebiter

    May 10, 2013 at 5:48 pm

    @Tokyokie: yea, but it’s a lot cooler place to live than Dallas.
    I ‘ve done both.

  68. 68.

    Emma

    May 10, 2013 at 5:48 pm

    @russell: Yeah, but the problem is that they rely on the rest of us to get them out of the shit they get themselves into. There should be a bill introduced in Congress stating that if you are going to live without regulations and oversight, don’t come to the federal government for help when it hits the fan.

  69. 69.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    May 10, 2013 at 5:49 pm

    @PeorgieTirebiter: Hey, I moved away in the 2000s, and you couldn’t pay me enough to move back there, even with the state income tax I pay in the rust belt where I am now.

    There are some great people in Texas, but that doesn’t mean the politics aren’t shit, especially on the state level.

  70. 70.

    Baud

    May 10, 2013 at 5:50 pm

    @Riley’s Enabler:

    FWIW, I tend to agree with you about overdone caricatures, and I’m no fan of red state governance.

  71. 71.

    Frankensteinbeck

    May 10, 2013 at 5:51 pm

    @Amir Khalid:
    The answer is in Burka’s own words:

    “That is the Texas way.”

    Conservatives have decided that big business is on their side. As a culture those conservatives are freaking out and have gone into complete Us vs. Them mode. If circumstances prove that liberals were right all along, they will dig in further. They leaned this way for decades, but now it’s an existential crisis.

  72. 72.

    Chris

    May 10, 2013 at 5:57 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Either that or they’ve decided that getting screwed is worth it as long as These People get screwed worse.

  73. 73.

    Maude

    May 10, 2013 at 5:57 pm

    @Amir Khalid:
    The government in Bangladesh has closed down a fair number of factories this week for safety violations.
    One woman was found alive yesterday. 17 days buried in the rubble.

  74. 74.

    brashieel

    May 10, 2013 at 5:58 pm

    Just to add my little bit to the discussion about building codes in Texas… they certainly exist in the vast majority of the state. All of the major cities have pretty extensive guidelines on what you can and cannot build, and where.

    I’m a native Houstonian, and I’ve been dealing with building permits and inspections for years. We’re a mess in a lot of ways, but lack of construction codes isn’t one of them.

    That said, our governor and state legislature are a sick joke, so feel free to keep trashing them.

  75. 75.

    PeorgieTirebiter

    May 10, 2013 at 6:02 pm

    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS): I certainly wouldn’t argue your point and i’m glad you’e in a spot that suits you. Like I said, we’re all on the same team, more or less, but I get tired of the cheap shots based on where I happen to live.

  76. 76.

    Riley's enabler

    May 10, 2013 at 6:05 pm

    @Tokyokie:
    I agree completely on our wonky no-zoning; makes for some interesting bedfellows in the areas with less oversight/deed restrictions.

    And yeah. We have very little public transportation; I’m not at all sure how residents without cars get around. Houston is a mess, but our housing market didn’t completely crash and have a dizzying array of international cuisines to pick from at insanely cheap levels. There’s lots of opportunity here as well, and our homegrown colleges ( U of H, Rice, St. Thomas, HBU) provide excellent higher education.

    But I’m not gonna brag on our lower schools…eeesh.

    Yeah. We have issues. Show me a state that doesn’t. Off to rustle up a steaming plate of delicious Bao. Yee haw!

  77. 77.

    mclaren

    May 10, 2013 at 6:07 pm

    @Keith G:

    You forgot:

    4) Drug imports from the Mexican cartels.

  78. 78.

    mclaren

    May 10, 2013 at 6:24 pm

    Incidentally, Anne, your title is a variant of one of my lines — but my line goes “Licking the boot that stomps in your face and kissing the police baton that beats you to death.” The hallmark of cowardly bully-worshiping Americans.

    Was it Cormac McCarthy who described Texans as “the lowest form of white man there is”…?

  79. 79.

    Lee Rudolph

    May 10, 2013 at 6:24 pm

    @Citizen_X: Y’know, if it turns around just when he finally gets it in his rear-view mirror, he might be excused for speeding up a bit. And maybe scattering caltrops behind him.

  80. 80.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    May 10, 2013 at 6:33 pm

    If you want a picture of Texas, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.

  81. 81.

    Keith G

    May 10, 2013 at 6:35 pm

    @cathyx:

    I know it’s not the easiest thing to pick up and move, but if I lived there, I would do whatever I could to move.

    And I would be glad to help you pack. The state of Texas does some things right. The help it gives to AIDS patients is one of them. I am alive today because of the help I get the state of Texas.

    @mclaren: Dear one, I would imagine that that is one factor that shrinks the economy overall and does not expand it. But nice try.

  82. 82.

    Todd

    May 10, 2013 at 6:45 pm

    @gbear:

    Texas, which has one of the fastest-growing economies in the country…

    “…if by ‘growth’ you mean paying folks $10.00 an hour for doing skilled trades…”

    FTFY

  83. 83.

    Eric U.

    May 10, 2013 at 6:51 pm

    @Baud: I suspect the fire that they were trying to put out spread to something explosive, which was available in quantity. Or the explosive stuff spread to the fire, which given lax safety standards might be a more likely scenario. I know safety weenies take investigations of this sort of thing pretty seriously, but given that there was a fire and a big explosion of a store of explosive gas, I wonder how much more than that they really are going to be able to determine.

  84. 84.

    Citizen_X

    May 10, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    @Ash Can:

    And no zoning regs for Houston? So much for going there to see a ballgame.

    Your problem there wouldn’t be the 0.0001% chance of dying in a fire, it would be the 100% chance of having to watch the Astros.

  85. 85.

    Mnemosyne

    May 10, 2013 at 7:06 pm

    @Eric U.:

    IIRC (and I can’t look it up right now), at least one of the chemicals at the plant is something that goes very, very bad when you mix it with water, which is probably how the explosion happened. It was like putting water on a grease fire, but the firefighters may not have known not to use water on it because they didn’t know what was being stored at the plant.

  86. 86.

    Keith G

    May 10, 2013 at 7:38 pm

    @Ash Can: Really? That’s rather asinine. Houston is as safe as any major US city. I think up until the 80s the city was under regulated, but then it understood that if it wanted to grab it’s share to international commerce, it needed to develop top notch safety regimes. Zoning regs have nothing to do with tourist safety. Please.

    I just spent last Tuesday at a ‘Stros game at Minute Made Park. Fun Time. The Astros aren’t gonna break 500 anytime soon, but it’s only baseball.

  87. 87.

    tejanarusa

    May 10, 2013 at 7:42 pm

    @Ash Can:

    Bexar County – San Antonio – definitely has a fire code, building code, permit system, etc. It’s almost like a city in the East, including having a lot more Democrats/liberals than anywhere else in the state, except Austin.
    It’s even wet – it’s in the Constitution, from back when counties chose whether to permit liquor sales or not (Dallas County chose not to), but San Antonio would always be wet.

  88. 88.

    russell

    May 10, 2013 at 8:52 pm

    Yeah, but the problem is that they rely on the rest of us to get them out of the shit they get themselves into. There should be a bill introduced in Congress stating that if you are going to live without regulations and oversight, don’t come to the federal government for help when it hits the fan.

    Works for me.

  89. 89.

    NorthLeft12

    May 11, 2013 at 9:47 am

    @MattR:

    I have to repeat this quote:

    Tommy Muska, the mayor, echoed Governor Perry in the view that tougher zoning or fire safety rules would not have saved his town. “Monday morning quarterbacking,” he said….

    The whole point of investigating incidents is to discover the root cause and look at and possibly implement measures to reduce the risk of recurrence or to minimize the impact of a recurrence. That is exactly why Monday morning quarterbacking is meaningful in this case. Geebus, what a dickhead!

    I work at a chemical plant and every incident is investigated, thoroughness depending on the severity of the incident or potential severity, until a root cause is determined and recommendations made to prevent possible recurrence. It is just common sense and good business practice.

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