The Need for Controversy in the West, Texas Disaster

In this modern life, the media operates on a 24-hour news cycle, meaning that all hours of the day, exciting news has to be breaking.  Of course, exciting news is not always breaking, and a lot of unimportant stuff has to be over-analyzed and blown out of proportion.  And when big news does occur, as it did last week when American citizens were faced with two unrelated explosions –one in Boston, one in West, Texas – the media likes to squeeze every last drop of entertainment it can get out of it.  Usually this is done by politicizing the matter.  No matter what the tragedy, both sides of the political spectrum will rush to their soapboxes to blame the other.

                Sometimes this is a good thing – in the wake of the recent wave of shootings, many strove to use these horrific tragedies as examples for the need to step up gun control.  Sometimes this is a bad thing – often in the wake of a horrible public tragedy, many narcissistic political propagandists will seek to capitalize.  Austin-based radio host Alex Jones has built a strong following by decrying every major disaster as an “inside job” perpetrated by the government.  Unfortunately the dust has not even settled in West, Texas - where an explosion at a fertilizer distribution plant claimed fourteen lives – before Alex Jones began broadcasting live from the small town.  Many news outlets have also turned the catastrophe at West, Texas into a debate on what could have been done to prevent the disaster.  While some, like Mr. Jones, merely seek to capitalize on the loss of others, a few other news outlets are using this tragedy to spur a debate on what could have been done to prevent it.

                So far, the major culprit of the explosion has been a lack of regulatory oversight, something Texas is renowned for.  According to The Austin Statesman, the plant had a history of noncompliance, yet due to communication issues between state and federal agencies, the plant was allowed to continue breaking rules with little to no punishment.  In Texas, fertilizer plants are regulated by a plethora of different state and federal bureaus, ranging from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Office of the Texas State Chemist.  Often times safety issues get swept under the rug because it is assumed they are some other agency’s responsibility.  Also, most of these departments rely on self-reporting and do not have enough money or inspectors to check on the 6,000 fertilizer plants nationwide.

                Right now as Texas is in the spotlight in the debate over whether or not we need more federal government oversight, Governor Rick Perry is in Illinois campaigning for companies to move to Texas, boasting about our state’s lack of regulations.  As interest in the explosion ebbs out, the media will try to stir up more controversy and stoke the embers of this debate, and eventually very little will actually be done.  It is a shame, however, that those who perished in the explosion had to serve as fodder for such a political issue.