Tipsheet

How 60,000 Pounds of Explosive Materials Disappeared

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  June 05, 2023 12:30 PM

Authorities say that the disappearance of explosive materials from a freight train shouldn’t be a cause for public or environmental concern. However, 60,000 pounds of this stuff vanishing without a trace on the West Coast isn’t comforting, especially since it’s been a critical ingredient in a host of bombings. In April, the cargo holds for the material traveled between Cheyenne, Wyoming, the location of its manufacturer, Dyno Nobel, and Saltdale, California. Along the way, it went missing, possibly due to a leak, though when this story was reported in late May, no one wanted to talk about it, including the FBI. NBC News’ story of the missing materials contains a history of the explosions in which ammonium nitrate was present, which should really give us peace of mind (via NBC News): 


The report states the chemical was released "due to an unknown cause," and was discovered missing after the rail car arrived in Saltdale, California, an unincorporated community more than 1,000 miles from Cheyenne.

At the time of the report, the car was empty and on its way back to Wyoming, according to the company. 

Ammonium nitrate has been a key ingredient in both terror attacks and fatal accidents. 

At least 581 people were killed in 1947 when more than 2,000 tons of the chemical exploded on a cargo ship that had docked at a port in Texas City, Texas. The same year, in Brest, France, a Norwegian ship that contained about 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded, leading to 29 deaths. 

It was also used in a 1970 bombing on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus that led to one death and several injuries, and in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people. 

In 2013, ammonium nitrate was the cause of an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, killing 15 people, injuring 200 and wiping out hundreds of homes. Federal officials later found the blast was a “criminal act.” 

In 2020, it was the source of a colossal explosion in Beirut, Lebanon, when more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate detonated, killing more than 200 people and injuring thousands. 

[…] 

A representative for the National Transportation Safety Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FBI also did not have any immediate comment.  

A spokesperson for the Federal Railroad Administration said that Union Pacific's "initial findings suggest this was likely a leak caused by a component of the rail car." 


If it was a leak, recovery is near-impossible along the 1,000-mile route between the two locations. So, let’s hope this goes away without incident. And no, I'm not going into the conspiracy theories that have popped up about this story. Let's hope human error and nothing else is at play here.