30 tons of ammonium nitrate shipped by rail from Wyoming to California are missing
Thirty tons of explosive ammonium nitrate DISAPPEAR during a two-week train shipment from Wyoming to California
- About 60,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate went missing in transit by rail
- Dyno Nobel, who manufactured the explosive chemical, said it likely leaked
- Railroad operator Union Pacific said leaked ammonium nitrate would not be harmful
Thirty tons of ammonium nitrate, a powerful explosive, disappeared during a two-week train shipment from Wyoming to California.
A train car loaded with the chemical left an explosive behind factory in Cheyenne on April 12, but on arrival in Saltdale – an old mining town in the Mojave Desert – the cargo was gone.
mmanufacturer, Dyno Nobel, informed the National Response Center that the product was missing. The company makes explosives for a variety of applications, including mining, construction, and oil and gas exploration.
Ammonium nitrate, which can also be used as a fertilizer, is notorious for its use in the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people in 1995 – the deadliest terror attack in US history after 9/11.
Dyno Nobel told KQEDwho first reported about the missing material, that ammonium nitrate fertilizer granules probably leaked from the car during transport.
That theory is supported by the fact that the car containing the material was sealed when he left Wyoming and that those seals were “still intact” when he arrived in California.
A train car loaded with the chemical left an explosives factory in Cheyenne (pictured) on April 12 but was gone on arrival in Saltdale
Union Pacific, which ran the train carrying the explosive chemicals, said if the pellets had leaked from the train, it would be harmless.
‘The fertilizer is designed for soil application and rapid soil absorption. If the loss is due to a leak in a railcar during transit from origin to destination, the release should not pose a risk to public health or the environment,” spokesperson Robynn Tysver told DailyMail.com.
Union Pacific also ruled out the possibility of theft, saying “We do not believe there is any criminal or malicious activity involved.”
The product is shipped in hopper wagons, and only part of the wagon carried the 60,000 pounds (30 tons) of pellets, according to Union Pacific.
Ammonium nitrate fertilizer costs about $600 per ton, according to New Mexico State Universityso the missing shipment would have been worth about $18,000.
Stan Blake, a former Wyoming state legislator and retired train conductor, told Cowboy State Daily that it wouldn’t be difficult to rid one of the hopper trucks of its load of pellets.
The cars have two or three sections, Blake said, and at the bottom is a gate. “You can use a big bar and open that gate and it will pour out,” he told the outlet.
Union Pacific, which ran the train carrying the explosive chemicals, said if the pellets had leaked from the train, it would be harmless. Pictured is a Union Pacific train carrying bulk grain across Kansas
He also suggested it’s possible the pellets never got on the train in the first place, as the chemical could be transported from the open gate into a truck using a mobile conveyor belt.
He said cars were sometimes registered as load carriers but were empty, and vice versa.
He said when cars were put together they could sometimes slam into each other and part would pour out. He told the outlet that he had asked people to collect it in plastic bags and place it on their lawns.
“It’s great fertilizer,” he said.
Ammonium nitrate is used both as a fertilizer and in explosives. A large amount of the material exploded in Beirut’s port in August 2020, killing 281 people and injuring about 7,000.