Natural Resources Law Commons^™

Regulating Ammonium Nitrate Fertilizer Under The General Duty Clause, Drew Levinson

Pace Environmental Law Review

This Article explores how the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) general duty clause can be utilized to prevent catastrophes such as the explosion in West, Texas.

Part II of this Article describes the dangers associated with ammonium nitrate. More specifically, it looks at prior accidents to understand the magnitude of these unanticipated explosions. Part III looks at our current approach to regulating ammonium nitrate fertilizer and the shortcomings of this regulatory regime. Part IV provides an overview of the CAA’s general duty clause. Furthermore, it describes how the general duty clause can be applied to ammonium nitrate fertilizer facilities and the …