The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) May 23, 2004
Fertilizer used in bombs easily bought
By James R. Carroll
WASHINGTON - It turns Kentucky tobacco fields green and helps miners blast out coal, but it also can turn a building to rubble.
Ammonium nitrate, a common fertilizer, was cited in a Department of Homeland Security bulletin last month as a possible ingredient in bombs that could be used by terrorists against buses and rail lines this summer.
The compound was used nine years ago in the truck bomb that targeted the Oklahoma City federal building; in multiple bombings in Turkey last year; and in bombs found under rail lines in France this year.
Yet ammonium nitrate remains readily available with essentially no restrictions on who can buy it.
"It's beyond comprehension that something hasn't been done about this yet," said Tim Brown, senior fellow at GlobalSecurity.org, an Alexandria, Va.-based think tank on national security and terrorism.
Other chemicals can be used to make explosives, but ammonium nitrate is unique in that it has many legitimate sources and is available across the nation.
Kentucky and Indiana officials have been working with fertilizer distributors and sellers to be sure they know who is buying it, said Joe Pearson, Indiana assistant commissioner of agriculture.
"We're still worried - do we have the safeguards in?" Pearson said. "It wouldn't be completely safe until you took it off the market, and you can't do that."
Some countries, including China, the Philippines and many members of the European Union, either have banned ammonium nitrate or placed restrictions on its sale and use.
In Kentucky, the compound is a popular fertilizer for growing tobacco, as well as corn, pasture grasses and sod. In a slightly different form, it is used extensively as an explosive in coal mining. Indiana uses ammonium nitrate, too, but far less than Kentucky, according to state officials.
Both states require registration of fertilizer dealers and distributors, but, like the rest of the country, there are no requirements to keep records on who buys ammonium nitrate.
A National Academy of Sciences panel in 1998 recommended that lax controls over the fertilizer be changed.
"I'm afraid almost nothing has," said Marye Anne Fox, one of the study's co-directors and chancellor of North Carolina State University.
No laws, much concern
In Congress, the government warning about ammonium nitrate bombs and recent terrorist attacks in Europe are drawing new attention to what controls might be needed over the fertilizer, said U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas, D-4th District, a member of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.
"There is discussion between my colleagues ... to further address the ease with which terrorists can obtain materials that have legitimate uses, and how best to keep those materials out of the wrong hands," Lucas said.
But so far, no new laws have been proposed.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives concedes there are few restrictions on a fertilizer known to be a component of choice in numerous terrorist attacks around the world, including by al-Qaida.
But the federal and state governments have worked with fertilizer manufacturers, shippers and sellers and farmers on a voluntary program aimed at detecting signs of potential terrorism.
"We are trying to take steps with industry to help safeguard the public," said Laura Volk, a special agent in the ATF's Louisville office.
The agency and the Fertilizer Institute, the Washington-based industry trade association, both have produced similar pamphlets outlining how those who handle fertilizer can be on guard against suspicious activity. The pamphlets advise businesses to have secure sites for storage and distribution of ammonium nitrate, to know how much they have and to keep track of it, to guard against theft and report it to authorities, to know the customers and ask questions if someone seems out of place.
The fertilizer industry also deals with security issues in regular meetings and training sessions. And when the recent bulletin was released about possible ammonium nitrate bombs, the Fertilizer Institute alerted its state affiliates by e-mail, to be forwarded to individual dealers, said spokeswoman Kathy Mathers.
"Security for this industry isn't static," she said.
Because of that government bulletin, the industry is looking at additional measures to further tighten security for the fertilizer, she said. She declined to discuss details.
Widely available
In Kentucky, 356 companies that store or sell fertilizer are registered with the state, said Ken Franks, agricultural branch manager in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture's Division of Environmental Services.
"I know our dealers are very well aware of their clientele," Franks said.
He and other state officials and agents regularly talk to dealers by phone and visit their facilities, where fertilizer security is regularly discussed, he said.
While neither Kentucky nor Indiana requires records on buyers of ammonium nitrate, Indiana asks fertilizer dealers to report on total sales of the material every six months.
Indiana's use of ammonium nitrate "is relatively minimal," primarily in southern counties where tobacco is grown, said Michael Hancock, the state's fertilizer administrator.
According to the Fertilizer Institute, some 3.4 million tons of ammonium nitrate was produced in the United States last year. An additional 1.3 million tons was imported. Roughly half of the supply went for agriculture, and the other half for industrial explosives.
Ammonium nitrate, Mathers said, is not necessary for lawns and gardens. "It should stay in the hands of professionals and in the hands of farmers," Mathers said.
At Rudy's Farm Center in Kevil, Ky., some is sold to homeowners, but most is used for crops.
"Some people use it on their yards to green the grass up," said owner Jack Rudy. "I think I know 100 percent of the customers that buy here."
While he does not record names and amounts bought, Rudy said, a strange face asking for ammonium nitrate would draw his attention.
"I might ask you what you were planning to do with it, that kind of thing," he said.
© Copyright 2004, The Courier-Journal
