Last year we said that we would follow the KCTV5 story wherei [...]

TV Station’s Ammonium Nitrate Report Misleads

On Wednesday evening, December 1, 2004, KCTV Channel 5 in Kansas City aired an investigative report detailing the purchase of what was allegedly a large quantity of ammonium nitrate from a Northeast Kansas fertilizer retailer. Ammonium nitrate gained notoriety when it was mixed with fuel to make the bomb that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

The goal of KCTV’s investigative report by Dave Helling was to demonstrate how easy it is to buy ammonium nitrate from Kansas fertilizer retailers. They failed to meet their goal, but reported otherwise. Six northeast Kansas retailers turned down a request by their undercover reporters to purchase ammonium nitrate.

However, the report indicates that they were able to buy a large quantity of the product from McGraw Fertilizer in Tonganoxie. That is false.

McGraw Fertilizer sold KCTV 500lbs of 20-10-10 lawn fertilizer – not ammonium nitrate. The 20-10-10 fertilizer is a common blend, containing 20% ammonium nitrogen, 10% phosphorous and 10% potash that can be purchased at most lawn and garden centers and department stores in Kansas. Ammonium nitrate is 34-0-0. Fertilizer experts who have seen video footage of the fertilizer purchased in the report can clearly see that the product is not ammonium nitrate because of the different colors of material in the blend.

The fertilizer blend sold to KCTV did include some ammonium nitrate, but only roughly 17%. Experts agree that anything less than a 70% blend of ammonium nitrate is not explosive. In fact, the fertilizer blend sold to KCTV is not even classified as a hazardous material by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The KCTV report also claims that they were never asked for identification. While McGraw Fertilizer did not ask to see a driver’s license, they did ask for and received the name and address of the truck driver. In addition, they recorded the license plate of the vehicle to match it with the address that was given.

The KCTV report also misleadingly claims that the fertilizer industry is resistant to restricting the use of ammonium nitrate. Again – not true. Since the Oklahoma City bombing, the fertilizer industry has taken dramatic steps to secure the product and educate retailers about the dangers associated.

The Topeka-based Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association and The Fertilizer Institute based in D.C. have cooperated on awareness efforts for Kansas fertilizer retailers.

Recently, the Department of Homeland Security has indicated its plans to endorse The Fertilizer Institute’s “America’s Security Begins with You,” ammonium nitrate awareness campaign.

“America’s Security Begins with You” urges everyone who handles ammonium nitrate to implement security plans, maintain records of all sales of ammonium nitrate and alert law enforcement officials of suspicious activity by utilizing ATF’s toll-free hotline 800-800-3855. The campaign posters and window stickers place those with illicit intent on notice that U.S. agribusinesses are on high alert and stand ready to contact federal law enforcement officials.

“America’s Security Begins with You” materials have been distributed to all KARA members in Kansas.

The Fertilizer Institute recently issued the following statement regarding the introduction of H.R. 5140 by U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey (D – N.Y.)

“The fertilizer industry is keenly interested in Congressional efforts to establish a uniform federal system for securing ammonium nitrate from those with criminal intent, and the introduction of this legislation is a first step in a welcome dialogue on this issue.

TFI has met with Rep. Hinchey’s staff and is working closely with agricultural and security leaders in Congress to investigate options for keeping ammonium nitrate safe and available for use in American agriculture.”

The Kansas Agribusiness Retailers Association and the Kansas Department of Agriculture have been working to educate fertilizer retailers and farmers about the danger of letting ammonium nitrate fall into the wrong hands. The success of their efforts was demonstrated by the KCTV report which shows that the undercover reporters were unsuccessful in purchasing ammonium nitrate in all seven cases.

“Our Association is pleased by the voluntary efforts of our members to control the sales of ammonium nitrate as demonstrated by the KCTV report. Unfortunately, KCTV chose not to emphasize that positive aspect of their report, instead, choosing to focus on negative aspects based on incorrect information,” Tom R. Tunnell, KARA President said.

The Kansas Agribusiness Retailer’s Association represents over 750 businesses that are primarily retail agribusiness operations that provide fertilizer, crop protection chemicals, seed, fuel and propane products and services to Kansas producers. In addition to serving the interests of retail agribusiness, KARA also represents crop input distribution firms, ag chemical manufacturing firms, application equipment manufacturers and other businesses related to the crop production industry.

KARA, 816 SW Tyler, Topeka, Kansas, 66612, 785-234-0463, Fax 785-234-2930, http://www.kansasag.org