Unfortunately, it looks as if the West Fertilizer Co. wassignificantly underinsured.

A bit more than a week after a massive explosion, thatregistered on seismographs as a 2.1-magnitude quake, devastated thesmall, rural town of West, Texas, there are still more questionsthan answers.

The April 17 blast heavily damaged or destroyed 140 homes, amiddle school, an apartment building, and a retirement center.

That's the property toll, which doesn't include the damagednerves of people directly or indirectly impacted by the blow of theblast's shockwaves.

The Insurance Council of Texas now estimates insured property losses are $100 million—whichincludes the plant.

Dan Keeney, spokesman for Adair Grain Inc., parent company ofWest Fertilizer, tells PC360 West Fertilizer was insuredbut how much and by whom are tidbits Keeney has not been authorizedto release.

This leads to one obvious conclusion: The West Fertilizer plantlikely had some kind of property insurance. Otherwise, there wouldbe no reason for ICT to include West Fertilizer in itsestimation of insured losses.

Emails and calls I received since my initial coverage of thisstory have consistently named the property insurer. I won't releaseit until I've independently confirmed the information. This insurerhas been contacted and I've been told by them to contact the plantowner. You've just read the results of that endeavor.

PC360 has learned only a handful of carriers servingthe agribusiness niche would think about providing generalliability and/or umbrella coverage on this type of risk.

But who is underwriting a facility known to be storing hundredsof tons of the fertilizer ammonium nitrate—a volatile chemicalcompound Timothy McVeigh used in a bomb to blow up the OklahomaCity federal building in 1995?

(The cause of the West, Texas explosion remains underinvestigation.)

West Fertilizer did not tell federal authorities it had thismuch ammonium nitrate on site, which it was required to do. It maynot have told too many people if the West ambulance servicemedical director had no idea about it, as the New YorkTimes reported this week. No one knows if the plant told thefire department, and West Fertilizer doesn't look to have hadany kind of appropriate risk management plan.

Therefore we could easily assume no insurer would have providedthis facility with liability insurance—especially any company ownedby W.R. Berkley Corp., one within the handful of well-knownproviders to this niche of agribusiness.

Several Berkley companies have filed a subrogation lawsuit againstAdair Grain, claiming negligence on the part of West Fertilizer.The suit was filed on behalf of the companies'policyholders—businesses, churches and individuals of West,Texas.

The suit does not name an insurer of the plant.

I've been asked why I think I should be able to find outWho the Heck Insured This Place?

The question surprised me, but here's an answer other than,“Because it's what I do.”

A business lacking insurance (and admittedly this one—in thiscase—may have been underinsured had it possessed every kind ofcoverage at the highest limit available to it) isn't just a shamefor that business.

It affects other insurers, as we've seen with the Berkley suit.This, in turn, affects policyholders—not only in West but in thetowns surrounding supposedly thousands of facilities in the countryjust like West Fertilizer.

It affects secondary business partners. If and when subrogatesfind Adair Grain's pockets shallow, they'll move on—maybe tochemical manufacturers or transportation providers, for instance.In turn, more insurers are brought to the fray.

It affects the business owned by the Adair family who, by allaccounts, was beloved in West. The business was around for a longtime. It's gone now and it's not coming back. Whatever financialfooting the family stood on is quickly crumbling. In alllikelihood, they will be wiped out financially.

If a retailer with such an enormous potential liability had beenrequired to purchase some kind of liability coverage, it would notbe a stretch to imagine that the company or companies providingsaid coverage would have had a role to play in ensuring the safeoperation of the plant. This seems especially plausible given theinsurance industry's attention to risk management and lossmitigation, and given that the town of West had been permitted toexpand so inexplicably close to an industrial use with asubstantial explosion hazard.

“This is the way things are done here” isn't an excuse. Iunderstand the sentiment, but it isn't an excuse.

Fifteen people died. There are 180 families being helped by theRed Cross. Many aren't insured. Businesses are gone or severelydamaged and/or interrupted.

That is not the way things are done. That is the way things areundone.