Senator: Shutdown Stops West Blast Investigations

DALLAS (AP) — The partial government shutdown is causing delays in the federal investigation of the fertilizer plant explosion in West.

Sen. Barbara Boxer of California tells The Dallas Morning News that agencies reviewing the April 17 blast that killed 15 people can't meet while the government doesn't have a budget.

Agencies are to submit initial proposals by Nov. 1, according to a presidential executive order.

Boxer says those proposals will "definitely be delayed."

Boxer is a Democrat who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. She says her committee was working with the Environmental Protection Agency on proposals for ammonium nitrate, the fertilizer that detonated in the blast.

The Chemical Safety Board, which investigates industrial accidents, has furloughed all but four of its 41 employees.

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