Did Compost Kill 172 People?

Ely to Baker

We spent last night camping in Ely, NV, the last stop on the loneliest road.  We got our survival guides stamped at the chamber of commerce, and then I stayed to chat about Ely’s waste management program.  Evie Pinneo, the executive director of the chamber of commerce, told me a bit about Ely’s program, which is remarkably similar to Eureka’s.  Trash pickup, landfill right outside of town, no recycling program because it’s too expensive, and no compost program.  Although Evie did say she knew of several ranchers in town composting in their backyards.

When composting came up in the conversation, another man in the office turned to me and said, “compost? Nobody’s composting anymore.  Not after what Timothy McVeigh did with compost.”  Intrigued, I turned to the man and asked what he meant.  “Timothy McVeigh killed 172 people.  He built a bomb out of components of compost and blew up the Murrah building.”  The man, James Cotton, a former composter, current social journalist, and “railroad man” from Chama, New Mexico, continued to explain the connection between bombs and compost.

“What he did was is the basic chemistry of compost.  He took manure and another product I don’t know and he composted it he knew the chemistry,” Cotton explained.  He went on to discuss Molotov cocktails, or bombs made out of a glass bottles and combustible fuel, usually petrol or gasoline.  Rioters frequently use them due to their ease of production.  “Timothy McVeigh took this theory and expanded it into the back of a uhaul truck.” 

“The original concept of composting was to make Mama’s garden just grow.  Beautifully.  But it’s an aromatic thing, it’s ignitable, you can start a fire if you don’t do it right, if you don’t have it contained.”

What a character.  It’s clear that Cotton has strong opinions about Oklahoma City, compost, and chemistry, but how legitimate is his argument?  Timothy McVeigh used ammonium nitrate fertilizer, liquid nitromethane, tovex, and ANFO as explosives.  The products of compost?  Carbon dioxide, water, heat, and, of course, the humus itself.  Notice that ammonium nitrate, nitromethane, petrol, and other explosives aren’t listed.  The comment on compost being ignitable?  I can see how Cotton would believe that, given that the microbes heat the compost pile up to approximately 160 degrees.  Igniting the pile is a whole other story, though. 

The verdict, according to a chemist who shall remain unnamed, is that Cotton's theory is totally bogus and there's no connection between compost and the Oklahoma City bombing.  The answer to the blog title, then, is no.  Absolutely not.