The city of West, Texas, has filed a lawsuit against the owner of the fertilizer plant that exploded in April, as well as the chemical company that supplied two 100-ton shipments of ammonium nitrate in the weeks before the deadly blast.

The city has filed a suit against Adair Grain Inc. and ammonium nitrate supplier CF Industries, claiming that the chemical shipments were improperly stored and caused the explosion that killed 15 people and destroyed more than 150 homes. A high school, middle school, apartment complex and a nursing home were also destroyed in the April 17 blast.

The lawsuit claims that 30 tons from the first 100-ton shipment of ammonium nitrate had not yet been sold and were being dangerously stored in the plant at the time of the explosion. The city has accused the supplier of failing to properly inspect the fertilizer mixing facility to determine whether hazard mitigation was necessary or to provide recommendations for safe storage. Even though the Illinois-based CF industries knew that the plant was located within a community of homes, parks, and schools, it chose to blindly sell hundreds of tons of the hazardous material to the facility, the suit states.

“The explosion happened when a substantial portion of the thirty tons of ammonium nitrate stockpiled in the fertilizer mixing building was heated to the point of detonation,” the complaint states. “This explosion occurred at approximately 7:50 p.m., some twenty minutes after a fire had been detected in the same building at the fertilizer facility.”

The lawsuit also accused CF Industries of providing outdated safety information to West Fertilizer, and failing to provide a material safety data sheet for either of the two shipments.

After investigating the blast for a month, Texas fire marshals said they could not determine a cause. Investigators have launched a criminal probe, but no one has yet been charged.

The city of West is seeking $17 million in damages for negligence and product liability. The city says it needs the money to fix its streets, water and sewer lines that were destroyed by the explosion. The deadly blast resulted in an estimated $57 million in damages, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has refused to provide funds to help rebuild the devastated town.

But Scott Deatherage, a Dallas attorney specializing in environmental law, told CBS News that this would most likely be a difficult case for the city to win, since the chemical in question is used extensively throughout the US. Ammonium nitrate can be found in products ranging from fertilizer to instant cold packs used as first aid on injuries.

“Consider ammonium nitrate is a very common material sold all over the country, all over Texas, and it’s used everyday,” he said. “So to argue that particular product is somewhat defective is extremely difficult. It’d be like saying gasoline is defective because it exploded somewhere.”

CF Industries provided a statement to WPTV, claiming that there is “no basis for this suit”, but that it was “sympathetic to those whose lives were affected by this unfortunate incident.”

“The CF Industries’ companies will seek dismissal of this lawsuit and otherwise defend the company vigorously in court,” it said in a statement to CBS.

Michael Hastings (DC. Paul Morigi/Getty Images for The Guardian/AFP)

 A former cybersecurity advisor to President George W. Bush says a sophisticated computer hack could have been the cause of the automobile accident that claimed the life of journalist Michael Hastings last week in Los Angeles.

Richard Clarke, a State Department official-turned-special advisor to several United States presidents, said the early morning auto crash last Tuesday was "consistent with a car cyberattack,” raising new questions about the death of the award-winning journalist.

Hastings died last week when his 2013 Mercedes C250 coupe collided with a tree in Los Angeles, California on the morning of June 18. He was reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed and failed to stop at a red light moments before the single-car crash. He was only 33.

Speaking to Huffington Post this week, Clarke said that a cyberattack waged at the vehicle could have caused the fatal collision.

"What has been revealed as a result of some research at universities is that it's relatively easy to hack your way into the control system of a car, and to do such things as cause acceleration when the driver doesn't want acceleration, to throw on the brakes when the driver doesn't want the brakes on, to launch an air bag," Clarke told The Huffington Post. "You can do some really highly destructive things now, through hacking a car, and it's not that hard."

"So if there were a cyberattack on the car — and I'm not saying there was," Clarke continued, "I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."

The Los Angeles Police Department said they don’t expect foul play was involved in the crash, but an investigation has been opened nonetheless.

In an email reportedly sent by Hastings hours before the crash, he told colleagues that he thought he was the target of a federal investigation.

“Hey [redacted}, the Feds are interviewing my ‘close friends and associates,’” Hastings wrote 15 hours before the crash.

“Also: I’m onto a big story, and need to go off the rada[r] for a bit,” he added. “All the best, and hope to see you all soon.”

The email was supplied to KTLA News in Los Angeles by Staff Sgt. Joseph Biggs, who says he met Hastings while the journalist was embedded in Afghanistan in 2008. It was reportedly send to a handful of Hastings’ associates and was blind-copied to Biggs.

“I just said it doesn’t seem like him. I don’t know, I just had this gut feeling and it just really bothered me,” Biggs told KTLA.

Reporters at Buzzfeed where Hastings worked say they received an email from their colleague, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a statement two days after Hastings’ death to quash rumors that they had been looking into the reporter.

“At no time was Michael Hastings under investigation by the FBI,” FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

According to the Associated Press, however, Hastings’ fingerprints were on file with the FBI and were used by the bureau to identify his body after flames consumed much the auto wreckage last week.

"I believe the FBI when they say they weren't investigating him," Clarke told the Huffington Post. "That was very unusual, and I'm sure they checked very carefully before they said that."

"I'm not a conspiracy guy. In fact, I've spent most of my life knocking down conspiracy theories," he said. "But my rule has always been you don't knock down a conspiracy theory until you can prove it [wrong]. And in the case of Michael Hastings, what evidence is available publicly is consistent with a car cyberattack. And the problem with that is you can't prove it."

Clarke, 62, spent nearly two decades at the Pentagon before relocating to the White House where he served under President Ronald Reagan and both Presidents Bush. He served as special advisor to President George W. Bush on cybersecurity until leaving the administration in 2003 and is currently the chairman and CEO of Good Harbor Security Risk Management, LLC.