Senator Jerry Johnson, Chairman of the Agriculture Committee of the Legislature, announced that he has contacted members of Congress, including the Chair and Ranking Member of a key House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee, urging Congress to intervene to require OSHA to commence formal rulemaking before implementing a significant and very costly change affecting farmer cooperatives and other anhydrous fertilizer retailers, and their customers, farmers. Senator Johnson is also contacting his counterparts as legislative committee agricultural chairs in each of the 50 states legislatures through State Agriculture and Rural Leaders to encourage them to weigh in on this issue as well.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued an enforcement memorandum notifying of its intention to begin enforcing a change in interpretation of the exemption of retail facilities handling anhydrous ammonia from the applicable Process Safety Management (PSM) standards (PSM of Highly Hazardous Chemicals – 29 CFR 1910.119) that are currently applicable only to anhydrous manufacturing and wholesale storage facilities. Under the change in interpretation, farmer cooperatives and other crop nutrient product retailers handling anhydrous ammonia fertilizers, would suddenly be subject to costly compliance costs which includes costs of staffing, recordkeeping, equipment replacement and other costs. A survey of its members by the Nebraska Cooperative Council found that compliance costs per coop could exceed $10 million apiece.