Heitkamp and Fischer Introduce the Bipartisan Bill to Prevent Harmful Standards from Impacting ND Farmers & Ag Retailers

Press Release

U.S. Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Deb Fischer (R-NE) today introduced bipartisan legislation to stop harmful federal standards that could severely impact farmers and their families by unnecessarily increasing production costs and adding uncertainty.

The senators' Fertilizer Access and Responsible Management (FARM) Act, would stop new federal standards from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regarding retailers of anhydrous ammonia, a fertilizer and critical input used by farmers across the country. The policy, which is set to be implemented on October 1 without congressional action, would apply tougher, across-the-board standards to agricultural retailers that sell anhydrous ammonia, seriously burdening them and farmers that use the fertilizer. Many retailers in North Dakota alone have stated they will stop selling the fertilizer beginning October 1, which would force farmers to drive farther or pay more for inputs.

"We've heard this burdensome standard will force more than a dozen North Dakota retailers to stop selling this critical fertilizer, severely hurting farmers across the state who will need to travel much longer distances to access fertilizer and incur higher costs," said Heitkamp. "Such sweeping and harmful actions need to be more thoroughly thought out before going into effect, and they must take into account the needs and impacts in each state. The bipartisan bill Senator Fischer and I introduced would make sure retailers and farmers have meaningful input into the process if OSHA wants to make such major changes to existing policy."

"Farmers in Nebraska rely on fertilizer so they can provide safe food to the world," said Fischer. "OSHA has circumvented Congress and public input by introducing new rules that will make it harder for farmers to do their job. The bipartisan bill Senator Heitkamp and I are introducing today would protect farm families by rolling back OSHA's unilateral decision to create harmful rules without following the law."

On July 22, 2015, OSHA issued new standards which will restrict farmers' abilities to access critical tools necessary for them to feed the world. The new policy will require facilities that store or transport 10,000 pounds or more of anhydrous ammonia to obtain Process Safety Management Standard documentation. If the facility cannot obtain this documentation, it could be forced to purchase new storage tanks, costing $70,000 or more.

The new standards were announced in July 2015 and became effective immediately. OSHA did not adhere to the traditional rulemaking process, and instead issued interpretive guidance which does not allow for meaningful input from affected industries. Because of language Fischer and Heitkamp helped include in the end-of-the-year spending bill Congress passed last December, OSHA postponed enforcement of the guidance until October 1.

The Fischer-Heitkamp bill would require OSHA to withdraw the July 2015 memo. It would also require the agency to abide by a formal rulemaking process when instituting a similar policy change in the future. Click here to view text of the FARM Act.

Source