Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill Blocks OSHA Fertilizer Regulations

Press Release

Congressman Kevin Cramer announced the House Appropriations Committee approved language today blocking new fertilizer regulations in the committee report to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 House Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill. The legislation now awaits consideration on the House floor.

The language blocks the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) from enacting regulations relating to retail anhydrous ammonia facilities. On July 22, 2015, a guidance memorandum issued by OSHA dispensed of a 23-year policy exempting agricultural retail facilities from coverage under OSHA's Process Safety Management (PSM) program. Enforcement of the memorandum is scheduled to go into effect on Oct. 1.

OSHA's new interpretation of the PSM rule will force small one-tank anhydrous ammonia retailers employing a few seasonal employees to be subject to the same regulatory requirements and paperwork as large chemical manufacturing and storage facilities. These new regulations could impact 4,800 anhydrous ammonia facilities in the nation, including 275 in North Dakota. Currently, only eight large wholesale and distribution facilities in the state are subject to the PSM regulations.

Anhydrous ammonia is a vital crop nutrient used by farmers to grow many commodities. The North Dakota Department of Agriculture estimated as many as one-third of the current anhydrous ammonia facilities in the state could be forced to close. Cramer said this would force farmers to either travel farther distances to acquire anhydrous ammonia or use dry or liquid alternatives that could increase annual input costs by millions of dollars.

"Ultimately, these increased costs to the farmer could result in higher costs for consumers in the grocery store," said Cramer. "I also have concerns about the cost to agricultural retailers to bring facilities into compliance, which could exceed $60,000 per facility according to industry estimates. It is inexcusable for OSHA to impose such burdensome regulations on rural fertilizer retailers without first going through the formal rulemaking process and soliciting sufficient input from impacted stakeholders."

In March, Cramer and House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-MN) led a bi-partisan group of 41 Members of Congress in sending a letter to the House Appropriations Committee urging it to block the OSHA fertilizer regulations in its FY 2017 Labor, HHS and Education appropriations bill.

"I am pleased the language we requested was included in the Committee's FY 2017 appropriations bill," said Cramer. "While this is a positive first step, there is still more work to be done. I call on my colleagues in both the House and Senate to work together to ensure these excessive regulations are stopped before they go into effect in October."

Executive Order (EO) 13650 is cited as the reason for the revision to long standing policy. It was the result of the West Fertilizer Co. incident which took place in West, Texas, on April 17, 2013. While anhydrous ammonia was being stored at the West facility at the time of the incident, the explosion was actually triggered by ammonium nitrate, which is not subject to the safety standards. On May 11,an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives revealed that the cause of the explosion was due to a "criminal act."

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