Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring and some North Dakota farm groups are objecting to what they say are new regulations on retail outlets that sell anhydrous ammonia.
OSHA – the Occupational Health and Safety Administration – calls it a “change in policy.” Goehring says OSHA has changed the definition of manufacturers of anhydrous to include retailers. He says currently, 8 anhydrous producers are regulated as manufacturers – and this new policy would expand that number to 283.
"I would liken it to a gas station having the same regulatory compliance as an oil refinery," said Goehring.
OSHA came up with the change in definition after the explosion and fire at a west Texas fertilizer plant in 2013. But Goehring says that didn't involve anhydrous -- which he says is not flammable.
Goehring says the industry believes the new regulations will mean a loss of about a third of the anhydrous dealers in North Dakota.
"That is going to put more product on the road, traveling further distances, to access fewer facilities," said Goehring. "That puts our public more at risk."
Goehring says that’s counter-productive, if OSHA wants to promote safety. And he says this policy change should have gone through a normal rule-making process – which OSHA didn’t do.
Goehring has written OSHA, outlining these concerns. And he says it will be talked about at the upcoming meeting of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture.
