October 18, 2007
US chicken farms may be exempted from reporting dangerous chemicals
US chicken farms may be exempted from a new Homeland Security law requiring companies to report their store of dangerous chemicals.
The US Homeland Security Department is close to releasing a list of chemicals to be included in new reporting regulations intended to keep dangerous materials out of the hands of terrorists.
Under the revised list, poultry growers would not have to file complex risk assessments for the propane they use to heat their chicken houses, two sources familiar with the regulations said.
An original list of 344 chemicals - some with specific weight thresholds - was proposed in April and caused an uproar among businesses that assumed they would be exempt from such terror-related reporting laws.
Chicken farms fell under the umbrella of any business with more than 7,500 pounds of propane.
The department received about 4,000 comments on the original rule.
Lawmakers got behind the chicken farmers and fought for changes in the reporting requirements. At least five senators, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking for the propane threshold to be raised or waived for farmers.
"To require farmers and small businesses to comply with these strict requirements and burdensome costs seems ridiculously disproportionate to the likelihood of a terrorist attack on an individual farm," Grassley wrote in June.
Many felt the initial intent of the rule was aimed at major companies with large amounts of chemicals.
"It was the kind of thing that would be in the regular course of business for a Dow chemical plant, but it would've been completely befuddling for the poultry farmer," said Richard Lobb, spokesman for the Washingtonne-based National Chicken Council.
A year ago Congress passed a law that gave the Homeland Security Department the authority to regulate the nation' most hazardous chemical plants. The list of chemicals is part of the regulations.
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