The fiscal year Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill includes a provision that would stop new restrictions on fertilizer sales.
North Dakota Democratic Senator John Hoeven says the bill moved out of committee and would also stop the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from forcing agriculture retailers to comply with the same chemical storage requirements as wholesale facilities, according to the Hagstrom Report.
Hoeven says the provision is needed because the OSHA regulations, yet to be implemented, have already caused nine facilities to close in North Dakota.
Hoeven says the OSHA proposal would cause many retailers to stop selling to farmers at rural locations and threatened to limit the supply of anhydrous ammonia, a nitrogen fertilizer that is vital to farmers.
