The online surveys are designed to rank hazards at many types of companies, including soda bottlers, chemical plants, lawn care companies, rail carriers and municipal water treatment plants.

Businesses that handle certain amounts of about 350 chemicals will be required to complete an initial survey, with more detailed follow-ups based on hazards. Targeted chemicals include any amount of the notoriously corrosive and deadly hydrogen fluoride -- used in large amounts at Sunoco's Marcus Hook refinery -- to 1,875 pounds of chlorine or 7,500 pounds or more of propane.

But the requirements are ruffling the feathers of agricultural leaders.

"We're hoping that the [Department of Homeland Security] has enough sense to realize that what is proposed and how it would affect poultry growers borders on the absurd," said William Satterfield, executive director of Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., the regional poultry trade group.