Propane tanks, found on virtually every poultry farm, are used to fuel heaters that keep the chicken houses warm in the winter. But those propane tanks, which can be as small as 1,000 gallons, now require a federal report that can take poultry growers up to 30 hours to complete. This is an abomination.

Hazards posed by a few isolated propane tanks on poultry farms of several dozen acres pose little, if any, security risk.

"We're hoping 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 poultry trade group.

At least the poultry industry apparently has an ally in the federal homeland security bureaucracy. Russ Knocke, a homeland security spokesperson, said his agency was working to minimize the burden for citizens and are mindful that "we cannot burn down the village in order to save it."