Poultry Farms Officially Exempt From Propane Rules
US - Finally, federal Homeland Security officials have agreed to exempt small farms from a rule on reporting propane storage that local poultry growers criticized as burdensome and ineffective.
5 November 2007
2 minute read
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| A chicken house in Milford |
We don't understand why it took so long, but at least growers can put aside their fears of possibly being labeled potential terrorist targets.
After objections were raised nationwide, including by Delmarva Peninsula farmers, the Homeland Security agency raised the trigger amount for reporting to 60,000 pounds. Officials also agreed to exclude any tanks smaller than 10,000 pounds from calculations.
Earlier this year, Homeland Security proposed requiring registration and reporting by anyone using 7,500 pounds or more of propane fuel. That threshold that would have affected many of the state's poultry operations.
An average broiler farm uses about 1,000 gallons per house.
Had they not been exempted on Friday, small farmers would have been forced to register with the government and complete lengthy risk assessment forms on the Internet.
The paperwork alone brought howls from farmers experienced with online registrations. By the end of the summer, Homeland Security was protesting that the idea of small farmers struggling to comply with reporting requirements to avoid $25,000 fines was overblown.
