A Labor Department proposal could make some nitrogen fertilizer more expensive or harder to find. That has Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asking the Labor Department some questions about its new guidance on chemical storage.

 

In response to a 2013 fertilizer plant explosion in Texas, the Labor Department has proposed tightening federal safety rules that until now exempted retailers, including those who sell anhydrous ammonia to farmers. Grassley says the cost of compliance may lead some smaller places to stop selling the liquid fertilizer.

 

"With anhydrous ammonia application being a seasonal occurrence," Grassley says, "it will be difficult for small retailers who supply farmers to absorb the cost."

 

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