WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. circuit ruled in favor of production agriculture by finding that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) violated the law when it issued new standards for anhydrous ammonia storage. Anhydrous ammonia is an important fertilizer used by ag producers in Nebraska and across the country. U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), released the following statement after today’s ruling:

“Earlier this year, I joined Senator Heidi Heitkamp in introducing the FARM Act, bipartisan legislation that would stop these onerous OSHA standards. We came together to provide some relief for ag producers and force the administration to follow the law. Today’s ruling by the federal court reinforces the provisions in our bill and sets an important precedent for other harmful regulations. Now, our ag producers will face one less hardship so they can focus on feeding the world and providing for their families.”

On July 22, 2015, OSHA issued new standards to restrict farmers’ abilities to access critical tools, like anhydrous ammonia, that are necessary for them to feed the world. OSHA’s policy would have required facilities that store or transport 10,000 pounds or more of anhydrous ammonia to obtain Process Safety Management Standard documentation. If the facility is unable to obtain this documentation, they would be forced to purchase new storage tanks, costing $70,000 or more.

The new standards were announced in July 2015 and became effective immediately.

On July 14, 2016, Senator Fischer joined Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) to introduce bipartisan legislation, known as the FARM Act, which would stop OSHA’s harmful federal standards. Today’s decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals reinforced the provisions in the FARM Act. It ordered OSHA to vacate its memorandum for failure to abide by the proper notice and comment periods required by law.

Click here to view text of the FARM Act.

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