A provision in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Bill will stop new restrictions on fertilizer sales. The measure offered by North Dakota Senator John Hoeven calls for keeping OSHA from forcing agriculture retailers to comply with the same chemical storage rules as wholesale facilities. North Dakota Farm Bureau Public Policy Director Pete Hanebutt says his group backs the measure.

He says the OSHA rules don’t make sense and Senator Hoeven’s provision corrects the problem.

Hanebutt says the OSHA rule is not an unintended consequence, but another case of over regulation on agriculture pushed forward by the current administration.

Hoeven says the OSHA rules, yet to be implemented, have already caused nine facilities in North Dakota to close. He says they would also cause many retailers to stop selling to farmers at rural locations and limit the supply of anhydrous ammonia, which is vital to farmers.