BY DAVID IRVIN

Posted on Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The chicken industry and several U. S. senators have come out against a proposed Homeland Security rule aimed at protecting industrial chemical supplies from terrorists.

Congress directed the Department of Homeland Security in 2006 to develop chemical security regulations for “high-risk” facilities that terrorists could attack. One of the rules that emerged requires any facility with more than 7, 500 pounds of propane to complete an online risk assessment.

Because chicks require so much heat for growth and because much of that heat is produced by burning propane, many broiler growers will be affected by Homeland Security’s rule if it isn’t amended.

“I could think of a lot easier, better targets" for terrorists than chicken farms, Richard Lobb, spokesman for the National Chicken Council, a Washington-based industry group, told the Associated Press.

According to the National Propane Gas Association, 7, 500 pounds of propane amounts to about 1, 785 gallons. Most broiler houses have a 1, 000-gallon propane tank attached, poultry farmers said. These are usually kept about 85 percent full.

Therefore, any chicken farm with two propane-fueled houses with 1, 700 gallons of fuel would nearly reach the government’s threshold. Three propane houses would exceed the limit, and the owner would have to register.

Legislators this month publicly challenged the new rule, which they called an unnecessary burden for as many as 20, 000 broiler growers nationwide.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, the legislators — led by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md. — said the rule would subject broiler growers to an “ extensive Web-based questionnaire” that would be difficult and time consuming.

That would be particularly true in rural areas with limited high-speed Internet service, the senators contend.

The Department of Homeland Security contends the process will take only a few hours, but the senators said it would take days.

Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, declined to reveal what the final rule would be or when it would appear, but he said it would happen in the “near term.”

“We are not interested in backyard barbecue grills,” Knocke said in a Tuesday telephone interview from Washington. “I think those folks that have been pretty vocal on this, in large part, will be satisfied with the outcome.”

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., a co-signer of the letter to Chertoff, said he hopes the department will revise the rule to exclude small rural farms, his press secretary, Bette Phelan, confirmed Tuesday.

John Starkey, vice president of environmental programs at the Georgia-based U. S. Poultry and Egg Association, said in an e-mail Tuesday that he believes Homeland Security has heard the concerns of growers and will amend the rule to exclude smallfarm registration. If the rule does not change, many other small operations would also be burdened, the National Propane Gas Association said. Campgrounds, trailer parks, construction sites, large retailers and nursing homes could all be affected, the association said. Knocke would not reveal the Web address for registration but said that information is being supplied to industry groups.