Back in December 2017, I wrote an article explaining how this new nitrification inhibitor in the ammonia fertilizer industry would impact the facility’s PSM/RMP programs. I received a lot of questions and nasty grams from that article, but one thing I forgot to mention is how this new “blending” operation changes the retail locations EPCRA Sections 311 and 312 reporting. Before the blending of the nitrification inhibitor with the ammonia, the ammonia held for sale directly to farmers was exempt from the EPCRA reporting. But as EPA has now stated, that is no longer the case…
Ammonia sales at farm supply companies
A farm supply company sells ammonia as a fertilizer to farmers. Is the ammonia, when held by the farm supplier, exempt from EPCRA Sections 311 and 312 reporting?
(emphasis by me)
EPCRA Section 311(e)(5) exempts “any substance to the extent it is used in routine agricultural operations or is a fertilizer held for sale by a retailer to the ultimate customer” from Sections 311 and 312 reporting. Since the farmer is the ultimate customer of the fertilizer (i.e., ammonia) the ammonia that the supplier keeps to sell to farmers would not need to be reported under Sections 311 and 312 by the farm supplier. Note that this exemption applies to the chemical and not the facility as a whole. For example, where the supplier also sells ammonia to other suppliers, or where the supplier also uses the ammonia as a blending ingredient to make other products, those ammonia amounts are NOT exempt.
Some may argue that the mere blending of the nitrification inhibitor with the ammonia is not making “other products” – that I will leave up to the experts in EPCRA and Legal matters.
Source: https://www.epa.gov/epcra/ammonia-sales-farm-supply-companies