Rockland, N.Y.-Rockland County officials have decided New York State’s ammonium nitrate restrictions don’t do the job – so they’re planning to adopt their own. That means wholesalers and retailers soon will have to report to local law enforcement purchases or thefts of 100 pounds of fertilizer containing any amount of ammonium nitrate. The new rules are bound to upset local nurseries, hardware stores, and other establishments supplying home gardeners. For one, Barry Eldredge, owner of wholesaler and retailer Environmental Chemicals in Spring Valley, thinks it’s a lot of bother for a “minimum of risk,” pointing out that county officials don’t realize 100 pounds of fertilizer doesn’t contain 100 pounds of ammonium nitrate. He says if the county goes ahead with this “ridiculous law” he will sell only fertilizer that doesn’t contain AN. But the Home Depot store in the area won’t mind one way or the other, because the national hardware chain hasn’t handled ammonium nitrate for some time. Spokeswoman Sheriee Bowman told Green Markets that “vendors we work with have taken many precautions in recent years to produce products that don’t contain this chemical.” County officials have scheduled a Sept. 4 public hearing on the proposal, which also requires reporting of purchases or thefts of a gallon or more of 30 percent hydrogen peroxide, which can be used in explosives.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain