Feds grant two-year exemption from hours of-service for anhydrous ammonia delivery
Farm and Ranch October 8, 2010 The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration this week granted a two-year, limited exemption from federal hours of-service regulations for the transportation of anhydrous ammonia. Jim Fitzgerald, Executive Director of the Far West Agribusiness Association, which represents fertilizer dealers in the region, says the exemption covers shipments of anhydrous as long as transportation takes place within a 100 air-mile radius of the retail or wholesale distribution point. Fitzgerald: “And the reason for this is that number one, there is no history that longer hours or shorter hours causes more accidents or fewer accidents. But number two is there is not a lot of storage particularly for anhydrous ammonia. So it needs to able to flow to the farmer in order to meet the needs of the growing season. So that is the reason for the exemption.” It is up to the states to determine the periods within which the exemption applies. Without it commercial drivers are limited in the hours they can be on the road, which can make it difficult to make timely deliveries to farmer-customers during fertilizer seasons. Fitzgerald says the exemption is good news but adds that anhydrous ammonia is just one fertilizer. Fitzgerald: “Aqua and dry fertilizers don‘t come under this so they are still going to fall under the rest requirements of the drivers.” Efforts are underway to get exemptions for other fertilizer and pesticides and Fitzgerald is optimistic. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on Northwest Aginfo Net.
