You’ll get my manure from my cold, dead hands
Jed reports that Congress is looking to create a fertilizer registry:
A Homeland Security Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attacks Subcommittee Wednesday approved a bill that would regulate production and sale of ammonium nitrate, which is typically used by farmers as a fertilizer, but could be used to create a bomb.
[snip]
The measure calls for any individual who produces, sells or buys ammonium nitrate to register with the Homeland Security Department.
I have two large dogs so I can make my own.
December 20th, 2005 at 12:22 am
I think the Subcommittee is even more out of touch than we normally expect from government critters. Domestic production of ammonium nitrate ceased last June:
http://blog.joehuffman.org/2005/07/02/Fertilizer+Grade+Ammonium+Nitrate+Is+History.aspx
December 20th, 2005 at 1:05 am
I thought I remembered you saying that Joe.
All we can hope is they give the job of regulating a product that doesn’t exist to the BATFU, and that it keeps them, very, very busy.
Maybe even some searches for MoMDs, (Manure of Mass Destruction)
December 20th, 2005 at 3:49 pm
Unfortunately, the best fertilizer comes from vegetarian critters, which your dogs are not. In fact, it’s a Really Bad Idea to use dog “fertilizer” for anything you might ever eat. For your lawn and your bedding plants, you might be alright.
Unfortunately for me, doggie-doo doesn’t work well in heavily clay soils, like what we have here in Memphis…
December 20th, 2005 at 9:14 pm
I haven’t verified it yet but I suspect there is still millions of tons of explosive grade AN coming into the country each year for the blasting industry. But that is already regulated by the ATF as soon as it has a fuel mixed with it (as in fuel oil or aluminum powder) so what this committee is doing is redundant.
From my little chats with the ATF they are already swamped with work and with budgets that don’t allow them to work overtime.
In any case the raw ingredients for ammonium nitrate are all in the air. NH4NO3 is just Nitrogen, Oxygen, and water vapor with the bonds rearranged a little differently. I’ve been thinking of making it myself. It’s a bit more complicated than what I was hoping but still doable. What I was hoping for was a solar powered plant that could just chug away for 11 months out of the year and have enough for the Boomershoot each spring. But I’m not sure that is feasible.