Poultry farmers fall under plan for terror watch

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ANNAPOLIS (AP) — Poultry growers are protesting proposed Department of Homeland Security regulations that would label propane gas a "chemical of interest" and require anybody with 7,500 pounds or more of the fuel to register with the agency.

At that amount, poultry farmers who use propane to heat chicken houses would have to fill out the forms.

"It would affect almost all of us," said Jenny Rhodes, who has 80,000 roasters in Centreville, just east of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

"I could think of a lot easier, better targets" for terrorists than chicken farms, said Richard Lobb, spokesman for the National Chicken Council, an industry group based in the District. The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and the National Turkey Federation have joined the protests.

By industry counts, as many as 40,000 farms could be affected by the security proposal.

The government says the registration rule is important to protect the country.

British police last month thwarted a terrorist plot in which two vehicles were loaded with nails packed around canisters of propane and gasoline, then set to detonate. In Iraq, the military has seen propane tanks used in homemade bombs.

Still, U.S. Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin, Maryland Democrats, and Sen. Thomas R. Carper, Delaware Democrat, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking that the rule be shelved.

"Given the serious threats that are currently facing our country and the limited resources of the Department of Homeland Security, please explain why this initiative is a good use of federal dollars," the senators wrote earlier this month.

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the agency is right to compile data on dangerous chemicals, even in rural areas, and said farmers would need to spend only "a couple hours" online to comply.