Laugh all you want, the city of Boston was badly damaged by a molasses spill.

From the wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Molasses_Disaster

Near Keany Square,[3] at 529 Commercial Street, a huge molasses tank 50 ft (15 m) tall, 90 ft (27 m) in diameter and containing as much as 2,300,000 US gal (8,700,000 L) collapsed. Witnesses stated that as it collapsed, there was a loud rumbling sound, like a machine gun as the rivets shot out of the tank, and that the ground shook as if a train were passing by.[4]

The collapse unleashed an immense wave of molasses between 8 and 15 ft (2.5 and 4.5 m) high, moving at 35 mph (56 km/h), and exerting a pressure of 2 ton/ft² (200 kPa).[5] The molasses wave was of sufficient force to break the girders of the adjacent Boston Elevated Railway's Atlantic Avenue structure and lift a train off the tracks. Nearby, buildings were swept off their foundations and crushed. Several blocks were flooded to a depth of 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 cm). As described by author Stephen Puleo:

Molasses, waist deep, covered the street and swirled and bubbled about the wreckage. Here and there struggled a form — whether it was animal or human being was impossible to tell. Only an upheaval, a thrashing about in the sticky mass, showed where any life was... Horses died like so many flies on sticky fly-paper. The more they struggled, the deeper in the mess they were ensnared. Human beings — men and women — suffered likewise.[6]

One freak disaster doesn't warrant burdensome regulation like this. People have to get this through their heads: Bad things happen. The government cannot prevent, nor should it strive to prevent, every possible bad outcome.

As a business owner, I'm overloaded with regulations. Some valid, but most, as the article says, purely there to expand the bureacracy.

If only the molasses tank had been regulated!!!

... sometimes I think my delivery is too dry...

What do you want to bet that this is something that the large agri-business dairy processors have lobbied for? They're vertically integrated and have the facilities, operations, and expertise, to accommodate these regs. The regs were probably written to mirror their capabilities - e.g. the requirements for engineering oversight and a containment facility. So the EPA is effectively creating new costs, the value of which will be given to ADM's of the world.

Have they tried crying? Crying over spilled milk...

Actually I've done some work in a factory that produced powdered milk and baby formula - I seem to have worked in every disgusting smelling industry except for abattoirs, and I'm not eager to complete the set, garbage compactors, industrial compost production, and pet food factories will do - and the smell is unbelievable. When they're receiving 50k liters of milk daily you can imagine you can easily get 10-20 liters per truck spilt when detaching hoses, etc. In a place that is generally in full sun. It reeked from miles away, directions were not necessary.

That doesn't mean there's any need to regulate it - I just wouldn't live there if I could help it.

Milk is a non-hazardous material, there is no harm what-so-ever that can come from spilling milk. This is just another disingenuous over-reach by the elitists in Washington. How unbelievably important for them to get right on this, it’s not like we have a failing economy, 10% unemployment, 2 wars that we are engaged in, massive out-of -control debt or anything else that needs there attention any time soon. How long do you think it will be until we need hazmat suits to clean up the milk you spilled in your kitchen? Not long, just look at federal guidelines for cleaning up after you break a CFL (that have mercury in them which is a bio-hazardous material, but the government advocates there use) light bulb that they are forcing down our throats.

Our government has become so utterly absurd that it defies description…..

The oil that they're referring to is otherwise known as butter fat.

At the turn of the century there were about 400 federal laws. I believe the number is about 400,000 now. As jj mentioned, these laws are passed in response to lobbying/campain contributions from corporations that benefit from the law/regulation. Somebody stands to profit from every law/regulation, or there would be no reason to pass it. The reasons stated, (safety, health, equality, the children, etc.), are just a cover. Follow the dollar!
Two party politics doesn't create choice; only a lack of options.

We need to force Congress to do its job. They have delegated to the regulators who, surprise, see the need to expand their role.

Every Federal law or regulation should be individually approved by Congress, with a roll call vote. They should all sunset after ten years unless re-authorized.

I might be a cynic, but I doubt any Federal bureaucrat is going to declare "mission accomplished" and ask that his agency be abolished. They work for us, and our representatives should be ensuring that we only buy what we need, not whatever they are selling.

"Milk is a non-hazardous material, there is no harm what-so-ever that can come from spilling milk."

Increased BOD. Mitigating harm to aquatic species is pretty expensive, possibly more expensive than secondary containment and spill response plans but I'm not in a position to know. It's hard to comment on this specific issue now that the first 2 pages of Google hits are nothing more than spilled milk jokes and nobody's linking to any analysis of the regs and the EPA's analysis.

"The collapse unleashed an immense wave of molasses between 8 and 15 ft high, moving at 35 mph"
Now we can quantify that old phrase, "moving at the speed of molasses."

(Checks calendar) Nope, not 1 April.

"One freak disaster doesn't warrant burdensome regulation like this"

Exactly.

I'm afraid the more I think about it, the more I think the best think that can happen to the US in the longer term would be a total economic collapse. Then we can get rid of all this BS, and start fresh, with a new understanding of why "regulation run amok" is actually not a good thing.

"As jj mentioned, these laws are passed in response to lobbying/campain contributions from corporations that benefit from the law/regulation"

Also there are so many government bureaucrats eating tax money that have nothing better to do and so they have to try justify their salaries by trying to look like they're doing something useful, or they might lose their jobs.

It's OK though, bankruptcy forces the issue.

It sounds like they are trying to encode against another 1933 Wisconsin milk strike.

Essentially, the government had no legal recourse against those who had milk for butter and cheese.

Now they can screw them with the EPA.

To mitigate the effects of a large-scale milk spill, all localities shall be required to maintain a herd of municipal Kitties. These Kitties may be centrally controlled, in the manner of standing Army, or decentralized in Households on an as-needed basis, as a Feline Militia.

Are there not already laws in place about containing massive spills of any generic liquid? Wouldn't those cover it? Why should there be a seperate law for milk and say, canola oil?