On The One Hand You Incur The Wrath Of George Steinbrenner While On The Other You Have The ATF — And I’m Pretty Sure Steinbrenner Is Still Less Armed Than The Feds

If you want to make money selling crap on eBay, hawk comic books, baseball tickets or even your wife’s Lladro, but whatever you do, please try to avoid trafficking in hazardous and potentially lethal chemicals:

Fears of home-grown terrorism shuddered through a large section of Staten Island last night when local and federal authorities uncovered about 3,000 pounds of potentially explosive chemicals stored in a Graniteville home and nearby storage facility.

Potassium nitrate, sulfur, mercury and peroxide were among the 21 different types of chemicals discovered during a raid of 199 Ada Drive, police said. Quantities ranged from 5 to 215 pounds, according to one law enforcement official speaking on the condition on anonymity.

The disturbing discovery led to the evacuation of more than 200 residents from 56 homes on Ada Drive, which is off Richmond Avenue bordering Baron Hirsch Cemetery.

At the nearby Public Storage Facility at 1107 Goethals Road North in Mariners Harbor, cops found 2,500 pounds of potassium nitrate, a component of gunpowder. The chemical, also known as saltpeter, is commercially used as fertilizer, cleaning solvent for septic tanks and meat preservative.

Investigators say Miguel Serrano, 57, the homeowner of 199 Ada Dr. who also was renting the storage space, had purchased the chemicals in bulk and was reselling them for a profit on the Internet.

It is believed that Serrano was also using some of the chemicals, including mercury and peroxide, to clean his pool.

He was charged with reckless endangerment; other charges are pending, police said.

“He was an unlicensed chemical salesman,” said one cop source with knowledge of the investigation. “He has no conscience. Who knows who he was selling to on the Internet?”