Ongoing rock salt shortage affects Western New York communities

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) – Some local cities and towns are dealing with a shortage of rock salt. That’s a big problem — especially with more snow on the way this week.

Many local communities rely on getting their supply from American Rock Salt in Livingston County. However, according to the Erie County Department of Public Works, the company has been experiencing some production issues, which has resulted in distribution delays.

Despite the shortage in rock salt, state and county officials say highways and local roads are safe and that there’s plenty of road salt on standby. The shortage is still frustrating.

“Knowing that we’re in winter, we’re in the thick of winter right now, we still have quite a bit of winter to go ahead, it’s problematic if we don’t have a deicing agent for our roads,” said Bill Geary, commissioner of Erie County Public Works.

The salt shortage is affecting local areas differently. For example, the Town of Tonawanda has cut back on street salt — only treating main roads and intersections as a way to conserve their supply. However, in the City of Buffalo, city officials say they still have plenty of salt from their emergency salt supply.

The Thruway Authority also tells us it has plenty of salt available, though not every community is the same, prompting local governments to help each other out.

“It goes both ways,” Geary said. “We had to borrow from the City of Buffalo, last week we got 100 ton off the City of Buffalo for our Harlem District, but we also had to supply some to the City of Lackawanna, when we started getting supplies in and they weren’t, so we’ve all been helping each other out.”

Still, with the salt shortage ongoing, local agencies are looking to get their salt from outside the area, potentially from Canada, though more expensive.

“I’d like to see we get the rock salt as quickly as possible, even if it has to come temporarily from overseas,” said U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York.

The hope is that American Rock Salt will get caught up and increase production within the next week or so. The Governor’s Office says it’s monitoring the situation.

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Jeff Preval is an award-winning anchor and reporter who joined the News 4 team in December 2021. See more of his work here.

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