The Guardian reported that the closure of Morton Salt’s Fairport Harbor mine has cost 77 area jobs and complicated Ohio road-salt planning after last winter depleted municipal stockpiles.
The Guardian linked last winter’s colder, snowier weather to depleted municipal salt stocks. Trumbull County relied on Fairport Harbor for all its road salt during the winter and is waiting for the Ohio Department of Transportation to assess additional supplies. The Guardian gave no date for the assessment.
An Ohio layoff notice lists 77 layoffs tied to the mine. Trumbull County’s engineer told The Guardian that mixing salt with aggregate could stretch supplies, though crews would need to sweep up the added material after winter, raising costs.
Morton Salt said it halted mining Oct. 22 after a significant water inflow, evacuated employees safely and is consulting independent experts and regulators. The company reports annual capacity of about 30 million tons across its broader business but has not disclosed Fairport’s individual capacity. EconoTimes previously covered the initial interruption of mining at the site.
Morton Salt has not identified the water’s source, The Guardian reported. An expert cited by the newspaper said blasting or underground aquifers could be factors, but neither has been confirmed. The mine is beneath Lake Erie, which the report described as an unlikely source of the water.
The report also recalled three earlier events: water entered the Whiskey Island mine in 2017, a western New York mine was inundated and collapsed in 1994, and the Lake Peigneur accident occurred in 1980.
