State push to protect upstate salt mines from imports could cost taxpayers

A new state law aimed at forcing the state and local governments to use American-produced road salt for clearing snow and ice could increase costs for taxpayers, local officials said.

The Buy American Salt Act would potentially aid two salt mines in the state’s Finger Lakes region that have been undercut by competitors from Chile, Egypt, Canada and elsewhere. But on Long Island, where municipalities purchase salt via a state-administered contract, the law is causing confusion and worry.

The law, written by two upstate legislators, requires highway departments, departments of public works and other government agencies to only buy “rock salt or sodium chloride” that is “mined or hand harvested in the United States”— even if it’s more expensive than imported material. The law went into effect after it was signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Dec. 22.

However, the Buy-American mandate isn’t ironclad. 

The law states that its “provisions … shall not apply in any case or category of cases" in which a procurement officer determines that adhering to the measure isn’t in the public interest, “would result in unreasonable costs” or enough road salt cannot be produced domestically. But "unreasonable" is not defined and the procedures to determine that are unclear.

After reading the legislation, Dan Losquadro, highway superintendent in Brookhaven Town and a former Assembly member, said, “This bill gives domestic producers a license to increase their prices without outside competition. It’s going to drive up costs unnecessarily for local municipalities with no one to pass that cost along to other than our property taxpayers.”

Brookhaven, like much of the metropolitan area, gets its road salt via a state contract with Atlantic Salt Inc., which has a plant on Staten Island and an office in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Atlantic Salt supplies more than 500,000 tons of salt annually to New York City and its suburbs, said company president Shelagh E. Mahoney. The salt comes from Chile and costs municipalities $84.74 per ton, on average, for the 2022-23 winter season, she said.

Brookhaven orders a minimum of 21,000 tons per year, though some years ago it ended up buying more than 40,000 tons. 

The state contract that Brookhaven and other municipalities use for obtaining road salt from Atlantic Salt is negotiated and signed by the state Office of General Services. OGS appears to have sole authority in determining how to comply with the new law.

"OGS handles its salt contracts," said agency spokeswoman Georgina Parsons. "Any locality that wants to have final say on the decision are welcome to do their own procurement. The governor signed this legislation into law along with agreed-upon chapter amendments that change the mandate to purchase salt from New York State to a preference," Parsons told Newsday on Tuesday. 

Atlantic Salt's Mahoney said the Buy American Salt Act puts her company “at a competitive disadvantage … No other states where we do business have similar laws in place.”

She also said transporting large amounts of salt from the mines south of Rochester to Long Island isn't practical "during winter weather conditions." 

Amendments yet to be written

 A spokesman for Assemb. Harry B. Bronson (D-Rochester), a principal sponsor of the legislation with Sen. Tim Kennedy (D-Buffalo), said last week that the amendments negotiated with Hochul haven’t yet been written and will be voted on this year.

Nassau County typically purchases about 21,000 tons of road salt per year, while Suffolk buys up to 35,000 tons. Both use the state contract with Atlantic Salt, according to officials.

Suffolk spokeswoman Marykate Guilfoyle said the new law is unlikely to affect salt orders for 2022-23 but the county “will review any potential impacts for future winter seasons.”

The New York State County Highway Superintendents’ Association had urged Hochul to veto the measure, which was adopted overwhelmingly by the legislature on June 1.

The bill was first introduced in the 2019-2020 legislative session on the heels of American Rock Salt in upstate Mount Morris laying off 260 employees after foreign companies were awarded nearly $19 million in state contracts to supply the Albany area.

“More and more, foreign rock salt companies have moved to undercut the domestically sourced market," Joe Bucci Jr., manger of environmental, health and safety at American Rock Salt, said after the bill's passage.

A precursor to the Buy American Salt Act is the 2017 New York Buy American Act, which requires that state construction projects of more than $1 million for roads and bridges use domestic steel, iron and concrete. Newsday’s requests to the state Thruway Authority, Department of Transportation and other agencies for an accounting of the law’s implementation have been largely rejected or ignored since September 2019. 

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.