The Ohio Department of Transportation plans to stop purchasing a deicer made from processed brine drawn from oil and gas wells.
The department made the call after the Ohio-made deicer product, AquaSalina, became the subject of House Bill 282. The bill would allow the product to be sold to the general public and remove a requirement that users pay a $50 fee to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and report where every gallon gets spread.
ODOT did not cite the bill or environmental concerns for its decision to stop buying the product.
“We only need additives when pavement temperatures get extremely cold, which is fortunately the exception, not the rule,” said ODOT spokesman Matt Bruning. “Also, there are a lot more approved products on the market these days, so we have more options to choose from.”
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