Clearing roads of snow and ice to restore safe driving is a necessity, but all parties have long recognized the potential for environmental harm. New techniques like anti-icing offer increased environmental protection, reports USA Today . The story by Larry Copeland explains:
"There really aren't tremendous alternatives to sodium chloride, which is what road salt is, when you want to keep ice from freezing to the road," says Stuart Findley, a senior scientist at the non-profit Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y. "What we can do is be more selective in how the salt is applied to the road."
Road salt, such as that used by highway crews along the East Coast during last weekend's heavy snow, works by lowering the freezing point of water, keeping ice and snow from bonding to roads and allowing easy removal by snow plows.
The large-scale use of salt began in the 1950s, Findley says. Today, about 15 million tons of de-icing salt are used in the USA each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
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