Permits for government snowplows?
Since 2001, two Ontario ministries have been working hard to reduce the environmental impact of the several chloride salts used to keep the winter roadways safe. The Ministries of Environment and Transportation helped fashion a national Code of Practice for road salts management, and 145 Ontario municipalities have joined in a spirited effort to create and implement new salt management plans which include use of salt-efficient automated spreaders, improved salt storage and preventive roadway treatments called "anti-icing." Massive numbers of plow operators have been trained on how to use the least amount of salt to achieve safe roadway conditions.
For that reason, a year ago, the MOE concluded, as Environment Canada had in 2001, that government units that put salt on roads are seriously addressing the issue and that enlisting their voluntary support is paying big dividends. It denied an environmental activist petition to jettison the voluntary program and replace it with a system of provincial permits issued to agencies allowing them to salt roadways -- or not, if the province so determined.
Twice examined and rejected, the mandatory permit system was resurrected for a third look in the annual report of the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, a government ombudsman agency. ECO Gord Miller called for "comprehensive, mandatory, province-wide road salt management strategy to ensure aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are protected from chlorides." The premier added vocal support for improved salt management. Environmentalists applauded the report as the foundation for renewed investments in mass transit.
While the Ontario Good Roads Association deserves loud congratulations for its effective leadership in improving salt management, the salt industry has displayed quiet leadership as well. Recognizing that sacrificing safe roadways is politically unpalatable and that the new Road Salt Code of Practice embraces the latest technologies from around the world, the Salt Institute and Environment Ontario initiated an effort to measure the environmental effectiveness of the Code's "best management practices." That research effort has been joined by Environment Canada and will be conducted this winter and next.
The ECO did not participate in the multi-stakeholder group that has studied salt management options extensively. That group labored three years and concluded that the only practical policy requires balancing environmental protection with roadway safety and preserving winter mobility and the jobs and economic health it provides. Poor response to a snowstorm would impose more than $357 million a day in lost wages, retail sales and tax revenues, according to a recent study. Effective roadway maintenance needs to be localized, since citizens will not accept unsafe roads.
By all means, let's heed the ECO's call for a "comprehensive ... province-wide road salt management strategy to ensure aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems are protected from chlorides." But let's keep local elected officials accountable both for environmental performance and for keeping roads safe -- a life-saving job for which MOE permit-writers are unprepared and unsuitable. And let's invite the ECO to attend the semi-annual meetings of the road salts multi-stakeholders group to learn of the enthusiasm and commitment of local governments to protect the environment against the dangers in mismanaged road salt.
